Origins

Tyson, an astrophysicist and director of New York City's Hayden Planetarium, and astronomy writer Goldsmith, present a written account of their tour of the cosmos and theories of cosmic phenomena (which has also been a Nova special on PBS). Using many down-to-earth examples and two sections of color plates, they discuss topics such as antimatter and dark matter, Type Ia supernovae and cosmic background radiation (and their contribution to dark energy and expanding universe theories), the concept of the multiverse and the "ekpyrotic model" of the cosmos, the birth of galaxies and Hubble's future successor (the James Webb Space Telescope), the origin of planets and recent discoveries, and the origin of life on Earth and search for life in our solar system and beyond.