Stellar Astrophysics with the World's Largest Telescopes PDF Download

Author: Joanna Mikolajewska
Publisher: American Institute of Physics
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 228

View

Book Description
The book reviews the most timely and interesting problems of stellar astrophysics, particularly those suitable for studies with the world's largest telescopes, and it can serve as an introduction to such studies. In particular it gives a comprehensive presentation of state-of-the-art research in stellar and planetary system formation, extra-solar planets, final stages of single and binary stellar evolution, and stellar populations in the Local Group of Galaxies, including observational techniques and technologies applicable to those important fields. The book also presents the most important unresolved problems of stellar astrophysics, intended to help identify directions for future research.

Author: David S. Evans
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292759002
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226

View

Book Description
By day, every year over 40,000 visitors pour in. Across the Rio Grande, a hundred miles away, Mexican mountaineers use the white domes as landmarks. By night, perched almost 7,000 feet above the sleeping, earthbound world, astronomers probe the secrets of the night sky. This is the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, one of the world's largest university-operated astronomical installations. Big and Bright: A History of the McDonald Observatory is the story of a remarkable collaboration between two major universities, one a prestigious private school, the other a growing southwestern state institution. The University of Chicago had astronomers, but its Yerkes Observatory was aging and underfunded; the University of Texas had money for an observatory but no working astronomer to staff it. Out of their mutual need, they formed a thirty-year compact for a joint venture. Unusual in its day, the Yerkes-McDonald connection presaged the future. In this arrangement, one can see some of the beginnings of today's consortium "big science." Now the McDonald Observatory's early history can be put in proper perspective. Blessed with a gifted and driving founding director, the world's (then) second-largest telescope, and an isolation that permitted it to be virtually the only major astronomical observatory that continued operations throughout World War II, the staff of McDonald Observatory helped lay the foundations of modern astrophysics during the 1940s. For over a decade after the war, a lonely mountaintop in West Texas was the mecca that drew nearly all the most important astronomers from all over the world. Based on personal reminiscences and archival material, as well as published historical sources, Big and Bright is one of the few histories of a major observatory, unique in its focus on the human side of the story.

Author: Govert Schilling
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 3527671676
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

View

Book Description
The creation of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in 1962 was the culmination of the dream of leading astronomers from five European countries. Over the years, as more member states joined, ESO constructed the La Silla and Paranal observatories, as well as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) together with partners. ESO is now starting to build the world's biggest eye on the sky, the European Extremely Large Telescope. At the dawn of 2012, its 50th anniversary year, ESO is ready to enter a new era. One that not even its founding members could have anticipated in their boldest dreams. Constantly at the technological forefront, ESO is ready to tackle new and as yet unimaginable territories of high-precision technology and scientific discovery. Produced especially for ESO's 50th anniversary, this sumptuously illustrated book takes the reader behind the scenes of the most productive ground-based observatory in the world. It contains the best 300 of ESO's images, hand-picked from a large collection of more than 100 000 images. "Beautifully produced, Europe to the Stars tells the story of how dreams of giant telescopes became a reality and covers many of the exciting discoveries made at La Silla and Paranal." —BBC Sky at Night, 1 February 2013 "Leave the book on your coffee table, certainly, but read it first and come back to it regularly. It's an intelligent, inspiring celebration of a great European scientific adventure." —Astronomy Now, 1 March 2013

Author: Anna Frebel
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691197199
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

View

Book Description
A leading astronomer takes readers behind the scenes of the thrilling science of stellar archaeology and explains how sections of the night sky are "excavated" in the hunt for extremely rare, 13-billion-year-old relic stars and how this quest reveals tantalizing new details about the origins and evolution of the cosmos.

