"Astronomys greatest hits, these 13 graphs elegantly distill the critical discoveries of the cosmos, from planets to galaxies to ripples in spacetime itself. From the front page of newspapers to your favorite t-shirt, the visual language of the cosmos is pervasive. You may have seen stunning images of planets, nebulae, and even a black hole, but pretty pictures alone cannot reveal the universe. Whether youre looking for planets outside our solar system, writing the biography of a neutron star, looking for dark matter, listening for gravitational waves, or looking back to the Big Bang, to think like a scientist, you need to appreciate graphs. In this lavishly illustrated and engaging book, astronomers Chris Lintott and Jeff Grube, and data scientist and librarian Daina Bouquin, use thirteen graphs to offer a tour of the major astronomical discoveries over the last century. If youve ever taken a physics or astronomy course, youll likely remember some of these characters-the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram comparing stellar lives, the Hubble Diagram showing the expansion of the universe, a chart of Minkowski Spacetime to examine special relativity, and the Cosmic Microwave Background Spectrum that takes the temperature of the cosmos. But this is no textbook. With engaging stories of discovery, accessible science for understanding current debates, compelling questions that current researchers still ponder, and a search for the next data points, this engaging book proves that a picture may be worth a thousand words, but a graph can show you the universe"-- Provided by publisher.