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Books > Science & Mathematics > Astronomy, space & time > Galaxies, clusters, intergalactic matter
Every atom of our bodies has been part of a star. In this lively
and compact introduction, astrophysicist Andrew King reveals how
the laws of physics force stars to evolve, driving them through
successive stages of maturity before their inevitable and sometimes
spectacular deaths, to end as remnants such as black holes. The
book shows how we know what stars are made of, how gravity forces
stars like the Sun to shine by transmuting hydrogen into helium in
their centers, and why this stage is so long-lived and stable.
Eventually the star ends its life in one of just three ways, and
much of its enriched chemical content is blasted into space in its
death throes. Every dead star is far smaller and denser than when
it began, and we see how astronomers can detect these stellar
corpses as pulsars and black holes and other exotic objects. King
also shows how astronomers now use stars to measure properties of
the Universe, such as its expansion. Finally, the book asks how it
is that stars form in the first place, and how they re-form out of
the debris left by stars already dead. These birth events must also
be what made planets, not only in our solar system, but around a
large fraction of all stars.
This book provides a comprehensive, self-contained introduction
to one of the most exciting frontiers in astrophysics today: the
quest to understand how the oldest and most distant galaxies in our
universe first formed. Until now, most research on this question
has been theoretical, but the next few years will bring about a new
generation of large telescopes that promise to supply a flood of
data about the infant universe during its first billion years after
the big bang. This book bridges the gap between theory and
observation. It is an invaluable reference for students and
researchers on early galaxies.
"The First Galaxies in the Universe" starts from basic physical
principles before moving on to more advanced material. Topics
include the gravitational growth of structure, the intergalactic
medium, the formation and evolution of the first stars and black
holes, feedback and galaxy evolution, reionization, 21-cm
cosmology, and more. Provides a comprehensive introduction to this
exciting frontier in astrophysics Begins from first principles
Covers advanced topics such as the first stars and 21-cm cosmology
Prepares students for research using the next generation of large
telescopes Discusses many open questions to be explored in the
coming decade
Orienting us with an insider's tour of our cosmic home, the Milky
Way, William Waller and Paul Hodge then take us on a spectacular
journey, inviting us to probe the exquisite structures and dynamics
of the giant spiral and elliptical galaxies, to witness colliding
and erupting galaxies, and to pay our respects to the most powerful
galaxies of all-the quasars. A basic guide to the latest news from
the cosmic frontier-about the black holes in the centers of
galaxies, about the way in which some galaxies cannibalize each
other, about the vast distances between galaxies, and about the
remarkable new evidence regarding dark energy and the cosmic
expansion-this book gives us a firm foundation for exploring the
more speculative fringes of our current understanding. This is a
heavily revised and completely updated version of Hodge's Galaxies,
which won an Association of American Publishers PROSE Award for
Best Science Book of the Year in 1986.
This compelling visual journey through our galaxy combines more than 350 photographs, illustrations, and graphics to present the universe as you've never seen it before.
Visual Galaxy is a deep dive into the past, present, and future of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. In this mind-expanding visual tour through the cosmos, spectacular photographs are converted into interpretive graphics, starting with the sun and moving outward into space where stars are born, black holes lurk, and planets of diverse size and anatomy spin through their orbit. The final chapters locate our galaxy within the known universe and add a scintillating peek of other exoplanets in the cosmos. Detailed maps and fascinating imagery from recent space missions are paired with clear, authoritative scientific information.
Astronomers believe that a supernova is a massive explosion
signaling the death of a star, causing a cosmic recycling of the
chemical elements and leaving behind a pulsar, black hole, or
nothing at all. In an engaging story of the life cycles of stars,
Laurence Marschall tells how early astronomers identified
supernovae, and how later scientists came to their current
understanding, piecing together observations and historical
accounts to form a theory, which was tested by intensive study of
SN 1987A, the brightest supernova since 1006. He has revised and
updated "The Supernova Story" to include all the latest
developments concerning SN 1987A, which astronomers still watch for
possible aftershocks, as well as SN 1993J, the spectacular new
event in the cosmic laboratory.
Twinkling in the night sky, stars have inspired wonder and
amazement in us since ancient times. They have guided our journeys
and inspired our poetry and art, but until recently we have known
very little about them. Now, through new instruments and
technology, we are learning more about stars every day-from their
dusty beginnings in nebulas to their spectacular ends as
supernovas. Award-winning science writer Seymour Simon gives you a
closer look at the stars.
Dwarf galaxies are important tools for understanding structure
formation and galaxy evolution across cosmic time. These low-mass
systems allow us to gain a detailed understanding of stellar,
chemical, and dynamical properties in the nearby universe; they
also provide a unique window into the complex physics of the early
universe. The Proceedings of IAU Symposium 344 present our current
understanding of dwarf galaxies, with sections dedicated to: Local
Group dwarf galaxies; the interstellar medium and star formation in
dwarfs; metallicity, massive stars, and chemical evolution; the
dwarf galaxy-environment connection; low-mass galaxies at high
redshift; and dwarfs as cosmological probes. Broad overviews from
leaders in the field, detailed presentation of cutting-edge
results, and short summaries of a wide range of work are included
for each of these topics, suitable for both experts and newcomers
to the field.
