The Secret Life of Stars

Book excerpt: In The Secret Life of Stars, award-winning astronomer Lisa Harvey-Smith takes us on a cosmic journey to meet some of the weirdest, most extreme, and enigmatic stars in the universe. We all know the Sun, the powerhouse of our solar system, but what about Luyten’s Flare, the Rosino-Zwicky Object, or Chanal’s variable star? For those whose curiosity takes them far beyond Earth’s atmosphere, The Secret Life of Stars offers a personal and readily understood introduction to some of the Galaxy’s most remarkable stars. Written by award-winning astronomer Lisa Harvey-Smith, each chapter explains various different and unusual stars and their amazing characteristics and attributes, from pulsars, blue stragglers, and white dwarfs, to cannibal stars and explosive supernovae. With beautiful chapter illustrations by Eirian Chapman, this book brings to life the remarkable personalities of these stars, reminding readers what a diverse and unpredictable universe we live in and how fortunate we are to live around a stable star, our Sun.