How Stars Work

Abstract

This chapter opens a longer and lonelier journey than that to the Moon and the Jupiter system – we will begin to observe the stars. We are going to spend time with the constellation Ursa Major, moving in and out of doors between what we can see and the science that explains the observations. The discovery that stars were not uniform but existed in many states is the bedrock that sustains our understanding of the universe. We will explore something of the human processes that created the modern constellations, and conclude by meeting someone who embodies the muddled history we have exported onto the heavens.