Asimov Isaac. The Exploding Suns: The Secrets of the Supernovas

NY: A Truman Talley book, 1985. — 276 p.— ISBN 0-525-24323-2Utilizes the most recent astronomical research and data on supernovas to detail their role in the life of man and the evolution of the universe
When the universe was born some 15 billion years ago, the "big bang" produced vast clouds of hydrogen and helium. Where did everything else come from? Supernovas, the huge unstable suns whose immense convulsions and titanic explosions are the largest and most shattering events in the universe. Untold trillions of these giant crucibles in space, erupting down the long reaches of time, are now known to have forged all the heavier elements that in turn formed the metals, the rocks, and--at least once--life itself. Did earlier civilizations watch in wonder at the flash of distant supernovas? Have supernovas ever threatened life on Earth? Will they in years to come? Offering a compelling view of supernovas and the new understanding about the evolution of the universe, Isaac Asimov's The Exploding Suns is one of the most breathtaking science books ever to address these and many other questions.New stars
The Unchanging Sky
Change Among the Stars
China's «Guest Stars"
The First Nova
More Novas
Changing stars
Seeing the Invisible
Movement and Distance
Modern Novas
How Luminous? How Common?
Large and small stars
Solar Energy
White Dwarfs
Red Giants
Binaries and Collapse
Bigger explosions
Beyond the Galaxy?
S Andromedae
The Andromeda Galaxy
Supernovas
Smaller dwarfs
The Crab Nebula
Neutron Stars
X-rays and Radio Waves
Pulsars
Kinds of explosions
Types I and II
Black Holes
The Expanding Universe
The Big Bang
The elements
Makeup of the Universe
Hydrogen and Helium
Escape from the Stars
Escape by Catastrophe
Stars and planets
First-Generation Stars
Second-Generation Stars
Formation of Planets
Formation of Earth
Life and evolution
Fossils
Formation of Life
Development of Species
Genetics
Nucleic acids and mutations
Gene Structure
Gene Changes
Mutagenic Factors
Cosmic Rays
The future
Earth's Magnetic Field
The Great Dyings
Space
The Next Supernova
Index