Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe / Edition 8|Paperback

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900134087701
Publication date:	01/03/2016
Pages:	592
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

About our authors

Eric Chaisson holds a Doctorate in Astrophysics from Harvard University, where he spent 10 years on the faculty of Arts and Sciences. For more than two decades thereafter, he served on the senior science staff at the Space Telescope Science Institute and held various professorships at Johns Hopkins and Tufts universities. He is now back at Harvard, where he teaches and conducts research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Eric has written 12 books on astronomy and has published nearly 200 scientific papers in professional journals.

Steve McMillan holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University and a Doctorate in Astronomy from Harvard University. He held postdoctoral positions at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University, where he continued his research in theoretical astrophysics, star clusters, and high-performance computing. Steve is currently Distinguished Professor of Physics at Drexel University and a frequent visiting researcher at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study and Leiden University. He has published more than 100 articles and scientific papers in professional journals.

Emily L. Rice, College of Staten Island, City University of New York holds bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy and German from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree and doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics from UCLA. After completing her Ph.D. she held a postdoctoral position at the American Museum of Natural History, where she is still a resident research associate. Emily is currently Assistant Professor at the College of Staten Island and doctoral faculty in physics at the Graduate Center, both part of the City University of New York. In addition to her research on low-mass stars, brown dwarfs, and exoplanets as co-PI of the Brown Dwarfs in New York City (BDNYC) group, she is the co-author of Astronomy Labs: A Concept Oriented Approach and co-founder of the astronomy fashion blog STARtorialist.

Read an Excerpt

PREFACE:

PREFACE

Astronomy continues to enjoy a golden age of exploration and discovery. Fueled by new technologies and novel theoretical insights, the study of the cosmos has never been more exciting. We are pleased to have the opportunity to present in this book a representative sample of the known facts, evolving ideas, and frontier discoveries in astronomy today.

Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe has been written for students who have taken no previous college science courses and who will likely not major in physics or astronomy. It is intended primarily for use in a one-semester, non-technical astronomy course. We present a broad view of astronomy, straightforwardly descriptive and without complex mathematics. The absence of sophisticated mathematics, however, in no way prevents discussion of important concepts. Rather, we rely on qualitative reasoning as well as analogies with objects and phenomena familiar to the student to explain the complexities of the subject without oversimplification. We have tried to communicate the excitement that we feel about astronomy and to awaken students to the marvelous universe around us.

We are very gratified that the first two editions of this text have been so well received by many in the astronomy education community. In using those earlier texts, many of you—teachers and students alike—have given us helpful feedback and constructive criticisms. From these, we have learned to communicate better both the fundamentals and the excitement of astronomy. Many improvements inspired by your comments, as well as numerous innovations and popular new features from our companionhardback text Astronomy Today, have been incorporated into this new edition.

Organization and Approach

As in the first two editions, our organization follows the popular and effective "Earth-out" progression. We have found that most students, especially those with little scientific background, are much more comfortable studying the relatively familiar solar system before tackling stars and galaxies. Thus, Earth is the first object we discuss in detail. With Earth and Moon as our initial planetary models, we move through the solar system. Integral to our coverage of the solar system is a discussion of its formation. This line of investigation leads directly into a study of the Sun.

With the Sun as our model star, we broaden the scope of our discussion to include stars in general—their properties, their evolutionary histories, and their varied fates. This journey naturally leads us to coverage of the Milky Way Galaxy, which in turn serves as an introduction to our treatment of other galaxies, both normal and active. Finally, we reach the subject of cosmology and the large-scale structure and dynamics of the universe as a whole. Throughout, we strive to emphasize the dynamic nature of the cosmos—virtually every major topic, from planets to quasars, includes a discussion of how those objects formed and how they evolve.

We continue to place much of the needed physics in the early chapters—an approach derived from years of experience teaching thousands of students. Additional physical principles are developed as needed later, both in the text narrative and in the boxed More Precisely features (described on p. xiv). We feel strongly that this is the most economical and efficient means of presentation. However, we acknowledge that not all instructors feel the same way. Accordingly, we have made the treatment of physics, as well as the more quantitative discussions, as modular as possible, so that these topics can be deferred to later stages of an astronomy course if desired. Instructors presenting this material in a 1-quarter course, who wish to (or have time to) cover only the essentials of the solar system before proceeding on to the study of stars and the rest of the universe, may want to teach only Chapter 4, and then move directly to Chapter 9 (the Sun).

