Includes bibliographical references and index.

"So you've fallen in love with space and now you want to see it for yourself, right? You want to witness the birth of a star, or visit the black hole at the center of our galaxy? You want to know if there are aliens out there, or how to travel though a wormhole? You want the wonders of the universe revealed before your very eyes? Well stop, because all that will probably kill you. From mundane comets in our solar backyard to exotic remnants of the Big Bang, from dying stars to young galaxies, the universe may be beautiful, but it's treacherous. Using metaphors and easy-to-understand language, How to Die in Space breathes fresh life into astrophysics, unveiling how particles and forces and fields interplay to create the drama in the heavens above us."--Provided by publisher.