Catalogue of the Cosmos

Black holes are just one of myriad marvels in outer space. In this feature, learn the difference between pulsars and quasars, antimatter and dark matter, brown dwarfs and white dwarfs, and many other extraterrestrial wonders.

Glossary excerpted with permission from Cosmic Horizons: Astronomy at the Cutting Edge, edited by Steven Soter and Neil deGrasse Tyson, New York: The New Press, 2001. Definition of gamma-ray burst courtesy of Dr. Jerry Bonnell, Goddard Space Flight Center.

This feature originally appeared, in slightly different form, on NOVA's Death Star Web site.

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© | Created September 2006