Author: Ragbir Bhathal
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
ISBN: 1486300774
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 301

View

Book Description
This book tells the story of the Mt Stromlo Observatory in Canberra which began with W.G. Duffield's idealism and vision in 1905. The Observatory began life as a government department, later becoming an optical munitions factory producing gun sights and telescopes during the Second World War, before changing its focus to astrophysics – the new astronomy. In the ensuing years programs were introduced to push the Observatory in new directions at the international frontiers of astronomy. The astronomers built new, better and larger telescopes to unravel the secrets of the universe. There were controversies, exciting new discoveries and new explanations of phenomena that had been discovered. The Observatory and its researchers have contributed to determining how old the universe is, participated in the largest survey of galaxies in the universe, and helped to show us that the universal expansion is accelerating – research that led to Brian Schmidt and his international team being awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. These and other major discoveries are detailed in this fascinating book about one of the great observatories in the world.

Author: International Astronomical Union. Symposium
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521863483
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 524

View

Book Description
IAU S240 focuses on recent advances across the broad field of binary star research.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309157994
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

View

Book Description
Driven by discoveries, and enabled by leaps in technology and imagination, our understanding of the universe has changed dramatically during the course of the last few decades. The fields of astronomy and astrophysics are making new connections to physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science. Based on a broad and comprehensive survey of scientific opportunities, infrastructure, and organization in a national and international context, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics outlines a plan for ground- and space- based astronomy and astrophysics for the decade of the 2010's. Realizing these scientific opportunities is contingent upon maintaining and strengthening the foundations of the research enterprise including technological development, theory, computation and data handling, laboratory experiments, and human resources. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics proposes enhancing innovative but moderate-cost programs in space and on the ground that will enable the community to respond rapidly and flexibly to new scientific discoveries. The book recommends beginning construction on survey telescopes in space and on the ground to investigate the nature of dark energy, as well as the next generation of large ground-based giant optical telescopes and a new class of space-based gravitational observatory to observe the merging of distant black holes and precisely test theories of gravity. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics recommends a balanced and executable program that will support research surrounding the most profound questions about the cosmos. The discoveries ahead will facilitate the search for habitable planets, shed light on dark energy and dark matter, and aid our understanding of the history of the universe and how the earliest stars and galaxies formed. The book is a useful resource for agencies supporting the field of astronomy and astrophysics, the Congressional committees with jurisdiction over those agencies, the scientific community, and the public.

Author: International Astronomical Union. Symposium
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521856089
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 552

View

Book Description
Proceedings volume for researchers and graduate students of astronomy, covering the most exciting science and key ELT projects.

Author: D.M. Alloin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400923406
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 444

View

Book Description
A few years ago, a real break-through happened in observational astronomy: the un derstanding of the effect of atmospheric turbulence on the structure of stellar images, and of ways to overcome this dramatic degradation. This opened a route to diffraction-limited observations with large telescopes in the optical domain. Soon, the first applications of this new technique led to some outstanding astrophysical results, both at visible and infrared wavelengths. Yet, the potential of interferometric observations is not fully foreseeable as the first long-baseline arrays of large optical telescopes are being built or cOIIllnissioned right now. In this respect a comparison with the evolution of radio-astronomy is tempting. From a situation where, in spite of the construction of giant antennas, low angular resolution was prevailing, the introduction of long baseline and very long baseline interferometry and the rapid mastering of sophisticated image reconstruction techniques, have brought on a nearly routine basis high dynamic range images with milliarcseconds resolution. This, of course, has completely changed our views of the radio sky.

Author: Mike Inglis
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 144710059X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 246

View

Book Description
Stellar evolution - the birth, development and death of stars - is central to our current understanding of astronomy, but surprisingly the majority of amateur astronomers lack a full understanding of the physics of stars. Current books on the market tend to be highly theoretical and off-putting, in Observer's Guide to Stellar Evolution, Mike Inglis brings this subject to life in a unique way. By combining a step-by-step introduction with suggestions for practical observations of stars at different stages in their evolution, amateur astronomers regardless of their current level of knowledge, will find this book fascinating and informative. -Accessible to every amateur astronomer, regardless of background knowledge. -Step-by-step introduction to the theory of stellar evolution. -Includes many examples of stars at different stages in their evolution, that the reader can observe for him/herself. -Mathematics is made accessible by being presented in 'boxes'that readers can skip over if they prefer!