Astronomy For Dummies, 3rd Edition -- About the Author -- Dedication -- Author's Acknowledgments -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- About This Book -- Conventions Used in This Book -- What You're Not to Read -- Foolish Assumptions -- Icons Used in This Book -- Where to Go from Here -- Part I: Stalking the Cosmos -- Chapter 1: Seeing the Light: The Art and Science of Astronomy -- Astronomy: The Science of Observation -- What You See: The Language of Light -- Gravity: A Force to Be Reckoned With -- Space: A Commotion of Motion -- Chapter 2: Join the Crowd: Skywatching Activities and Resources -- You're Not Alone: Astronomy Clubs, Websites, Smartphone Apps, and More -- Visiting Observatories and Planetariums -- Vacationing with the Stars: Star Parties, Eclipse Trips, Dark Sky Parks, and More -- Chapter 3: The Way You Watch Tonight: Terrific Tools for Observing the Skies -- Seeing Stars: A Sky Geography Primer -- Beginning with Naked-Eye Observation -- Using Binoculars or a Telescope for a Better View -- Planning Your First Steps into Astronomy -- Chapter 4: Just Passing Through: Meteors, Comets, and Artificial Satellites -- Meteors: Wishing on a Shooting Star -- Comets: The Lowdown on Dirty Ice Balls -- Artificial Satellites: Enduring a Love- Hate Relationship -- Part II: Going Once Around the Solar System -- Chapter 5: A Matched Pair: Earth and Its Moon -- Putting Earth under the Astronomical Microscope -- Examining Earth's Time, Seasons, and Age -- Making Sense of the Moon -- Chapter 6: Earth's Near Neighbors: Mercury, Venus, and Mars -- Mercury: Weird, Hot, and Mostly Metal -- Dry, Acidic, and Hilly: Steering Clear of Venus -- Red, Cold, and Barren: Uncovering the Mysteries of Mars -- Differentiating Earth through Comparative Planetology -- Observing the Terrestrial Planets with Ease.

Chapter 7: Rock On: The Asteroid Belt and Near-Earth Objects -- Taking a Brief Tour of the Asteroid Belt -- Understanding the Threat That Near-Earth Objects Pose -- Searching for Small Points of Light -- Chapter 8: Great Balls of Gas: Jupiter and Saturn -- The Pressure's On: Journeying Inside Jupiter and Saturn -- Almost a Star: Gazing at Jupiter -- Our Main Planetary Attraction: Setting Your Sights on Saturn -- Chapter 9: Far Out! Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Beyond -- Breaking the Ice with Uranus and Neptune -- Meeting Pluto, Planet or Not -- Buckling Down to the Kuiper Belt -- Viewing the Outer Planets -- Part III: Meeting Old Sol and Other Stars -- Chapter 10: The Sun: Star of Earth -- Surveying the Sunscape -- Don't Make a Blinding Mistake: Safe Techniques for Solar Viewing -- Fun with the Sun: Solar Observation -- Chapter 11: Taking a Trip to the Stars -- Life Cycles of the Hot and Massive -- Star Color, Brightness, and Mass -- Eternal Partners: Binary and Multiple Stars -- Change Is Good: Variable Stars -- Your Stellar Neighbors -- How to Help Scientists by Observing the Stars -- Star Studies to Aid with Your Brain and Computer -- Chapter 12: Galaxies: The Milky Way and Beyond -- Unwrapping the Milky Way -- Star Clusters: Meeting Galactic Associates -- Taking a Shine to Nebulae -- Getting a Grip on Galaxies -- Joining Galaxy Zoo for Fun and Science -- Chapter 13: Digging into Black Holes and Quasars -- Black Holes: Keeping Your Distance -- Quasars: Defying Definitions -- Active Galactic Nuclei: Welcome to the Quasar Family -- Part IV: Pondering the Remarkable Universe -- Chapter 14: Is Anybody Out There? SETI and Planets of Other Suns -- Using Drake's Equation to Discuss SETI -- SETI Projects: Listening for E.T. -- Discovering Alien Worlds -- Astrobiology: How's Life on Other Worlds? -- Chapter 15: Delving into Dark Matter and Antimatter.

Dark Matter: Understanding the Universal Glue -- Taking a Shot in the Dark: Searching for Dark Matter -- Dueling Antimatter: Proving That Opposites Attract -- Chapter 16: The Big Bang and the Evolution of the Universe -- Evidence for the Big Bang -- Inflation: A Swell Time in the Universe -- Dark Energy: The Universal Accelerator -- Universal Info Pulled from the Cosmic Microwave Background -- In a Galaxy Far Away: Standard Candles and the Hubble Constant -- The Fate of the Universe -- Part V: The Part of Tens -- Chapter 17: Ten Strange Facts about Astronomy and Space -- You Have Tiny Meteorites in Your Hair -- A Comet's Tail Often Leads the Way -- Earth Is Made of Rare and Unusual Matter -- High Tide Comes on Both Sides of the Earth at the Same Time -- On Venus, the Rain Never Falls on the Plain -- Rocks from Mars Dot the Earth -- Pluto Was Discovered from the Predictions of a False Theory -- Sunspots Are Not Dark -- A Star in Plain View May Have Exploded, but No One Knows -- You May Have Seen the Big Bang on an Old Television -- Chapter 18: Ten Common Errors about Astronomy and Space -- "The Light from That Star Took 1,000 Light-Years to Reach Earth" -- A Freshly Fallen Meteorite Is Still Hot -- Summer Always Comes When Earth Is Closest to the Sun -- The Back of the Moon Is Dark -- The "Morning Star" Is a Star -- If You Vacation in the Asteroid Belt, You'll See Asteroids All Around You -- Nuking a "Killer Asteroid" on a Collision Course for Earth Will Save Us -- The Sun Is an Average Star -- The Hubble Telescope Gets Up Close and Personal -- The Big Bang Is Dead -- Part VI: Appendixes -- Appendix A: Star Maps -- Appendix B: Glossary -- Sky Measures -- Index -- Supplemental Images.