Discovering the Cosmos, second edition - Softcover

R.C. Bless

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1891389718 ISBN 13: 9781891389719

Publisher: University Science Books, 2013

Synopsis

<br/>Based on the very popular liberal arts course Bob Bless has taught at University of Wisconsin for many years, this book provides a rich, historical approach to introductory astronomy. It is ideal for use in an introductory astronomy course for non-majors. In the fifteen years since the first edition of this text was published, several new concepts such as dark matter, dark energy, and an incredible expansion of the universe (inflation) have been developed. Furthermore, many of the exotic effects predicted by General Relativity (e.g. black holes, warped space) have gone from being interesting theoretical speculations to useful practical tools for understanding the universe. This book aims to give an overview of astronomy, but in such a way that the non-science major can get a feeling for how science actually developed with its false starts and wrong turns, which observational evidence eventually corrected, and also to describe the incredible recent developments in our understanding of the physical universe. Several chapters of this second edition have been extensively revised to include these recent developments.
Because it has become increasingly difficult to cover all of astronomy in a one-semester course, this edition has largely omitted coverage of the physical nature of the objects in our, and other, planetary systems, although a discussion of the possibility of life elsewhere closes the book.<br/><br/>

Contents

1. Comments to the Reader<br/><br/> PART I: Cosmology From the Beginnings through Newton<br/> 2. The Naked-Eye Sky<br/> 3. Early Greek Astronomy<br/> 4. The Beginnings of Quantitative Astronomy<br/> 5. The New Astronomy<br/> 6. Newtonian Synthesis<br/><br/> PART II: The Tools of the Astronomer<br/> 7. Tools of the Astronomer – Physical Concepts<br/> 8. Tools of the Astronomer – Hardware<br/><br/> PART III: The Life and Death of Stars<br/> 9. Reading Stellar Spectra<br/> 10. The Hertzsprung–Russell Diagram<br/> 11. The Structure of Stars<br/> 12. The Interstellar Medium – Birthplace of the Stars<br/> 13. Stellar Evolution – The Early Phases<br/> 14. The Late Phases of Stellar Evolution – Degenerate Corpses<br/> 15. Black Holes<br/><br/> Part IV: Cosmology from Herschel to the Present<br/> 16. The Discovery of Galaxies<br/> 17. The University of Galaxies<br/> 18. Active Galaxies<br/> 19. The First Cosmological Clues<br/> 20. Models of the Universe<br/> 21. The Mysterious Universe<br/><br/> Epilogue<br/> 22. Life Elsewhere: Are We Alone? <br/> Appendices<br/> Index

About this title

About the Author

R.C. BLESS is from the University of Wisconsin, USA.

Edition details

• Publisher: University Science Books
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1891389718
• ISBN 13: 9781891389719
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 728