Chaisson E., McMillan S. Astronomy Today

7th Edition. - Pearson Education, 2011. - 804 p. - With Astronomy Today, Seventh Edition, trusted authors Eric Chaisson and Steve McMillan communicate their excitement about astronomy and awaken you to the universe around you. The text emphasizes critical thinking and visualization, and it focuses on the process of scientific discovery, making how we know what we know an integral part of the text. The revised edition has been thoroughly updated with the latest astronomical discoveries and theories, and it has been streamlined to keep you focused on the essentials and to develop an understanding of the big picture.Contents
Astronomy and the Universe
Charting the Heavens: The Foundations of Astronomy
The Copernican Revolution: The Birth of Modern Science
Radiation: Information from the Cosmos
Spectroscopy: The Inner Workings of Atoms
Telescopes: The Tools of Astronomy
Our Planetary System
The Solar System: An Introduction to Comparative Planetology
Earth: Our Home in Space
The Moon and Mercury: Scorched and Battered Worlds
Venus: Earth’s Sister Planet
Mars: A Near Miss for Life?
Jupiter: Giant of the Solar System
Saturn: Spectacular Rings and Mysterious Moons
Uranus and Neptune: The Outer Worlds of the Solar System
Solar System Debris: Keys to Our Origin
The Formation of Planetary Systems: The Solar System and Beyond
Stars and Stellar Evolution
The Sun: Our Parent Star
The Stars: Giants, Dwarfs, and the Main Sequence
The Interstellar Medium: Gas and Dust among the Stars
Star Formation: A Traumatic Birth
Stellar Evolution: The Life and Death of a Star
Stellar Explosions: Novae, Supernovae, and the Formation of the Elements
Neutron Stars and Black Holes: Strange States of Matter
Galaxies and Cosmology
The Milky Way Galaxy: A Spiral in Space
Galaxies: Building Blocks of the Universe
Galaxies and Dark Matter: The Large-Scale Structure of the Cosmos
Cosmology: The Big Bang and the Fate of the Universe
The Early Universe: Toward the Beginning of Time
Life in the Universe: Are We Alone?