Part 1. Getting started with astronomy -- Seeing the light: the art and science of astronomy -- Join the crowd: skywatching activities and resources -- Terrific tools for observing the skies -- Just passing through: meteors, comets, and artificial satellites -- Part 2. Going once around the solar system -- A matched pair: Earth and its moon -- Earth's near neighbors: Mercury, Venus, and Mars -- Rock on: the asteroid belt and near-Earth objects -- Great balls of gas: Jupiter and Saturn -- Far out!: Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and beyond -- Part 3. Meeting old sol and other stars -- The Sun: star of Earth -- Taking a trip to the stars -- Galaxies: the Milky Way and beyond -- Digging into black holes and quasars -- Part 4. Pondering the remarkable universe -- Is anybody out there?: SETI and planets of other suns -- Delving into dark matter and antimatter -- The Big Bang and the evolution of the universe -- Part 5. he part of tens -- Ten strange facts about astronomy and space -- Ten common errors about astronomy and space -- Part 6. Appendixes -- Star maps -- Glossary.