Written by an international leader in the field, this is a coherent and accessible account of the concepts that are now vital for understanding cutting-edge work on supermassive black holes. These include accretion disc misalignment, disc breaking and tearing, chaotic accretion, the merging of binary supermassive holes, the demographics of supermassive black holes, and the defining effects of feedback on their host galaxies. The treatment is largely analytic and gives in-depth discussions of the underlying physics, including gas dynamics, ideal and non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics, force-free electrodynamics, accretion disc physics, and the properties of the Kerr metric. It stresses aspects where conventional assumptions may be inappropriate and encourages the reader to think critically about current models. This volume will be useful for graduate or Masters courses in astrophysics, and as a handbook for active researchers in the field. eBook formats include colour figures while print formats are greyscale only.

We've all asked ourselves the question. It's impossible to look up at the stars and NOT think about it: Are we alone in the universe? Books, movies and television shows proliferate that attempt to answer this question and explore it. In OUT THERE Space.com senior writer Dr. Michael Wall treats that question as merely the beginning, touching off a wild ride of exploration into the final frontier. He considers, for instance, the myriad of questions that would arise once we do discover life beyond Earth (an eventuality which, top NASA officials told Wall, is only drawing closer). What would the first aliens we meet look like? Would they be little green men or mere microbes? Would they be found on a planet in our own solar system or orbiting a star far, far away? Would they intend to harm us, and if so, how might they do it? And might they already have visited? OUT THERE is arranged in a simple question-and-answer format. The answers are delivered in Dr. Wall's informal but informative style, which mixes in a healthy dose of humor and pop culture to make big ideas easier to swallow. Dr. Wall covers questions far beyond alien life, venturing into astronomy, physics, and the practical realities of what long-term life might be like for we mere humans in outer space, such as the idea of lunar colonies, and even economic implications. Readers won't just be hearing from Dr. Wall. As a longtime science journalist--whose work at Space.com is syndicated in outlets from Scientific American to Fox News--he has assembled an impressive array of contacts to provide expert commentary. From a former NASA chief scientist to leading science educators like Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye to would-be space traveler Elon Musk, Dr. Wall shares the insights of some of the leading lights in space exploration today, and shows how the next space age might be brighter than ever.

How would Saturn’s rings look from a spaceship sailing just above them? If you were falling into a black hole, what’s the last thing you’d see before your spaghettification? What would it be like to visit the faraway places we currently experience only through high-powered telescopes and robotic emissaries? Faster-than-light travel may never be invented, but we can still take the scenic route through the universe with renowned astronomer and science communicator Philip Plait. On this lively, immersive adventure through the cosmos, Plait draws ingeniously on the latest scientific research to transport readers to ten spectacular sites, from our own familiar Moon to the outer reaches of our solar system and far beyond. Whether strolling through a dust storm under Mars’ butterscotch sky, witnessing the birth of a star or getting dizzy in a technicolour nebula, Plait is an illuminating, entertaining guide to the most otherworldly views in our universe.

This timely volume provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of cosmology and extragalactic astronomy at an advanced level. Beginning with an overview of the key observational results and necessary terminology, it covers important topics: the theory of galactic structure and galactic dynamics, structure formation, cosmic microwave background radiation, formation of luminous galaxies in the universe, intergalactic medium and active galactic nuclei. This self-contained text has a modular structure, and contains over one hundred worked exercises. It can be used alone, or in conjunction with the previous two accompanying volumes (Volume I: Astrophysical Processes, and Volume II: Stars and Stellar Systems).

The study of astrochemistry has become an important branch of modern astronomy and astrophysics. Molecules are key tools in exploring topics such as star and planet formation, the origin and evolution of interstellar dust grains, the structure of the interstellar medium in galaxies, and the origin of protogalaxies in the early Universe. This volume contains review papers alongside the latest results in the fast-growing discipline of astrochemistry, bringing together contributions from observers, modellers and laboratory astrochemists. It reports results from new observational facilities, such as the Herschel Space Observatory, ALMA, NOEMA, Rosetta and SOFIA, which are leading to new research areas such as the habitability of exoplanets, the origin of prebiotic chemistry and astrobiology. Interleaved with these observation results is the recent, ground-breaking work of physical chemists and numerical modellers, which provides the fundamental theoretical descriptions required to explain the molecular Universe.

