Violent phenomena in the Universe

Recent advances in astronomy as a result of observations by satellite above the Earth's atmosphere, as well as technological improvements in ground-based telescopes, have revealed that the Universe contains many centres of violent activity from which vast amounts of energy pour, in regular cycles or in isolated bursts. These revelations have raised many questions concerning the origins of violet phenomena such as star explosions, cosmic X-ray sources, active galaxies and quasars; the nature of black holes; and the way in which the universe originated. This book explains the ideas that astrophysicists are putting forward in an attempt to answer such questions. (U.K.)