Astrophysics Is Easy!
Description
Astrophysics is often -with some justification - regarded as incomprehensible without the use of higher mathematics. Consequently, many amateur astronomers miss out on some of the most fascinating aspects of the subject. Astrophysics Is Easy! cuts through the difficult mathematics and explains the basics of astrophysics in accessible terms. Using nothing more than plain arithmetic and simple examples, the workings of the universe are outlined in a straightforward yet detailed and easy-to-grasp manner.
Following on the success of the first and second editions, this fully updated third edition covers the significant changes in astrophysics theories and research that have occurred in the last five years, including new material on: exomoons, exocomets and exoasteroids; Special and General Relativity; gravitational waves, their origins and detection; telescope optics; black hole astrophysics; and more.For each topic under discussion, an observing list is included so that observers can actually see for themselves the concepts presented - stars of the spectral sequence, nebulae, galaxies, even black holes. The book also features in-text, nonmathematical questions and end-of-chapter problems - all with their accompanying solutions - to help readers discuss and digest the material.
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Dr. Mike Inglis is a professional astronomer who also has a life-long passion for amateur astronomy. In addition to observing the night sky whenever he can he has worked at the University of Hertfordshire and Warwick University in the UK, at Princeton University in the USA, and used some of the world's largest telescopes in Australia, La Palma and Hawaii. He is the author of several astronomy books for the amateur and student and has had many articles in both popular astronomy magazines and research level journals. He is currently Professor of Astrophysics at the State University of New York, USA.
Content
Ch 2. The Solar System 1 The Scientific Method 2 Early Historyi. The Ancient Greeksii. Copernicusiii. Tychoiv. Keplerv. Galileovi. Newton3 The Motions of the Planetsb. Kepler's Three Lawsc. Newton & Gravityd. Newton's Laws of Motione. Newton's Law Of Gravitational Attractionf. The Tides2. New Section - The Greenhouse Effect3. Observing the Planets
Ch 3. The Interstellar Medium1. Introduction2. Nebulæ3. Emission Nebulæa. Brightest Emission Nebulæ4. Dark Nebulæa. Famous Dark Nebulæ5. Reflection Nebulæa. Brightest Reflection Nebulae6. Molecular Clouds7. Protostars8. The Jeans Criterion
Ch 4. Star Birth1. The Birth of a Star2. Pre-Main Sequence Evolution and the Effect of Mass3. Mass Loss and Mass Gain a. T Tauri Starsb. Discs and Winds4. Clusters and Groups of Starsa. Galactic Star Clustersi. Bright Star Clusters5. Stellar Associations and Streamsa. Bright Stellar Associations and Streams6. Star Formation Triggers
Ch 5. The Sun and Stars1. The Sun - The Nearest Stara. From the Core to the Surfaceb. The Proton-Proton Chainc. Energy Transport from the Core to the Surfaced. New Section - Sunspotse. New Section - The Solar Cycle2. Binary Stars and Stellar Mass3. Binary Starsa. Visual Binary Stars4. The Masses of Orbiting Stars5. Lifetimes of Main-Sequence Stars6. Red Giant Starsa. Bright Red Giant Stars7. Helium Burning and the Helium Flasha. Helium Burningb. The Helium Flash8. Star Clusters, Red Giants and the H-R Diagram9. Post Main-Sequence Star clusters: The Globular Clusters.a. Bright Globular Clustersb. New Section - Are Globulars galaxy corpses?10. Pulsating Starsa. Why do Stars Pulsate?b. Cepheid Variables and the Period-Luminosity Relationc. Cepheid's: Temperature and Massd. RR Lyrae and Long-Period Variable Starse. Bright Cepheid Variablesf. Bright RR Lyrae Variables
Ch 6. The Death of Stars1. The Asymptotic Giant Branch2. Dredge-Ups3. Mass Loss and Stellar Winds4. Infrared Stars5. The End Of An AGB Star's Lifea. Bright Carbon Stars6. Planetary Nebulaea. Bright Planetary Nebulae7. White Dwarf Starsa. Electron Degeneracyb. The Chandrasekhar Limitc. New Section - Is the Chandrasekhar Limit correct?d. White Dwarf Evolutione. White Dwarf Originsf. Bright White Dwarfs8. High Mass Stars and Nuclear Burninga. Bright Supergiant Stars9. Iron, Supernovæ and the Formation of the Elementsa. Supernovæ Remnantsb. Supernovæ Typesc. New Section - Hypernovae10. The End Result of High Mass Star Evolution: Neutron Stars, Pulsars, and Black Holesa. Neutron Starsb. Pulsars
NEW Chapter - Special Relativity a. The Speed of Lightb. The Lorentz Equations.c. Paradox's.
NEW Chapter - General Relativitya. Warped Space and Timeb. Why is Gravity so weak?c. General relativity in the solar system.d. Gravitational Wavese. 2018 - First contact
NEW Chapter - Black Holes a. The Singularityb. Time Travelc. Kerr Black Holesd. Rotating and non-symmetrical Black Holese. Imaging the Event Horizon
Ch 7. Exoplanets 2. A new sciencea. Methods of Detectionb. Bright Exoplanetsc. New Section - Exo-moons, exo-comets, exo-asteroids
Ch 8. Galaxies1. Introduction2. Galaxy Types3. Galaxy Structure4. Stellar Populations5. Hubble Classification of Galaxies6. New section - Other types of galaxy classification7. Observing Galaxiesa. Spiral Galaxiesb. Barred Spiral Galaxiesc. Elliptical Galaxiesd. Lenticular Galaxiese. Irregular Galaxies
Ch 9. Active Galaxies1. The Active Galactic Zoo2. The structure and evolution of AGN'sa. Brightest Active Galaxies
Ch 10. Cosmology 1 Gravitational Lensing2 Redshift, Distance and the Hubble Law3 Quasar Redshift Problem4 Clusters of Galaxiesa. Groups and Clusters of Galaxies5 The Beginning of the Universe6 The End of the Universe7 Other Cosmologies8 Amateur Observational Cosmology?
New Chapter - the Speculative Universea. Beyond the Multiverseb. Infinite Universec. Inflation, then the Big Bang.d. Filamentary nature of Dark Matter.e. MOND - The elephant in the roomf. Endnote