Astrophysics Is Easy!: An Introduction for the Amateur Astronomer

Preface
Rationale for the Book
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Author
Chapter 1: Tools of the Trade
	1.1. Angular Measurement
	1.2. Distances in Astronomy
	1.3. Brightness and Luminosity of Astronomical Objects
	1.4. Magnitudes
		1.4.1 Apparent Magnitude
		1.4.2 Absolute Magnitude
	1.5. The Visually Brightest Stars
	1.6. The Colour of Stars
	1.7. The Sizes of Stars
	1.8. The Constituents of Stars
	1.9. Telescope Basics
		1.9.1 Magnification
		1.9.2 Resolution
		1.9.3 Limiting Magnitude
		1.9.4 Field of View
	1.10. Atmospheric Effects
		1.10.1 Transparency
		1.10.2 Seeing
		1.10.3 Light Pollution
		1.10.4 Dark Adaption and Averted Vision
Chapter 2: The Solar System
	2.1.	 Early History of Astronomy
		2.1.1 The Geocentric Universe
		2.1.2 The Scientific Method
		2.1.3 Ancient Greek Science
		2.1.4 The Ptolemaic System
		2.1.5 The Copernican Revolution
		2.1.6 Tycho—The Great Observer
		2.1.7 Kepler—The Great Theoretician
		2.1.8 Galileo—The Great Experimenter
		2.1.9 Newton—The Genius
		2.1.10 The Greenhouse Effect
	2.2.	 Observing the Solar System
		2.2.1 The Moon
		2.2.2 Mercury
		2.2.3 Venus
		2.2.4 Jupiter
		2.2.5 Uranus
Chapter 3: Spectroscopy and the Spectral Sequence
	3.1. Spectra and Spectroscopy
	3.2. Stellar Classification
	3.3. Amateur Astronomical Spectroscopy
	3.4. Redshift and Blueshift
Chapter 4: The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
	4.1. Introduction
	4.2. The H-R Diagram and Stellar Radius
	4.3. The H-R Diagram and Stellar Luminosity
	4.4. The H-R Diagram and Stellar Mass
Chapter 5: The Interstellar Medium and Protostars
	5.1. Introduction
	5.2. Nebulae
	5.3. Emission Nebulae
	5.4. Dark Nebulae
	5.5. Reflection Nebulae
	5.6. Molecular Clouds
	5.7. Protostars
	5.8. The Jeans Criterion
Chapter 6: Star Birth
	6.1. The Birth of a Star
	6.2. Pre-Main-Sequence Evolution and the Effect of Mass
	6.3. Mass Loss and Mass Gain
		6.3.1 T Tauri Stars
		6.3.2 Discs and Winds
	6.4. Star Formation Triggers
		6.4.1 The Spiral Arms of a Galaxy
		6.4.2 Expanding HII Regions
		6.4.3 Supernova
Chapter 7: Galactic Clusters and Stellar Associations
	7.1. Galactic Star Clusters
	7.2. Trumpler Classification for Star Clusters
		7.2.1 Concentration
		7.2.2 Range of Brightness
		7.2.3 Richness of Cluster
	7.3. Stellar Associations and Streams
Chapter 8: The Sun, Our Nearest Star
	8.1.	 From the Core to the Surface
	8.2.	 The Proton-Proton Chain
	8.3.	 Energy Transport from the Core to the Surface
	8.4.	 Sunspots
		8.4.1 The Solar Cycle
		8.4.2 The Maunder Minimum
		8.4.3 The Solar Magnetic Cycle
	8.5.	 Prominences, Flares, Coronal Mass Ejections, and the Solar Wind
Chapter 9: Binary Stars and Stellar Mass
	9.1. Binary Stars
	9.2. The Masses of Orbiting Stars
Chapter 10: Life on the Main Sequence
	10.1. Lifetimes of Main Sequence Stars
	10.2. Red Giant Stars
	10.3. Helium Burning and the Helium Flash
	10.4. Globular Star Clusters and the H-R Diagram
	10.5. Post-Main Sequence Star Clusters—The Globular Clusters
	10.6. Pulsating Stars
	10.7. Why Do Stars Pulsate?
	10.8. Cepheid Variables and the Period-Luminosity Relation
	10.9. Temperature and Mass of Cepheids
	10.10. RR Lyrae and Long-Period Variable Stars
Chapter 11: Star Death: White Dwarfs and Planetary Nebulae
	11.1. The Death of Stars
	11.2. The Asymptotic Giant Branch
	11.3. Dredge-Ups
	11.4. Mass Loss and Stellar Winds
