Description
Astronomy is a user-friendly guide for beginners. Chapters make it easy for you to quickly learn the main topics of a college level course. Sections clarify basic principles and contemporary advances. The Index enables you to look up concepts, definitions, facts and famous astronomers, fast. You can use the book alone or with a conventional textbook, Internetbased or distance-learning course, computer software, telescope manual, or as a handy reference.
PARTICULARLY USEFUL FEATURES
• Web site addresses throughout for the best astronomy online.
• Mathematics is not required.
• Line art makes technical ideas obvious.
• Star and Moon maps for fun stargazing.
• Up-to-date, accurate star, constellation, and astronomical data.
• Popular sky targets for hobby telescopes.
• Tips for hands-on, active learning.
• Objectives, reviews, and self-tests to monitor your progress.
WHAT’S NEW IN THE SEVENTH EDITION?
While keeping its successful self-teaching format, this seventh edition incorporates Web site addresses for spectacular color images. The entire book was revised to include revolutionary discoveries and the best suggestions from many readers and educators who profitably used prior editions.
Frontier twenty-first-century research into black holes, active galaxies and quasars, searches for life in space, origin and structure of our universe, and the newest ground and space telescopes are described.
Web sites with daily astro-news and space scenes never before viewed by humans are specified. Labeled drawings of the Keck Telescope, Fermi Gamma Ray Observatory, and Hubble Space Telescope data path clarify space technology. New art illustrates fundamental concepts, such as the electromagnetic spectrum, phases of the Moon, planet orbits, and H-R diagrams.