Astronomy: A New Frontier in Physics

Author: Marc L. Kutner
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-11-01
Features: This is a comprehensive introduction to celestial bodies and astronomical phenomena, thoroughly revised and updated. By applying basic physical principles to various situations, students will learn how to connect everyday physics knowledge with the astronomical world. The book will start with fundamental celestial bodies and explain in detail how and why astronomical phenomena occur, how astronomers collect information about stars, galaxies, and the solar system, and how they interpret this information. It will provide an overview of the nature of stars, star formation and evolution; neutron stars and black holes; the essence of galaxies and the structure of the universe. It will examine the past, present, and future states of the universe; the final chapter uses the developed concepts to study the solar system and its formation, as well as the possibility of discovering other planetary systems and the search for extraterrestrial life. This comprehensive book also includes many useful formulas and various examples. It is suitable for undergraduate students as a foundational textbook in astronomy, assuming they have basic knowledge of physics and calculus.
Marc L. Kutner received his Ph.D. in physics from Columbia University in 1972. Since 1998, he has been a visiting scholar at the Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to that, he was a professor of physics and astronomy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and a visiting scholar at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. His main research areas involve applied radio astronomy, studying star formation within the Milky Way and other galaxies. He has also conducted research in cosmology.
... Professor Kutner has published three successful textbooks and over 100 research papers.