This book provides a comprehensive and instructive coverage of particle physics in the early universe, in a logical way. It starts from the thermal history of the universe by investigating some of the main arguments such as Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the inflation, before treating in details the direct and indirect detection of dark matter and then some aspects of the physics of neutrino. Following, it describes possible candidates for dark matter and its interactions. The book is targeted at theoretical physicists who deal with particle physics in the universe, dark matter detection and astrophysical constraints, and at particle physicists who are interested in models of inflation or reheating. This book offers also material for astrophysicists who work with quantum field theory computations. All that is useful to compute any physical process is included: mathematical tables, all the needed functions for the thermodynamics of early universe and Feynman rules. In light of this, this book acts as a crossroad between astrophysics, particle physics and cosmology.

The methods used in the detection and characterisation of exoplanets are presented through the study of transiting systems in this unique textbook for advanced undergraduates. From determining the atmospheric properties of transiting exoplanets to measuring the planetary orbit's alignment with the stellar spin, students will discover what these measurements imply for reinvigorated theories of planet formation and evolution. Worked examples and exercises with full solutions help students to assess their understanding of concepts and results. Key points and equations are highlighted to make them easily identifiable, and there are full colour illustrations throughout. Bridging the gap between introductory, non-mathematical texts and more advanced textbooks, this book is ideal for students with some background in mathematics, physics and astronomy. Accompanying resources to this textbook are available at: http://www.cambridge.org/features/astrophysics.

This book provides a unified treatment of the characteristics of telescopes of all types, both those whose performance is set by geometrical aberrations and the effect of the atmosphere, and those diffraction-limited telescopes designed for observations from above the atmosphere. The emphasis throughout is on basic principles, such as Fermat's principle, and their application to optical systems specifically designed to image distant celestial sources.
The book also contains thorough discussions of the principles underlying all spectroscopic instrumentation, with special emphasis on grating instruments used with telescopes. An introduction to adaptive optics provides the needed background for further inquiry into this rapidly developing area.

* Geometrical aberration theory based on Fermat's principle
* Diffraction theory and transfer function approach to near-perfect telescopes
* Thorough discussion of 2-mirror telescopes, including misalignments
* Basic principles of spectrometry; grating and echelle instruments
* Schmidt and other catadioptric telescopes
* Principles of adaptive optics
* Over 220 figures and nearly 90 summary tables

Radiative transfer is essential for obtaining information from the spectra of astrophysical objects. This volume provides an overview of the physical and mathematical background of radiative transfer, and its applications to stellar and planetary atmospheres. It covers the phenomenology and physics of early-type and late-type stars, as well as ultra-cool dwarf stars and extrasolar planets. Importantly, it provides a bridge between classical radiative transfer and stellar atmosphere modelling and novel approaches, from both theoretical and computational standpoints. With new fields of application and a dramatic improvement in both observational and computational facilities, it also discusses the future outlook for the field. Chapters are written by eminent researchers from across the astronomical disciplines where radiative transfer is employed. Using the most recent observations, this is a go-to resource for graduate students and researchers in astrophysics.

During World War II Alfred Zaehringer witnessed the awesome power of the Nazi's V-2 rocket as it levelled homes and businesses in London, then in 1945 he was once again on hand as V-1 and V-2 missiles were used against the Allied forces at Remagen, site of the famous bridge crossing over the Rhine into Germany. During these final engagements of World War II Zaehringer would also witness the first jet and rocket aircraft as they struggled to protect Germany in the last few months of the war. On returning to his home town of Detroit Zaehringer decided to form a society dedicated to the study of these new technologies. To that end he contacted the American Rocket Society and tried to find like-minded individuals in his local area. Ultimately Zaehringer was able to harness a membership for his new society that included some of the greatest talents of early rocketry.