New and Revised Material

Astronomy is a rapidly evolving field, and the three years since the publication of the second edition of Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe have seen many new discoveries covering the entire spectrum of astronomical research. Almost every chapter in the third edition has been substantially updated with new and late-breaking information. Several chapters have also seen significant internal reorganization in order to streamline the overall presentation. Among the many changes are:

Addition of more quantitative material and worked examples to both the text and More Precisely boxes throughout the book.
Updates to material on ground-based adaptive optics and interferometry, the present status of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, and new coverage of the Chandra Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (Chapter 3).
Discussion of the NEAR mission to asteroid Eros (Chapter 4).
Expanded discussion of the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud (Chapters 4 and 8).
Further updates on the search for extrasolar planets (Chapter 4).
Expanded discussion of tidal forces (Chapter 5).
Updates on lunar exploration by Clementine and Lunar Prospector (Chapter 5).
Updated discussion of recent spacecraft missions to Mars—Pathfinder, Sojourner, Polar Lander, and Global Surveyor (Chapter 6).
Continuing coverage of the Galileo mission to Jupiter and its main findings regarding that planet's Galilean satellites (Chapters 7 and 8).
The reported detection of neutrino oscillations, and its relevance to the solar neutrino problem (Chapter 9).
New H-R diagram based on Hipparcos data on nearby stars (Chapter 10).
Expanded material on the search for brown dwarfs (Chapter 11).
New composite H-R diagram for the oldest globular clusters (Chapter 12).
Greatly expanded discussion of cosmic gamma-ray bursts (Chapter 13).
Update on the LIGO project (Chapter 13).
Expanded coverage of conditions near the Galactic center (Chapter 14).
Updated Hubble's constant of 65 km/s/Mpc used consistently throughout the text (Chapter 15).
New imagery and discussion of galaxy collisions (Chapter 15).
Updated observations of quasar host galaxies (Chapter 16).
Incorporation of larger-scale (Las Campanas) redshift surveys into the text discussion of the cosmological principle (Chapter 17).
Extensive discussion of the "accelerating universe," the cosmological constant, and their possible ramifications for the structure and large-scale geometry of the cosmos (Chapter 17).

The Illustration Program

Visualization plays an important role in both the teaching and the practice of astronomy, and we continue to place strong emphasis on this aspect of our book. We have tried to combine aesthetic beauty with scientific accuracy in the artist's conceptions that adorn the text, and we have sought to present the best and latest imagery of a wide range of cosmic objects. Each illustration has been carefully crafted to enhance student learning; each is pedagogically sound and tightly tied to nearby discussion of important scientific facts and ideas.

Full-Spectrum Coverage and Spectrum Icons. Increasingly, astronomers are exploiting the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum to gather information about the cosmos. Throughout this book, images taken at radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X ray, or gamma ray wavelengths are used to supplement visible-light images. As it is sometimes difficult (even for a professional) to tell at a glance which images are visible-light photographs and which are false-color images created with other wavelengths, each photo in the text is provided with an icon that identifies the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation used to capture the image.

Other Pedagogical Features

As with many other parts of our text, adopting instructors have helped guide us toward what is most helpful for effective student learning. With their assistance, we have revised both our in-chapter and end-of-chapter pedagogical apparatus to increase its utility to students.

Learning Goals. Studies indicate that beginning students often have trouble prioritizing textual material. For this reason, a few (typically 5 or 6) well-defined Learning Goals are provided at the start of each chapter. These help students to structure their reading of the chapter and then test their mastery of key facts and concepts. The Goals are numbered and cross-referenced to key sections in the body of each chapter. This in-text highlighting of the most important aspects of the chapter also helps students to review. The Goals are organized and phrased in such a way as to make them objectively testable, affording students a means of gauging their own progress.

