A comprehensive introduction to astronomical objects and phenomena, for undergraduate students.
This revised and updated comprehensive introduction to astronomical objects and phenomena applies basic physical principles to a variety of situations. Students learn how to relate everyday physics to the astronomical world with the help of useful equations, chapter summaries, worked examples and end-of-chapter problem sets. It will be suitable for undergraduate students taking a first course in astronomy, and assumes a basic knowledge of physics with calculus.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
1. Introduction; Part I. Properties of Ordinary Stars: 2. Continuous radiation from stars; 3. Spectral Lines in stars; 4. Telescopes; 5. Binary stars and stellar masses; 6. The Sun: a typical star; Part II. Relativity: 7. Special relativity; 8. General relativity; Part III. Stellar Evolution: 9. The main sequence; 10. Stellar old age; 11. The death of high mass stars; 12. Evolution in close binaries; 13. Clusters of stars; Part IV. The Milky Way: 14. Contents of the interstellar medium; 15. Star formation; 16. The Milky Way galaxy; Part V. The Universe at Large: 17. Normal galaxies; 18. Clusters of galaxies; 19. Active galaxies; 20. Cosmology; 21. The Big Bang; Part VI. The Solar System: 22. Overview of the solar system; 23. The Earth and Moon; 24. The inner planets; 25. The outer planets; 26. Minor bodies in the solar system; 27. The origin of life; Appendices.
