An Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Preface
1. Introduction
	1.1. Scales and Dimensions
	1.2. Night Sky
	1.3. Constellations
	1.4. Earth, Sun, and the Solar System
		1.4.1. Retrograde Motion of Planets
	1.5. Sidereal Time
	1.6. Astronomical Catalogs and Software
2. Observations
	2.1. Electromagnetic Waves
	2.2. Electromagnetic Spectrum
	2.3. Telescopes
		2.3.1. Refractor Telescope
		2.3.2. Reflecting Telescope
	2.4. Observations at Visible Frequencies
		2.4.1. Theoretical Limit on Resolution
		2.4.2. Seeing
	2.5. Mounting of Telescope
		2.5.1. Equatorial Mount
		2.5.2. Azimuthal Mount
	2.6. Interferometry
	2.7. Observations at Other Wavelengths
3. Astrometry
	3.1. Coordinate Systems
		3.1.1. The Horizontal System
		3.1.2. Equatorial Coordinate System
		3.1.3. Ecliptic System
		3.1.4. Galactic Coordinate System
		3.1.5. Supergalactic Coordinate System
	3.2. Space Velocity and Proper Motion of Stars
		3.2.1. Doppler Effect
	3.3. Parallax
	3.4. Aberration
	3.5. Coordinate Transformations
		3.5.1. Transformation between Equatorial and Ecliptic Coordinate Systems
		3.5.2. Precession of Equinoxes
		3.5.3. Equatorial Mounting of a Telescope
4. Photometry
	4.1. Flux Density and Intensity
		4.1.1. Examples
	4.2. Blackbody Radiation
	4.3. Energy Density in an Isotropic Radiation Field
	4.4. Magnitude Scale
		4.4.1. Apparent Magnitude
		4.4.2. Absolute Magnitude
		4.4.3. The Color Index
		4.4.4. Bolometric Magnitude
	4.5. Stellar Temperatures
		4.5.1. Effective Temperature
		4.5.2. Color Temperature
	4.6. Appendix: Solid Angle
5. Gravitation and Kepler’s Laws
	5.1. Two-Body Problem
	5.2. Application to Solar System
	5.3. Virial Theorem
	5.4. Tidal Forces and Roche Limit
6. Stars, Stellar Spectra, and Classification
	6.1. Stellar Spectra
	6.2. Harvard Classification of Stellar Spectra
	6.3. Saha Equation
	6.4. Derivation of the Saha Equation
		6.4.1. Number of States of a Free Particle in a Box
	6.5. Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) Diagram
	6.6. Star Clusters and Associations
	6.7. Distance and Age Determination of Clusters Using Color-Magnitude Diagram
7. Radiation from Astronomical Sources
	7.1. Continuous Spectra
		7.1.1. Synchrotron Radiation
		7.1.2. Bremsstrahlung or Free-free Emission and Absorption
		7.1.3. Compton Scattering
		7.1.4. Bound-Free Transitions
	7.2. Absorption and Emission Line Spectrum
		7.2.1. Radial Velocity Due to Doppler Effect
		7.2.2. Causes of Finite Width of Spectral Lines
	7.3. Molecular Band Spectra
	7.4. Extinction
		7.4.1. Extinction Coefficient
		7.4.2. Mie Scattering
		7.4.3. Color Excess
8. Stellar Structure
	8.1. Pressure Gradient
	8.2. Mass Distribution
	8.3. Energy Production
	8.4. Temperature Gradient
		8.4.1. Radiative Transport
		8.4.2. Convective Transport
	8.5. Boundary Conditions
	8.6. Rosseland Mean Opacity
	8.7. Equation of State
		8.7.1. Ideal Gas Law
	8.8. Energy Production in Stars
	8.9. Polytropic Model of a Star
	8.10. Appendix: Maxwell–Boltzmann Distribution
9. Stellar Nuclear Reactions
	9.1. Fundamental Interactions
	9.2. Fundamental Particles
	9.3. A Brief Introduction to Neutrinos
	9.4. PP Chain
	9.5. Nuclear Reaction Rate
		9.5.1. Nuclear Reaction Rate: Derivation
		9.5.2. Nuclear Cross Section
		9.5.3. Estimating the Nuclear Reaction Rate
	9.6. Energy Released in Nuclear Reactions
	9.7. Standard Solar Model
10. Star Formation and Stellar Evolution
	10.1. Early Stage of Star Formation
		10.1.1. Fragmentation
	10.2. The Main Sequence Phase
	10.3. Degenerate Free Electron Gas
	10.4. Evolution beyond the Main Sequence
		10.4.1. Evolution in the Mass Range 0.08M⊙  8.0M⊙
	10.5. Population I, II, and III Stars
	10.6. White Dwarfs
	10.7. Neutron Star
	10.8. Black Holes
	10.9. Supernova
11. The Sun
	11.1. Solar Atmosphere
		11.1.1. Photosphere
		11.1.2. Chromosphere
		11.1.3. Corona
	11.2. Dynamo Mechanism for Magnetic Field Enhancement
	11.3. Sunspots and the Solar Cycle
	11.4. Some Transient Phenomena
12. The Solar System
	12.1. Orbital Properties of Planets
	12.2. Retrograde Motion of Planets
	12.3. Albedo and Temperature of Planets
	12.4. Terrestrial Planets: Interior Structure
	12.5. Jovian Planets
	12.6. The Moon
		12.6.1. Eclipses and Occultations
	12.7. Why Did Pluto Lose Its Planetship?
	12.8. Formation of the Solar System
13. Binary Stars
	13.1. Kinematics of a Binary Star System
	13.2. Classification of Binary Stars
	13.3. Mass Determination
	13.4. Mass Transfer in Binary Systems
14. The Milky Way
	14.1. The Distance Ladder
	14.2. Distribution of Matter in the Milky Way
	14.3. Differential Rotation of the Milky Way
	14.4. Mapping the Galactic Disk with Radio Waves
	14.5. Formation of the Spiral Arms
15. Galaxies
	15.1. Elliptical Galaxies
	15.2. Spiral Galaxies
	15.3. Evidence for Dark Matter
	15.4. Galaxy Clusters and Superclusters
16. Cosmology
	16.1. Euclidean Space
	16.2. Curved Space
	16.3. Minkowski Space-Time
	16.4. Big Bang Cosmology
		16.4.1. Cosmological Redshift and Hubble’s Law
		16.4.2. FRW Line Element
		16.4.3. Matter and Radiation
		16.4.4. Cosmological Evolution Equations
		16.4.5. Accelerating Universe and Dark Energy
	16.5. The Early Universe
		16.5.1. Primordial Nucleosynthesis
		16.5.2. Recombination
		16.5.3. Structure Formation
		16.5.4. Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR)
17. Active Galaxies
	17.1. Active Galactic Nuclei: Some Basic Properties
		17.1.1. Size of AGNs
		17.1.2. Luminosity
		17.1.3. Superluminal Motion
	17.2. Classification of Active Galaxies
		17.2.1. Seyfert Galaxies
		17.2.2. Radio Galaxies
		17.2.3. Quasars
		17.2.4. Blazars
	17.3. Unified Model of AGNs
Solutions
Appendix: Fundamental Constants and Conversion of Units
References
Index