Starlight: An Introduction to Stellar Physics for Amateurs

✍ Scribed by Keith Robinson (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 274
• Series: Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

When you look up at the sky at night and see the stars, do you understand what you’re looking at? What is starlight made up of, and how does it travel to us? How are stars born, and how do they die? How do we figure out how far away are the stars and how massive they are? Can we know which stars will go supernova and which will end up as white dwarfs or black holes? How long will our Sun continue to shine down on us, and how do we know its age?

There are so many questions, and in this engaging and informative book by Keith Robinson, which serves as a companion to his very popular earlier book called Spectroscopy – the Key to the Stars, you will learn the basics of stellar physics and the answers to many of these questions, as well as how to figure out some of those answers for yourself.

We have come so far in our understanding of stellar light and heat. By reading this book, you, too, can understand many of the secrets of the fiery Sun that rules our Solar System and the gemlike points of light in the night sky.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-ix
A River of Starlight....Pages 1-5
Starlight by Numbers....Pages 7-22
From Light to Starlight....Pages 23-57
Space – The Great Radiation Field....Pages 59-85
A Multitude of Magnitudes for the Colors of Starlight....Pages 87-117
The Photons Must Get Through – Radiative Transfer....Pages 119-143
First Look Inside a Star – The Atmosphere....Pages 145-173
Deep Inside a Star....Pages 175-214
In the Space Between Stars....Pages 215-233
A Star Story − 10 Billion Years in the Making....Pages 235-263
Back Matter....Pages 265-277

✦ Subjects

Astronomy, Observations and Techniques; Popular Science in Astronomy