PART A THE EARLY DISCOVERIES   1   Prehistoric Astronomy: Origins of Science and Superstition   2   Historic Advances: Worlds in the Sky   3   Discovering the Layout of the Solar System PART B TWO METHODS FOR EXPLORING SPACE: UNDERSTADING GRAVITY AND UNDERSTANDING LIGHT   4   Gravity and the Conquest of Space   5   Light and the Spectrum: Messages from Space PART C EXPLORING THE EARTH-MOON SYSTEM   6   Earth as a Planet   7   The Moon PART D THE SOLAR SYSTEM   8   Introducing the Planets--Mercury   9   Venus 10   Mars 11   Jupiter, Saturn, and Their Moons 12   The Outermost Planets and Their Moons 13   Comets, Meteors, Asteroids, and Meteorites 14   The Origin of the Solar System

PART E STARS AND THEIR EVOLUTION 15   The Sun: The Nature of the Nearest Star 16   Measuring the Basic Properties of Stars 17   The Systematics of Nearby Stars: The H-R Diagram 18   Stellar Evolution I: Birth and Middle Age 19   Stellar Evolution II: Death and Transfiguration PART F ENVIRONMENT AND GROUPINGS OF STARS 20   Interstellar Atoms, Dust and Nebulae 21   Companions to Stars: Binaries, Multiples, and Possible Planetary Systems 22   Star Clusters and Associations PART G GALAXIES 23   The Milky Way Galaxy 24   The Local Galaxies 25   Galaxies and the Expanding Universe PART H FRONTIERS 26   Size and Structure of the Universe 27   Origin and Evolution of the Universe SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL i  Chapter 28 - Life elsewhere in the Universe? ii  Optional Basic Equations iii  Appendix A - Scientific Notation iv  Appendix B - Basic Geometry v  Appendix C - Unit Analysis vi   Glossary