Radiative Processes in Astrophysics This clear, straightforward, and fundamental introduction is designed to present—from a physicist’s point of view—radiation processes and their applications to astrophysical phenomena and space science. It covers such topics as radiative transfer theory, relativistic covariance and kinematics, bremsstrahlung radiation, synchrotron radiation, Compton scattering, some plasma effects, and radiative transitions in atoms. Discussion begins with first principles, physically motivating and deriving all results rather than merely presenting finished formulae. However, a reasonably good physics background (introductory quantum mechanics, intermediate electromagnetic theory, special relativity, and some statistical mechanics) is required. Much of this prerequisite material is provided by brief reviews, making the book a self-contained reference for workers in the field as well as the ideal text for senior or first-year graduate students of astronomy, astrophysics, and related physics courses. Radiative Processes in Astrophysics also contains about 75 problems, with solutions, illustrating applications of the material and methods for calculating results. This important and integral section emphasizes physical intuition by presenting important results that are used throughout the main text; it is here that most of the practical astrophysical applications become apparent.

NASA Monograph in Aerospace History series, number 37.

Concise and self-contained, this textbook gives a graduate-level introduction to the physical processes that shape planetary systems, covering all stages of planet formation. Writing for readers with undergraduate backgrounds in physics, astronomy, and planetary science, Armitage begins with a description of the structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks, moves on to the formation of planetesimals, rocky, and giant planets, and concludes by describing the gravitational and gas dynamical evolution of planetary systems. He provides a self-contained account of the modern theory of planet formation and, for more advanced readers, carefully selected references to the research literature, noting areas where research is ongoing. The second edition has been thoroughly revised to include observational results from NASA's Kepler mission, ALMA observations and the JUNO mission to Jupiter, new theoretical ideas including pebble accretion, and an up-to-date understanding in areas such as disk evolution and planet migration.

On February 1, 2003, the unthinkable happened. The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated 37 miles above Texas, seven brave astronauts were killed and America's space program, always an eyeblink from disaster, suffered its second catastrophic in-flight failure. Unlike the Challenger disaster 17 years earlier, Columbia's destruction left the nation one failure away from the potential abandonment of human space exploration. Media coverage in the immediate aftermath focused on the possible cause of the disaster, and on the nation's grief. But the full human story, and the shocking details of NASA's crucial mistakes, have never been told -- until now.

Based on dozens of exclusive interviews, never-before-published documents and recordings of key meetings obtained by the authors, "Comm Check" takes the reader inside the conference rooms and offices where NASA's best and brightest managed the nation's multi-billion-dollar shuttle program -- and where they failed to recognize the signs of an impending disaster. It is the story of a space program pushed to the brink of failure by relentless political pressure, shrinking budgets and flawed decision making. The independent investigation into the disaster uncovered why Columbia broke apart in the sky above Texas. "Comm Check" brings that story to life with the human drama behind the tragedy.

Michael Cabbage and William Harwood, two of America's most respected space journalists, are veterans of all but a handful of NASA's 113 shuttle missions. Tapping a network of sources and bringing a combined three decades of experience to bear, the authors provide a rare glimpse into NASA's inner circles, chronicling the agency's most devastating failure and the challenges that face NASA as it struggles to return America to space.

This book gives a survey of astrophysics at the advanced undergraduate level, providing a physics-centred analysis of a broad range of astronomical systems. It originates from a two-semester course sequence at Rutgers University that is meant to appeal not only to astrophysics students but also more broadly to physics and engineering students. The organisation is driven more by physics than by astronomy; in other words, topics are first developed in physics and then applied to astronomical systems that can be investigated, rather than the other way around. The first half of the book focuses on gravity. The theme in this part of the book, as well as throughout astrophysics, is using motion to investigate mass. The goal of Chapters 2-11 is to develop a progressively richer understanding of gravity as it applies to objects ranging from planets and moons to galaxies and the universe as a whole. The second half uses other aspects of physics to address one of the big questions. While "Why are we here?" lies beyond the realm of physics, a closely related question is within our reach: "How did we get here?" The goal of Chapters 12-20 is to understand the physics behind the remarkable story of how the Universe, Earth and life were formed. This book assumes familiarity with vector calculus and introductory physics (mechanics, electromagnetism, gas physics and atomic physics); however, all of the physics topics are reviewed as they come up (and vital aspects of vector calculus are reviewed in the Appendix).