Compound Art. It is rare that a single image, be it a photograph or an artist's conception, can capture all aspects of a complex subject. Wherever possible, multiple-part figures are used in an attempt to convey the greatest amount of information in the most vivid way:

Visible images are often presented along with their counterparts captured at other wavelengths.
Interpretive line drawings are often superimposed on or juxtaposed with real astronomical photographs, helping students to really "see" what the photographs reveal.
Breakouts—often multiple ones—are used to zoom in from wide-field shots to close-ups, so that detailed images can be understood in their larger context.

Explanatory Captions. Students often review a chapter by "looking at the pictures." For this reason, the captions in this book are often a bit longer and more detailed than those in other texts.

H-R Diagrams and Acetate Overlays. All of the book's H-R diagrams are drawn in a uniform format, using real data. In addition, a unique set of transparent acetate overlays dramatically demonstrate to students how the H-R diagram helps us to organize our information about the stars and track their evolutionary histories.

Key Terms. Like all subjects, astronomy has its own specialized vocabulary. To aid student learning, the most important astronomical terms are boldfaced at their first appearance in the text. Each boldfaced Key Term is also incorporated in the appropriate chapter summary, together with the page number where it was defined. In addition, a full alphabetical glossary, defining each Key Term and locating its first use in the text, appears at the end of the book.

Interludes explore a variety of interesting supplementary topics, such as The Hubble Space Telescope, Life on Mars?, A Cometary Impact, Supernova I 987A, Colliding Galaxies, The Cosmological Constant, and What Killed the Dinosaurs?

More Precisely boxes provide more quantitative treatments of subjects discussed qualitatively in the text. Removing these more challenging topics from the main flow of the narrative and placing them within a separate modular element of the chapter design (so that they can be covered in class, assigned as supplementary material, or simply left as optional reading for those students who find them of interest) will allow instructors greater flexibility in setting the level of their coverage.

Concept Checks. New to this edition, we have incorporated into each chapter a number of "Concept Checks"—key questions that require the reader to reconsider some of the material just presented or attempt to place it into a broader context.

Cross-Links. In astronomy, as in many scientific disciplines, almost every topic seems to have some bearing on almost every other. In particular, the connection between the specifically astronomical material and the physical principles set forth early in the text is crucial. It is important that students,kwhen they encounter, say, Hubble's Law in Chapter 16, recall what they learned about spectral lines and the Doppler shift in Chapter 2. Similarly, the discussions of the masses of binary star components (Chapter 10) and of galactic rotation (Chapter 14) both depend on the discussion of Kepler's and Newton's laws in Chapter 1. Throughout, discussions of new astronomical objects and concepts rely heavily on comparison with topics introduced earlier in the text.

It is important to remind students of these links so that they can recall the principles on which later discussions rest and, if necessary, review them. To this end, we have inserted "cross-links" throughout the text—symbols that mark key intellectual bridges between material in different chapters. The links, denoted by the infinity symbol together with a section reference (and a hyperlink on the accompanying CD-ROM), signal to students that the topic under discussion is related in some significant way to ideas developed earlier, and direct them to material that they might wish to review before proceeding.

Chapter Summaries. The Chapter Summaries, a primary review tool for the student, have been expanded and improved for the second edition. All Key Terms introduced in each chapter are listed again, in context and in boldface, in these Summaries, along with page references to the text discussion.

Questions, Problems, and Projects. Many elements of the end-of-chapter material have seen substantial reorganization:

Each chapter now incorporates 30 Self-Test Questions, equally divided between "true/false" and "fill-in-the-blank" formats, designed to allow students to assess their understanding of the chapter material. Answers to all these questions appear at the end of the book. Each chapter also has 15 Review and Discussion Questions, which may be used for in-class review or for assignment. As with the Self-Test Questions, the material needed to answer Review Questions may be found within the chapter. The Discussion Questions explore particular topics more deeply, often asking for opinions, not just facts. As with all discussions, these questions usually have no single "correct" answer.
The end of chapter material includes a number of Problems, based on the chapter contents and entailing some numerical calculation. In this edition we have increased the number of problems to 10, have significantly broadened their range of difficulty, and in many cases have tied their contents directly to quantitative statements made (but not worked out in detail) in the text. The solutions to the problems are not contained verbatim within the chapter, but the information necessary to solve them has been presented in the text. Answers appear at the end of the book.
Each chapter ends with a few (2-4) Projects meant to get the student out of the classroom and looking at the sky, although some entail research in libraries or other extracurricular activities.

