Introduction to stars and planets : an activities-based exploration / Alan Hirshfeld.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hirshfeld, Alan, author.

Contributor:

Institute of Physics (Great Britain), publisher.

Series:

AAS-IOP astronomy. 2021 collection.

AAS-IOP astronomy. [2021 collection], 2514-3433

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Planets.

Stars.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (various pagings) : illustrations (some color).

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Introduction to Stars and Planets

Place of Publication:

Bristol [England] (Temple Circus, Temple Way, Bristol BS1 6HG, UK) : IOP Publishing, [2020]

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader, EPUB reader, or Kindle reader.

Biography/History:

Alan Hirshfeld, Professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, is Chair of the American Astronomical Society's Historical Astronomy Division and a longtime Associate of the Harvard College Observatory. He is the author of Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos; The Electric Life of Michael Faraday; Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes; Astronomy Activity & Laboratory Manual; and Starlight Detectives: How Astronomers, Inventors, and Eccentrics Discovered the Modern Universe. He is a regular book reviewer for The Wall Street Journal and writes and lectures frequently on science history and discovery. Visit the author's website at www.alanhirshfeld.com.

Summary:

How do astronomers know what they know about the stars and planets? That is the question behind today's rapid pace of cosmic discovery, for every new finding rests upon a centuries-long foundation of astronomical practice. Introduction to Stars and Planets: An activities-based exploration reveals the methods by which Earthbound observers have deduced the physical attributes of celestial bodies, whether situated within our solar neighborhood or at the far ends of the Galaxy. The book's 28 mildly mathematical activities invite readers to carry out the essential work of the astronomer by utilizing real observational data sets and high-quality celestial photographs to establish the innate properties of a range of cosmic systems. Taken in sequence, these activities illustrate the epic advancement of stellar and planetary astronomy over the past century, up to the present day.

Contents:

part I. The sun. 1. The Sun's distance I : the method of Aristarchus

1.1. Aristarchus's distance to the Sun

1.2. The Sun's diameter

1.3. The Sun's distance revisited

2. The Sun's distance II : transits and radar-ranging of Venus

2.1. Transits of Venus

2.2. The relative sizes of Earth's and Venus's orbits

2.3. The absolute distance from the Earth to Venus

2.4. Radar-ranging of Venus

3. The Sun's diameter and mass

3.1. The Sun's diameter

3.2. The Sun's mass

3.3. Implications

4. The sunspot cycle

4.1. Tracking sunspots through history

5. The solar constant

5.1. Basic concepts

5.2. Measuring the solar constant

5.3. The solar constant in practice

6. The Sun's luminosity

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Squares and spheres

7. The Sun's surface temperature

7.1. Taking the Sun's temperature

7.2. A pint-sized star

8. Spectral lines and the chemistry of the Sun

8.1. Dark lines and bright lines

8.2. The Sun's spectrum

8.3. Establishing the spectrum's wavelength scale

8.4. Computing the wavelengths of the dark lines

8.5. Identifying the Fraunhofer lines

9. Is the Sun on fire?

9.1. The energy enigma

9.2. Chemical combustion

9.3. Conclusion

10. How long will the Sun shine?

10.1. Thermonuclear fusion

10.2. Input data

10.3. Mass into energy

10.4. How long can fusion last?

10.5. The life span of the sun

part II. The stars. 11. The distances of stars : stellar parallax

11.1. Stellar parallax

11.2. Parallax simulation

11.3. Bessel's star

11.4. The 3D cosmos

12. Weighing a star : binary stars and stellar mass

12.1. Binary stars

12.2. Orbital period

12.3. Orbital radius and combined mass of Sirius and Sirius B

12.4. Masses of the individual stars

13. The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

13.1. Introduction

13.2. Stellar magnitudes and spectral types

13.3. Plotting and reading the HR diagram

13.4. Selection effects

13.5. Theory meets the HR diagram

14. The distance to a star cluster

14.1. The color-magnitude diagram

14.2. Main-sequence fitting

14.3. Caveat : interstellar dust

15. The evolution of the Sun

15.1. Programming the Sun

15.2. The life and death of our star

16. The evolution of massive stars

16.1. Cosmic beacons

16.2. Heavyweights

17. Supernovae : the expansion of the Crab Nebula

17.1. The Crab Nebula, then and now

17.2. Image scale

17.3. Measurement of the nebula

17.4. Expansion and age of the Crab Nebula

17.5. Distance of the Crab Nebula

18. The event horizon of black holes

18.1. Black hole basics

18.2. Escape velocity

18.3. John Michell's "dark star"

18.4. The event horizon

19. Kepler's Third law and the masses of black holes

19.1. Introduction

19.2. Inside the solar system

19.3. Beyond the solar system

19.4. Beyond the galaxy

20. Our place in the galaxy

20.1. Our view of the galaxy

20.2. Globular star clusters

20.3. Galactic coordinate system

part III. The planets. 21. A slice of earth

21.1. The Earth in perspective

22. Geological time in perspective

22.1. Cosmic calendar

23. The comparative density of planets

23.1. Average density

23.2. Terrestrial versus Jovian planets

24. Planetary surface temperatures

24.1. Introduction

24.2. Earth's surface temperature

24.3. The surface temperature of other planets

24.4. The surface temperature of a comet

25. The habitable zone

25.1. Introduction

25.2. Replacing the Sun

25.3. Relocating the Earth

26. The search for exoplanets : Doppler method

26.1. The Doppler effect

26.2. Center of mass

26.3. Detecting the solar system from afar

26.4. Weighing an exoplanet

27. The search for exoplanets : transit method (I)

27.1. Introduction

27.2. Planetary transit basics

27.3. Detecting the solar system from afar (redux)

28. The search for exoplanets : transit method (II)

28.1. Case study : the transit of a real exoplanet

28.2. Radius of Kepler 21b

28.3. Orbital radius of Kepler 21b

28.4. Mass and average density of Kepler 21b

28.5. Surface temperature of Kepler 21b.

Notes:

"Version: 20201201"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

Title from PDF title page (viewed on January 14, 2021).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780750336901

0750336900

9780750336918

0750336919

OCLC:

1231598974