Astrophysics: Stars And Galaxies

Foreword Preface 1. Introduction 2. The Celestial Coordinates 3. Apparent Luminosities of Stars 4. Stellar Distances and Absolute Luminosities 5. Surface Temperature of Stars 6. Masses and Radii of Stars 7. Structure of Stellar Atmospheres 8. Chemical Composition of Stellar Atmospheres 9. Internal Structure of Stars 10. Stellar Evolution 11. Large Scale Motions in Stellar Atmospheres 12. Stellar Magnetic Fields 13. Hot Stars and Gaseous Nebulae 14. Distribution of Stars in the Milky Way 15. Motions of Stars in the Milky Way 16. Large-Scale Structure of the Milky Way 17. External Galaxies 18. Cosmology 19. Astronomical Instruments 20. Space Astronomies Appendix I: Constellations on the meridian at midnight during the course of the year Appendix II: Nomenclature of variables stars Appendix III: Timing of astronomical events Appendix IV: Fundamental parameters of the sun Bibliography Subject Index Name Index

This book introduces the subject of astrophysics to honours and post-graduate students of physics, without the necessity of their being familiar with all the practical details of modern astronomical techniques of observation and deduction of data. The emphasis is on showing how an application of the commonly known laws of physics gives us important information about the properties of celestial objects and phenomena.