The purpose of this work is to provide researchers, students, and space enthusiasts with a comprehensive reference for facts about Project Apollo, America's effort to put humans in the Moon. Research for this work started in 1988, when the author discovered that, despite the number of excellent books that focused on the drama of events that highlighted Apollo, there were none that focused on the drama of the numbers. This book is separated into two parts. The first part contains narratives for the Apollo 1 fire and the 11 flown Apollo missions. Included after each narrative is a series of data tables, followed by a comprehensive timeline of events from just before liftoff to just after crew and spacecraft recovery. The second part contains more than 50 tables. These tables organize much of the data from the narratives in one place so they can be compared among all missions. The tables offer additional data as well. The reader can select a specific mission narrative or specific data table by consulting the Table of Contents.

Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology offers a succinct and self-contained treatment of general relativity and its application to compact objects, gravitational waves and cosmology. The required mathematical concepts are introduced informally, following geometrical intuition as much as possible. The approach is theoretical, but there is ample discussion of observational aspects and of instrumental issues where appropriate.

The book includes such topical issues as the Gravity Probe B mission, interferometer detectors of gravitational waves, and the physics behind the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Written for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in (astro)physics, it is ideally suited for a lecture course and contains 140 exercises with extensive hints. The reader is assumed to be familiar with linear algebra and analysis, ordinary differential equations, special relativity, and basic thermal physics.

In 1963 Stephen Hawking was given two years to live. Defying all the odds, he died in March 2018 at age seventy-six as the most celebrated scientist in the world. This carefully researched and updated biography and tribute gives a rich picture of Hawking's remarkable life - his childhood, the heart-rending beginning of his struggle with motor neurone disease, his ever-increasing international fame, and his long personal battle for survival in pursuit of a scientific understanding of the universe. From more recent years, Kitty Ferguson describes his inspiring leadership at the London Paralympic Games, the release of the film The Theory of Everything, his continuing work on black holes and the origin of the universe, the discovery of 'supertranslations', and the astounding 'Starshot' program. Here also are his intense concern for the future of the Earth and his use of his celebrity to fight for environmental and humanitarian causes, and, finally, a ground-breaking paper he was working on at the time of his death, in which he took issue with some of his own earlier theories. Throughout, Ferguson summarizes and explains the cutting-edge science in which Hawking was engaged and offers vivid first-hand descriptions of his funeral in Cambridge and the interment of his ashes in Westminster Abbey. This is an amazing and revealing tribute, assessing Hawking's legacy in and out of science.

Ever since their discovery in 1967, pulsars and neutron stars have provided an unprecedented opportunity to study the extremes of physics. This started with the very rapid identification of pulsars as rotating neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields and, selecting just a few highlights from the following decades, was followed by the discovery of the Hulse-Taylor binary, millisecond pulsars, the first pulsars in globular clusters, the pulsar planets and the double pulsar. In the last decade alone, we have made some amazing discoveries and observations with an impact across all areas of astronomy. With these proceedings of IAU Symposium 337, the 50th anniversary of the discovery of pulsars is celebrated by reflecting on what we have learned from these remarkable physical laboratories and by casting our eyes forward to the exciting opportunities they will provide for physical and astrophysical studies in the coming decades.

