The New Cosmos (Heidelberg Science Library) - Softcover

Unsold, Albrecht; Baschek, Bodo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0387908862 ISBN 13: 9780387908861

Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York Inc., 1985

Synopsis

to the Second Edition The development of astronomy in the last ten years has been nothing short of explosive. This second edition of The New Cosmos, considerably revised and enlarged, tries to share this development with its readers. Let us mention a few key words: from mo on landings, planetary probes, aild continental drift through pulsars, X-ray and y-ray sources, interstellar molecules, quasars, and the structure and evolution of stars and stellar systems right up to cosmological models. As before, the most important task of this book is to give a not too difficult introduction to present-day astronomy and astrophysics, both to the student of astronomy and to the specialist from a neighboring discipline. We therefore draw to the attention of the reader, as an essential part of our description, the numerous illustrations-many of them new-and their detailed captions. As far as possible we link a description of important observations with basic features of the theory. On the other hand, when it comes to detail we often content ourselves with abrief description, leaving the detailed explanation to the specialist literature. The transition to the specialist literature should be eased by the Bibliography at the end of the book. Important new investigations are noted in the text by their year, not so much for historical reasons as to enable the original work to be found in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts (1969 on).

About this title

Review:

From the reviews of the fifth edition:

"... The library copies of the earlier editions are well thumbed, which is a good indication of how often they are referenced. I have no doubt that this new edition will prove as popular."
(Journal of the British Astronomical Association)

"The present volume remains, I believe, a valuable contribution to astronomy education, particularly because of its enormous breadth at a level of detail not really found elsewhere. For many an undergraduate course it should provide an ideal text, while for a wide range of other situations ... it will provide an excellent companion; even among the professional community, it will be a handy reference ... . It is nicely produced and at a very reasonable price." (David Stickland, The Observatory, Vol. 122 (1167), 2002)

From the Back Cover:

This new edition of the classic textbook The New Cosmos presents a comprehensive introductory survey of the whole field of astronomy and astrophysics.
Among the topics covered are:
- Classical astronomy and the Solar System
- Instruments and observational methods
- The Sun and the stars
- The Milky Way and other galaxies
- Cosmology
- The origin of the Solar System

- The evolution of the Earth and of life
The observational methods and results of astronomical research as well as their theoretical foundations and interrelations are presented in an understandable format. The rapid progress of observational techniques and of theoretical understanding in the past decade are introduced and summarized in this timely and readable volume.

This revised and extended new printing demonstrates the rapid advances in astronomical research and observation in the three years since the appearance of the 5th edition. The most important new results can be found within, providing in particular up-to-date information on our solar system, neutrino radiation from the Sun, the farthest galaxies and quasars and the development of the Universe.

About this edition

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0387908862
• ISBN 13: 9780387908861
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 479