Kurzbeschreibung

This book tells the amazing story of the physics of stars and starlight. While it is an in-depth study of stellar astrophysics, at the same time it requires only basic high school mathematics and physics, making it accessible to almost all amateur astronomers.

Inhaltsangabe

Chapter 1: Introduction The River of Starlight

Chapter 2: Starlight by Numbers

Chapter 3: From Light to Starlight

Chapter 4: Space The Great Radiation Field

Chapter 5: A Multitude of Magnitudes for the Colors of Starlight

Chapter 6: The Photons Must Get Through Radiative Transfer

Chapter 7: First Look Inside a Star The Atmosphere

Chapter 8: Deep Inside a Star

Chapter 9: In the Space Between Stars

Chapter 10: A Star Story 10 Billion Years in the Making

Appendix 1: The Greek Alphabet

Appendix 2: Astronomical and Physical Units and Constants

Appendix 3: The Doppler Effect

Index

Klappentext

This is a book about the physics of stars and starlight. The story of starlight is truly fascinating. Astronomers analyze and interpret the light from stars using photometry and spectroscopy, then inspirational detective work combines with the laws of physics to reveal the temperatures, masses, luminosities and outer structure of these far away points of light. The laws of physics themselves enable us to journey to the very center of a star and to understand its inner structure and source of energy!
Starlight provides an in-depth study of stellar astrophysics that requires only basic high school mathematics and physics, making it accessible to all amateur astronomers. Starlight teaches amateur astronomers about the physics of stars and starlight in a friendly, easy-to-read way. The reader will take away a profoundly deeper understanding of this truly fascinating subject and find his practical observations more rewarding and fulfilling as a result.