Cosmology Revealed

by Anthony Fairall

""On a clear night you can see forever..." Well, not really. Not even the most powerful telescope imaginable can do that, for the observable universe ends abruptly at a limit set by the conditions that followed the big bang. That limit surrounds us, like the shell of a hollow sphere with us at the centre - a "cosmic egg" that contains quite literally everything." "Generally dark inside - at least to our eyes - it is populated with billions of galaxies, each a gigantic city of stars in itself, each star probably having its own solar system." "The observable universe is truly enormous. The Earth is relatively so small that it should be insignificant - and yet very little of the universe seems fit for habitation. It is no accident that we find ourselves in a universe that is at just the right stage for us, ideal for our existence." "We are made for the universe, just as it is made for us." "Cosmology Revealed looks at the universe on its largest scale, but is written in accessible, everyd