On a clear and moonless night, especially in remote areas such as deserts, myriads of points of light cover the sky. The great majority of them are stars, many like the Sun, but so far away that they can only be seen as point sources of light. The problem faced by astronomers is to find their properties and distances, just from the light they emit. This is done by using the knowledge of science, mainly physics, acquired from small-scale experiments carried out on Earth. However, the stars themselves are laboratories in which matter behaves in ways that cannot be reproduced on Earth so, in finding out about stars, we complement scientific knowledge gained from earthbound experimentation.
This book describes the means — some very ingenious — by which to explore the properties, locations and planetary companions of stars, and provides a sound foundation for further study.
Contents: - About the Author
- Introduction
- Creating Material for the First Stars:
- The Creation of the First Matter
- Making Stars:
- Some Useful Physical Theory
- The Evolution of the Universe
- The Formation and Evolution of Stars
- The Structure and Composition of Stars:
- The Equilibrium of Main-Sequence Stars
- Finding the Compositions of Stars
- The Distances of Stars:
- Finding the Distances of Nearby Stationary Stars
- Finding the Distances and Velocities of Nearby Moving Stars
- Finding Distances to Faraway Stars
- The General Properties of Stars:
- Determining the Radii of Stars
- Determining the Masses of Stars
- Other Stars and Star-like Objects
- Exoplanets:
- Planets About Other Stars
- The Nebula Theory
- The Capture Theory
- Appendices:
- Planck's Radiation Law and Quantum Physics
- The Relativistic Doppler Effect
- Energy Production in Stars
- Radiation Pressure
- Electron Degeneracy Pressure
- The Eddington Accretion Mechanism
- Solutions to Problems
- References
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Readership: Undergraduate physics degree, educated laypeople, or those with a general interest. Stars;Astronomy;Physics00