How does it happen that billions of stars can cooperate to produce
the beautiful spirals that characterize so many galaxies, including
ours? This book reviews the history behind the discovery of spiral
galaxies and the problems faced when trying to explain the
existence of spiral structure within them. In the book, subjects
such as galaxy morphology and structure are addressed as well as
several models for spiral structure. The evidence in favor or
against these models is discussed. The book ends by discussing how
spiral structure can be used as a proxy for other properties of
spiral galaxies, such as their dark matter content and their
central supermassive black hole masses, and why this is important.
The publication of the morphology - density relation by Alan
Dressler in 1980 brought into the limelight the role played by
environment in the formation and evolution of galaxies. The
symposium Environment and the Formation of Galaxies: 30 years
later, was organised with the purpose of establishing the
environmental impact on the evolution of galaxies and its
dependence on look-back time. Special emphasis was placed on the
physical mechanisms that are responsible for transforming galaxies
once they are accreted by a group or a cluster, including the
observable imprint left in the galaxy HI distribution. Other major
topics of the symposium were the environmental dependence of galaxy
properties at z 1 and the implementation of environmental effects
in cosmological models of galaxy formation and evolution. This book
presents the edited proceedings of this stimulating meeting.
Understanding star formation is one of the key fields in
present-day astrophysics. This book treats a wide variety of the
physical processes involved, as well as the main observational
discoveries, with key points being discussed in detail. The current
star formation in our galaxy is emphasized, because the most
detailed observations are available for this case. The book
presents a comparison of the various scenarios for star formation,
discusses the basic physics underlying each one, and follows in
detail the history of a star from its initial state in the
interstellar gas to its becoming a condensed object in equilibrium.
Both theoretical and observational evidence to support the validity
of the general evolutionary path are presented, and methods for
comparing the two are emphasized. The author is a recognized expert
in calculations of the evolution of protostars, the structure and
evolution of disks, and stellar evolution in general. This book
will be of value to graduate students in astronomy and astrophysics
as well as to active researchers in the field.
Review: Review of the first edition: 'A fresh and exciting
introduction to modern galactic physics on the grand scale, and of
its connections to other broad domains of contemporary physics.
Graduate students in particular, will appreciate the clarity of
presentation.' Bruno Coppi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Review of the first edition: 'This book fills a major need for a
graduate-level, physically-based introduction to galaxies, and will
be of a very wide appeal as a course text. The original approach
leads to a rich physical intuition of real kinematical systems. A
particular strength is the detailed analysis of the limitations of
current methods and theories.' Gerry Gilmore, University of
Cambridge Review of the first edition: 'Giuseppe Bertin's Dynamics
of Galaxies is an elucidating account of a graduate course given by
Bertin over the past two decades ... His] book is particularly
useful for students interested in mathematical methods of galactic
dynamics. Bertin's comparisons between galactic dynamics and plasma
physics are also innovative and illustrative.' Debra Elmegreen,
Physics Today
It has been known for a long time that stars are similar to our
Sun. But it was only in 1810 that they were shown to be made of an
incandescent gas. The chemical composition of this gas began to be
determined in 1860. In 1940, it was demonstrated that the energy
radiated by the stars is of thermonuclear origin. How stars form
from interstellar matter and how they evolve and die was understood
only recently, with our knowledge still incomplete. It was also
realized recently that close double stars present a wide variety of
extraordinary phenomena, which are far from being completely
explored.This book explains all these aspects, and also discusses
how the evolution of stars determine that of galaxies. The most
interesting observations are illustrated by spectacular images,
while the theory is explained as simply as possible, without
however avoiding some mathematical or physical developments when
they are necessary for a good understanding of what happens in
stars. Without being a textbook for specialists, this book can be
profitably read by students or amateurs possessing some basic
scientific knowledge, who would like to be initiated in-depth to
the fascinating world of stars.The author, an emeritus astronomer
of the Paris Observatory, worked in various domains of astronomy
connected with the subject of this book: interstellar matter and
evolution of stars and galaxies. He directed the Marseilles
observatory from 1983 to 1988 and served for fifteen years as Chief
Editor of the professional European journal Astronomy &
Astrophysics. He has written many articles and books about physics
and astronomy at different levels.
The aim of the inaugural meeting of the Sant Cugat Forum on
Astrophysics was to address, in a global context, the current
understanding of and challenges in high-energy emissions from
isolated and non-isolated neutron stars, and to confront the
theoretical picture with observations of both the Fermi satellite
and the currently operating ground-based Cherenkov telescopes.
Participants have also discussed the prospects for possible
observations with planned instruments across the multi-wavelength
spectrum (e.g. SKA, LOFAR, E-VLT, IXO, CTA) and how they will
impact our theoretical understanding of these systems. In keeping
with the goals of the Forum, this book not only represents the
proceedings of the meeting, but also a reflection on the
state-of-the-art in the topic.
This volume synthesizes the results of work carried out by several
international teams of the SIROCO (Seismology for Rotation and
Convection) collaboration. It provides the theoretical background
required to interpret the huge quantity of high-quality
observational data recently provided by space experiments such as
CoRoT and Kepler. Asteroseismology allows astrophysicists to test,
to model and to understand stellar structure and evolution as never
before. The chapters in this book address the two groups of topics
summarized as "Stellar Rotation and Associated Seismology" as well
as "Stellar Convection and Associated Seismology". The book offers
the reader solid theoretical background knowledge and adapted
seismic diagnostic techniques.
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