Welcome to the first article in a brand new series designed for those with little or no astronomicalknowledge. Over the next 15 months Carole Stott will guide you through the cosmos, from thefamiliarity of our earthly surroundings to the farthest depths of space. Step by step, you'll learn aboutthe Universe, what is in it, how it functions and how we unravel its mysteries, building up a solidframework of astronomical knowledge. To start, we'll take a look at who is who in the Universe.

摘要

The Universe consists ofeverything; everythingon Earth, everything inspace and space itself. BeyondEarth, the Universe is home to avariety of extraordinary bodies,each with its special peculiarities.Looking at this disparate crowdof cosmic inhabitants for the firsttime is reminiscent of that veryfirst morning at school when youcome face to face with a host ofnew characters in bewilderingsurroundings. Like school, we needto start by spending time with thosereasonably familiar before tacklingthe new crowd and trying to discoverhow much we have in common.mankind first walked across about amillion years ago. Wherever we lookon Earth, we find that our planetand the things on its surface exist inone of three physical states. Theyare made of solid, liquid or gaseousmaterial. In the rest of the Universe,gases are very common, solids rathermore rare, and liquids are extremelyhard to find