"Frontiers II" by Janet & Isaac Asimov. Summary 2.

In the book “Frontiers II” (Truman Talley Books/Plume, 1993) by Janet and Isaac Asimov the authors represent cosmology related theories that go far beyond our imagination. The Asimovs reveal mysteries of Sirius’ color, Millisecond Pulsars and our galaxy’s centre. I. & J Asimov represented a theory of Miniblack Holes; they describe collisions between ordinary stars and a black hole in general, consider Cosmic Soup, which is an early stage of Universe formation and ultimately state about human beings’ sad destiny with regard to looking for a peace of direct evidence that would have made galaxy formation processes clearer (cf. pages 297-300, 320-338.)

The authors tell the readers about Sirius star’s nature, they underline that in fact Sirius is represented by two stars: Sirius A and Sirius B. The Asimovs stress the fact that Sirius B is a white dwarf star, while ancient astronomers described Sirius as a red star. The authors emphasize that despite existence of several theories on the subject, the most reliable explanation for the discrepancy is an occasional mistake of ancient astronomers. The Asimovs guess that the ancient astronomers could refer to Arcturus, the star, which is similar to Sirius in brightness.

The authors describe Millisecond Pulsars’ nature. They claim that the pulsars are a kind of neutron stars with a mass of an ordinary star but an extremely lower size. The Asimovs state that the star can be no more than ten miles across, then they imply the fact of the pulsars’ huge density, which can be less only than Black Holes’ one. The authors reveal a puzzle of the pulsars’ name: the stars with its unreal huge density and small size have unprecedented spins. The Asimovs tell that the pulsar, which rotates at a velocity of one full round per one thousandth of a second, is called the Millisecond Pulsar.

The authors mark that our sector of galaxy is scarcely filled with stars, while the nearer to the galaxy centre the dancer it becomes with regard to stars concentration. The Asimovs imply that the cause for the phenomenon could be a super massive Black Hole in the centre of galaxy. Then they present a theory which suggests Black Holes existence in almost every galaxy’s centres. The authors explain that the fact could have confirmed ideas on unimaginable brightness of our galaxy centre and provided a perfect explanation for a special kind of X-ray, which is caught by our radio- telescopes and simultaneously similar to one that is being produced during a star and a black hole collision.

The authors consider A. P. Trofimenko’s speculations. The Asimovs describe Trofimenko’s theory, which suggest existence of Miniblack Holes. They state that the theory describes explanations for some geological phenomena and claim that a cause for them is a Miniblack hole in the centre of Earth. Referring to Trofimenko’s theory, the authors state that a considerably larger density can be explained by the same phenomena in some districts. They provide an example of volcanoes’ eruptions and state that the pressure of such an eruption could be described by the same hypothesis. The Asimovs conclude that the theory is interesting and worth investigating but it is scarcely true.

The authors describe dangerous and mortal interaction between a star and a black hole. They represent a dramatic picture where a black hole attracts star’s matter and make the star exploded and dead. The Asimovs underline that there is no star which could have survived after such a collision. The authors refer to our galaxy’s centre where a super massive black hole interacts with stars continuously, making them crashed into particles, swallowing them and extracting huge amount of energy into the space

The Asimovs represent a term “Cosmic Soup”. They explain it with regard to the universe formation process. The authors imply that an unordered mixture of particles of all kinds is the very soup, which existed at the first second after the Big Bang. The authors state that a great number of interactions at a huge velocity produced more complicated elements before the universe’s notable expansion.

The authors conclude that the scientists have to obtain indirect evidence. The Asimovs claim that mankind can not receive information from the very centre of our galaxy. They explain that it would take a probe 60 000 years to reach us, if it runs at the velocity of light. The authors state that we have to keep on searching for indirect proves, which would reveal mysteries of the space.

Adopted from: Asimov, I. & J. (Truman Talley Books/Plume, 1993), Frontiers II (pages 297-300, 320-338.)