Astronomy Today: 2000 Media Update Edition

by Chaisson, Eric; McMillan, Steve

• ISBN13: 9780130858634
• ISBN10: 0130858633
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-06-01
• Publisher: Pearson College Div

Summary

This straightforward volume presents a broad view of astronomy spanning known facts, evolving ideas, and frontier discoveries. The authors combine qualitative reasoning and analogies with familiar objects and phenomena to awaken readers to the excitement of the universe around them. Incorporates new understanding and emphases in contemporary astronomy, including the latest data on topics ranging from adaptive optics and solar system formation to extrasolar planets and the recent missions to Mars. Top-notch illustration program exploits the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum, including images taken at radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, or gamma-ray wavelengths, in addition to visible-light photographs. For anyone interested in learning more about astronomy.

Table of Contents

PART 1 ASTRONOMY AND THE UNIVERSE
Charting the Heavens: The Foundations of Astronomy	3	(26)
The Copernican Revolution: The Birth of Modern Science	29	(26)
Radiation: Information from the Cosmos	55	(22)
Spectroscopy: The Inner Workings of Atoms	77	(20)
Telescopes: The Tools of Astronomy	97	(32)
PART 2 OUR PLANETARY SYSTEM
The Solar System: An Introduction to Comparative Planetology	129	(18)
Earth: Our Home in Space	147	(28)
The Moon and Mercury: Scorched and Battered Worlds	175	(28)
Venus: Earth's Sister Planet	203	(20)
Mars: A Near Miss for Life?	223	(20)
Jupiter: Giant of the Solar System	243	(22)
Saturn: Spectacular Rings and Mysterious Moons	265	(22)
Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto: The Outer Worlds of the Solar System	287	(26)
Solar System Debris: Keys to Our Origin	313	(24)
The Formation of the Solar System: The Birth of Our World	337	(16)
PART 3 STARS AND STELLAR EVOLUTION
The Sun: Our Parent Star	353	(26)
Measuring the Stars: Giants, Dwarfs, and the Main Sequence	379	(26)
The Interstellar Medium: Gas and Dust Among the Stars	405	(20)
Star Formation: A Traumatic Birth	425	(22)
Stellar Evolution: From Middle Age to Death	447	(24)
Stellar Explosions: Novae, Supernovae, and the Formation of the Heavy Elements	471	(22)
Neutron Stars and Black Holes: Strange States of Matter	493	(26)
PART 4 GALAXIES AND COSMOLOGY
The Milky Way Galaxy: A Grand Design	519	(28)
Normal Galaxies: The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe	547	(28)
Active Galaxies and Quasars: Limits of the Observable Universe	575	(28)
Cosmology: The Big Bang and the Fate of the Universe	603	(22)
The Early Universe: Toward the Beginning of Time	625	(22)
Life in the Universe: Are We Alone?	647