This is a comprehensive and richly illustrated textbook on the astrophysics of the interstellar and intergalactic medium--the gas and dust, as well as the electromagnetic radiation, cosmic rays, and magnetic and gravitational fields, present between the stars in a galaxy and also between galaxies themselves. Topics include radiative processes across the electromagnetic spectrum; radiative transfer; ionization; heating and cooling; astrochemistry; interstellar dust; fluid dynamics, including ionization fronts and shock waves; cosmic rays; distribution and evolution of the interstellar medium; and star formation. While it is assumed that the reader has a background in undergraduate-level physics, including some prior exposure to atomic and molecular physics, statistical mechanics, and electromagnetism, the first six chapters of the book include a review of the basic physics that is used in later chapters. This graduate-level textbook includes references for further reading, and serves as an invaluable resource for working astrophysicists. * Essential textbook on the physics of the interstellar and intergalactic medium * Based on a course taught by the author for more than twenty years at Princeton University * Covers radiative processes, fluid dynamics, cosmic rays, astrochemistry, interstellar dust, and more * Discusses the physical state and distribution of the ionized, atomic, and molecular phases of the interstellar medium * Reviews diagnostics using emission and absorption lines * Features color illustrations and detailed reference materials in appendices * Instructor's manual with problems and solutions (available only to teachers)

Humans have probably always strived to understand the world around them. And the heavens have drawn rapt attention -- perhaps because they seem so close but aren't. Understanding of the physical and chemical properties, origin, and evolution of the celestial bodies has been propelled forward by the startling advances in space science, computers and miniaturisation. Astrophysics can claim to be one of the most exciting fields in science in terms of leaps forward. This book gathers leading-edge research from a number of countries and research centres to help understand some of these leaps forward in our grasp of the universe. Contents: Preface; Theoretical Models for Nuclear Astrophysics; Universal Constants and Black Holes; Consequences of Gravitational Tunnelling Radiation; Quantum Mechanical Formulation of Quantum Cosmology for Brane-World Effective Action; Time Dependent Effects of a Transient, Bright Source of the Interstellar Medium; New Aspect of Physics of a Photon Gas; Disk Accretion Driven by Magnetic Fields: Implications for New Models; Reconstructing Cepheid Light Curve with Fourier Expansion and Interrelations; Index.

Stars are mostly found in binary and multiple systems, with at least 50% of all solar-like stars having companions; this fraction approaches 100% for the most massive stars. A large proportion of these systems interact and alter the structure and evolution of their components, leading to exotic objects such as Algol variables, blue stragglers and other chemically peculiar stars, but also to phenomena such as non-spherical planetary nebulae, supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. While it is understood that binaries play a critical role in the Initial Mass Function, the interactions among binary systems significantly affect the dynamical evolution of stellar clusters and galaxies. This interdisciplinary volume presents results from state-of-the-art models and observations aimed at studying the impact of binaries on stellar evolution in resolved and unresolved populations. Serving as a bridge between observational and theoretical astronomy, it is a comprehensive review for researchers and advanced students of astrophysics.

'The first two editions of this textbook have received well-deserved high acclaims, and this - the third edition - deserves no less. Its explanations of the whole gamut of atomic and molecular spectroscopy provide a solid grasp of the theory as well as how to understand such spectra in practice. It thus makes an ideal companion to books that start from the observational aspect of spectroscopy, whether in the lab or at the telescope ... This new edition of TennysonaEURO (TM)s book ought to be in the library of every astronomical department.'The Observatory Magazine'It closely follows the course given to third year UCL undergraduates, and the worked examples have surely been tested on students ... The last two chapters serve as an effective appendix on more specialised topics in atomic and molecular theory.'Contemporary PhysicsThe third edition of Astronomical Spectroscopy examines the physics necessary to understand and interpret astronomical spectra. It offers a step-by-step guide to the atomic and molecular physics involved in providing astronomical spectra starting from the relatively simple hydrogen atom and working its way to the spectroscopy of small molecules.Based on UCL course material, this book uses actual astronomical spectra to illustrate the theoretical aspects of the book to give the reader a feel for such spectra as well as an awareness of what information can be retrieved from them. It also provides comprehensive exercises, with answers given, to aid understanding.