CD-ROM

The free CD for Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide 3/e is included at the end of the text and contains a fully hyperlinked electronic version of the text to help the reader quickly find related information and assist in review. It also contains integrated animations and videos to bring text figures to life, and links to our companion website, which is organized by text chapter and updated monthly. The CD for this edition has been redesigned for easier and clearer navigation, and to include larger, higher-resolution videos with voice-overs. We are excited about the innovative use of media to complement the text and look forward to your response to it.

The CD-ROM material can be used on both Macintosh and PC computers using any standard browser (such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer). For those students who do not already have a browser, Netscape Navigator 4.08 is included on the CD. A script to facilitate use of the CD under UNIX is available at ftp://ftp.prenhall.com/pub/esm/physics.s-085/chaissonbg/

Web Site

For both teachers and students, we have created a companion website specifically for Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide 3/e at ...

Preface

PREFACE

Astronomy continues to enjoy a golden age of exploration and discovery. Fueled by new technologies and novel theoretical insights, the study of the cosmos has never been more exciting. We are pleased to have the opportunity to present in this book a representative sample of the known facts, evolving ideas, and frontier discoveries in astronomy today.

Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe has been written for students who have taken no previous college science courses and who will likely not major in physics or astronomy. It is intended primarily for use in a one-semester, non-technical astronomy course. We present a broad view of astronomy, straightforwardly descriptive and without complex mathematics. The absence of sophisticated mathematics, however, in no way prevents discussion of important concepts. Rather, we rely on qualitative reasoning as well as analogies with objects and phenomena familiar to the student to explain the complexities of the subject without oversimplification. We have tried to communicate the excitement that we feel about astronomy and to awaken students to the marvelous universe around us.

We are very gratified that the first two editions of this text have been so well received by many in the astronomy education community. In using those earlier texts, many of you—teachers and students alike—have given us helpful feedback and constructive criticisms. From these, we have learned to communicate better both the fundamentals and the excitement of astronomy. Many improvements inspired by your comments, as well as numerous innovations and popular new features from our companion hardback textAstronomy Today, have been incorporated into this new edition.

Organization and Approach

As in the first two editions, our organization follows the popular and effective "Earth-out" progression. We have found that most students, especially those with little scientific background, are much more comfortable studying the relatively familiar solar system before tackling stars and galaxies. Thus, Earth is the first object we discuss in detail. With Earth and Moon as our initial planetary models, we move through the solar system. Integral to our coverage of the solar system is a discussion of its formation. This line of investigation leads directly into a study of the Sun.

With the Sun as our model star, we broaden the scope of our discussion to include stars in general—their properties, their evolutionary histories, and their varied fates. This journey naturally leads us to coverage of the Milky Way Galaxy, which in turn serves as an introduction to our treatment of other galaxies, both normal and active. Finally, we reach the subject of cosmology and the large-scale structure and dynamics of the universe as a whole. Throughout, we strive to emphasize the dynamic nature of the cosmos—virtually every major topic, from planets to quasars, includes a discussion of how those objects formed and how they evolve.

We continue to place much of the needed physics in the early chapters—an approach derived from years of experience teaching thousands of students. Additional physical principles are developed as needed later, both in the text narrative and in the boxed More Precisely features (described on p. xiv). We feel strongly that this is the most economical and efficient means of presentation. However, we acknowledge that not all instructors feel the same way. Accordingly, we have made the treatment of physics, as well as the more quantitative discussions, as modular as possible, so that these topics can be deferred to later stages of an astronomy course if desired. Instructors presenting this material in a 1-quarter course, who wish to (or have time to) cover only the essentials of the solar system before proceeding on to the study of stars and the rest of the universe, may want to teach only Chapter 4, and then move directly to Chapter 9 (the Sun).

