Tides in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Based on the lecture notes of a school titled 'Tides in Astronomy and Astrophysics' that brought together students and researchers, this book focuses on the fundamental theories of tides at different scales of the universe-from tiny satellites to whole galaxies-and on the most recent developments. It also attempts to place the study of tides in a historical perspective. Starting with a general tutorial on tides, the theme of tides is approached in 9 chapters from many directions. They allow non-experts to pick up a physical intuition and a sense of orders of magnitude in the theory of tides. These carefully prepared lecture notes by leaders in the field include many illustrative figures and drawings. Some even offer a variety of simple back-of the-envelope problems.