A text for an introductory astronomy course. This book presumes that most of its readers are not science majors and that they probably have not had a college-level science or mathematics course. It provides a description of astronomical knowledge and emphasizes the historical development of astronomy.

This is a text for an introductory astronomy course. It presumes that most of its readers are not science majors and that they probably have not had a college-level science or mathematics course. The book provides a complete description of current astronomical knowledge. Finally, the historical development of astronomy is emphasized to show that astronomy, like other sciences, advances through the efforts of many scientists, and to show how present ideas have been developed.

Part 1 The Journey Begins
1 Journey's Start
2 Patterns in the Sky
3 Ancient Astronomy
4 Renaissance Astronomy
5 Gravity and Motion
6 Light and Telescopes
Part 2 Journey Through the Solar System
7 Overview of the Solar System
8 The Earth
9 The Moon
10 Mercury and Venus
11 Mars
12 Jupiter and Saturn
13 The Outer Planets
14 Satellites
15 Solar System Debris
Part 3 Journey to the Stars
16 Basic Properties of Stars
17 The Sun
18 The Formation of Stars and Planets
19 The Evolution of Stars
20 White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes
21 Binary Star Systems
Part 4 Journey to the Cosmic Frontier
22 The Milky Way
23 Galaxies
24 Quasars and Other Active Galaxies
25 Galaxy Clusters and the Structure of the Universe
26 Cosmology
Part 5 Journey in Search of Life
27 Life in the Universe
Appendixes
Glossary
References