New and Revised Material

Astronomy is a rapidly evolving field, and the three years since the publication of the second edition of Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe have seen many new discoveries covering the entire spectrum of astronomical research. Almost every chapter in the third edition has been substantially updated with new and late-breaking information. Several chapters have also seen significant internal reorganization in order to streamline the overall presentation. Among the many changes are:

Addition of more quantitative material and worked examples to both the text and More Precisely boxes throughout the book.
Updates to material on ground-based adaptive optics and interferometry, the present status of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, and new coverage of the Chandra Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (Chapter 3).
Discussion of the NEAR mission to asteroid Eros (Chapter 4).
Expanded discussion of the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud (Chapters 4 and 8).
Further updates on the search for extrasolar planets (Chapter 4).
Expanded discussion of tidal forces (Chapter 5).
Updates on lunar exploration by Clementine and Lunar Prospector (Chapter 5).
Updated discussion of recent spacecraft missions to Mars—Pathfinder, Sojourner, Polar Lander, and Global Surveyor (Chapter 6).
Continuing coverage of the Galileo mission to Jupiter and its main findings regarding that planet's Galilean satellites (Chapters 7 and 8).
The reported detection of neutrino oscillations, and its relevance to the solar neutrino problem (Chapter 9).
New H-R diagram based on Hipparcos data on nearby stars (Chapter 10).
Expanded material on the search for brown dwarfs (Chapter 11).
New composite H-R diagram for the oldest globular clusters (Chapter 12).
Greatly expanded discussion of cosmic gamma-ray bursts (Chapter 13).
Update on the LIGO project (Chapter 13).
Expanded coverage of conditions near the Galactic center (Chapter 14).
Updated Hubble's constant of 65 km/s/Mpc used consistently throughout the text (Chapter 15).
New imagery and discussion of galaxy collisions (Chapter 15).
Updated observations of quasar host galaxies (Chapter 16).
Incorporation of larger-scale (Las Campanas) redshift surveys into the text discussion of the cosmological principle (Chapter 17).
Extensive discussion of the "accelerating universe," the cosmological constant, and their possible ramifications for the structure and large-scale geometry of the cosmos (Chapter 17).

The Illustration Program

Visualization plays an important role in both the teaching and the practice of astronomy, and we continue to place strong emphasis on this aspect of our book. We have tried to combine aesthetic beauty with scientific accuracy in the artist's conceptions that adorn the text, and we have sought to present the best and latest imagery of a wide range of cosmic objects. Each illustration has been carefully crafted to enhance student learning; each is pedagogically sound and tightly tied to nearby discussion of important scientific facts and ideas.

Full-Spectrum Coverage and Spectrum Icons. Increasingly, astronomers are exploiting the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum to gather information about the cosmos. Throughout this book, images taken at radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X ray, or gamma ray wavelengths are used to supplement visible-light images. As it is sometimes difficult (even for a professional) to tell at a glance which images are visible-light photographs and which are false-color images created with other wavelengths, each photo in the text is provided with an icon that identifies the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation used to capture the image.

Other Pedagogical Features

As with many other parts of our text, adopting instructors have helped guide us toward what is most helpful for effective student learning. With their assistance, we have revised both our in-chapter and end-of-chapter pedagogical apparatus to increase its utility to students.

Learning Goals. Studies indicate that beginning students often have trouble prioritizing textual material. For this reason, a few (typically 5 or 6) well-defined Learning Goals are provided at the start of each chapter. These help students to structure their reading of the chapter and then test their mastery of key facts and concepts. The Goals are numbered and cross-referenced to key sections in the body of each chapter. This in-text highlighting of the most important aspects of the chapter also helps students to review. The Goals are organized and phrased in such a way as to make them objectively testable, affording students a means of gauging their own progress.

Compound Art. It is rare that a single image, be it a photograph or an artist's conception, can capture all aspects of a complex subject. Wherever possible, multiple-part figures are used in an attempt to convey the greatest amount of information in the most vivid way:

Visible images are often presented along with their counterparts captured at other wavelengths.
Interpretive line drawings are often superimposed on or juxtaposed with real astronomical photographs, helping students to really "see" what the photographs reveal.
Breakouts—often multiple ones—are used to zoom in from wide-field shots to close-ups, so that detailed images can be understood in their larger context.