	11.5. Infrared Stars
	11.6. The End of an AGB Star’s Life
	11.7. Planetary Nebulae
	11.8. White Dwarf Stars
		11.8.1 Electron Degeneracy
		11.8.2 The Chandrasekhar Limit
		11.8.3 White Dwarf Origins
		11.8.4 Composition of White Dwarfs
		11.8.5 White Dwarf Evolution
		11.8.6 Spectral Types of White Dwarfs
Chapter 12: Star Death: Supernovae, & Neutron Stars
	12.1. High-Mass Stars and Nuclear Burning
	12.2. Supernovae and the Formation of Elements
	12.3. Supernova Remnants
	12.4. Types of Supernovae
	12.5. Hypernovae
	12.6. Neutron Stars and Pulsars
Chapter 13: An Interlude: Special & General Relativity
	13.1. Introduction
	13.2. Special Relativity
	13.3. What Is Relative?
	13.4. Time Dilation, Length Contraction and Relativistic Mass
		13.4.1 Time Dilation
		13.4.2 Length Contraction
		13.4.3 Relativistic Mass
	13.5. General Relativity
	13.6. Spacetime
	13.7. Curved Spacetime
	13.8. Gravity and the Equivalence Principle
Chapter 14: Black Holes
	14.1. Black Hole Basics
	14.2. The Singularity
	14.3. The Event Horizon
	14.4. Rotating and Kerr Black Holes
	14.5. The Lifetime of a Black Hole and Hawking Radiation
	14.6. Size of a Black Hole
	14.7. Spaghettification
	14.8. Time Travel
	14.9. Finding Black Holes
Chapter 15: Exoplanets
	15.1. Introduction
	15.2. Types of Exoplanets
	15.3. Exocomets, Exomoons and Exoasteroids
	15.4. Techniques of Detection
	15.5. Observing Exoplanet Systems
Chapter 16: Galaxies
	16.1. Introduction
	16.2. Galaxy Types
	16.3. Galaxy Structure
	16.4. Stellar Populations
	16.5. Hubble Classification of Galaxies
	16.6. Gérard de Vaucouleurs’s Classification of Galaxies
	16.7. The Milky Way
	16.8. Observing Galaxies
	16.9. Clusters of Galaxies
Chapter 17: Active Galaxies
	17.1. Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN’s)
	17.2. Origin of Nuclear Activity
	17.3. Classification of Active Galaxies
	17.4. AGN Variability
	17.5. Starburst Galaxies
	17.6. Observing Active Galaxies
Chapter 18: Cosmology
	18.1. The Big Bang
	18.2. Hubble and Humason
	18.3. After the Big Bang
	18.4. Evidence for and Against the Big Bang Theory
	18.5. The Inflationary Model
		18.5.1 Inflation and the Cosmic Microwave Background Variations
		18.5.2 Inflation and the Horizon Problem
		18.5.3 Inflation and the Flatness Problem
	18.6. Dark Matter and Dark Energy
	18.7. The Future of the Universe
	18.8. Cosmology and the Amateur Astronomer
	18.9. Olber’s Paradox
Chapter 19: The Speculative Universe
	19.1. Introduction
	19.2. Dark Matter
		19.2.1 The History of Dark Matter
		19.2.2 The Observational Evidence for Dark Matter
			19.2.2.1 Galaxy Rotation Curves
			19.2.2.2 Velocity Dispersions
			19.2.2.3 Galaxy Clusters
			19.2.2.4 Gravitational Lensing
			19.2.2.5 Cosmic Microwave Background
			19.2.2.6 Structure Formation
			19.2.2.7 Bullet Cluster
		19.2.3 What Is Dark Matter Made Of?
		19.2.4 Alternative Hypothesis of Dark Matter
	19.3. Dark Energy
	19.4. The Multiverse
		19.4.1 Basically…
		19.4.2 How & Why…
		19.4.3 The Many Different Types of Multiverses
		19.4.4 The Search for Proof
	19.5. The Infinite Universe
	19.6. What Came First, Inflation or the Big Bang?
	19.7. Endnote
Thought Question Answers
Answers to End of Chapter Problems
Appendices
	Appendix 1: Degeneracy
	Appendix 2: Book, Magazines, Organizations, and Equipment
		Star Atlases and Observing Guides
		Astronomy and Astrophysics Books
		Magazines
		Organizations
		Spectroscopic Equipment
Index