This completely revised and expanded classic textbook offers an ideal introduction to astronomy and astrophysics at university level.
Table of contents:
- PHYSICAL BASICS: Gravitation, thermodynamics, radiation
- ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS AND OBSERVATION TECHNIQUES: Telescopes, detectors, effects of the Earth's atmosphere, observation techniques, observatories
- THE SOLAR SYSTEM: Members and dimensions, orbital motions in the solar system, physics of the planets, planetary moons, small bodies in the solar system, the formation of the solar system
- EARTH & MOON: Orbital motion and rotation, interactions between the Moon and Earth, coordinates and time, parallaxes, space flight
- THE SUN: Overall picture and phenomena, the solar photosphere, solar activity and the solar magnetic field, the interior of the Sun
- STARS: Global sizes, star spectra, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, internal structure of stars
- ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF STARS: Star formation, from main sequence stars to red giants, final stages of stellar evolution, close binary star systems
- EXTRASOLAR PLANETARY SYSTEMS: Detection of exoplanets, properties of exoplanets, formation of planetary systems, life in space?
- INTERSTELLAR MATTER: Manifestations, Physical characteristics of the ISM, Interstellar absorption lines, Ionised interstellar matter, Hot interstellar gas, The cool and cold ISM, Interstellar dust, The origin of interstellar matter
- THE MILKY WAY SYSTEM: Global view of the Milky Way, distance determination, stellar statistics, star clusters, the galactic disc, other components of the Milky Way system, star populations
- GALAXIES: Extragalactic distance determination, shapes, size ratios, structures, star populations, galaxy dynamics, black holes and active galactic nuclei
- THE DISTRIBUTION OF MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE: The Local Group, The spatial distribution of galaxies, Galaxy clusters, Matter outside galaxies, Gravitational lenses, Forms of matter
- COSMOLOGY: The empirical foundation of cosmology, world models, determination of cosmological parameters, the Big Bang and the early universe
- ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF GALAXIES: Structure formation in the universe, Population statistics for cosmic epochs, Evolutionary processes in galaxies, Galaxy formation in a cosmological context
- APPENDIX: Solutions to exercises, further reading, astronomy websites, sources for figures and tables, physical constants and units, astronomical data
Each chapter concludes with exercises, the solutions to which can be found in the appendix.
