Product Description

 An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, Second Edition has been thoroughly revised to reflect the dramatic changes and advancements in astrophysics that have occurred over the past decade. The Second Edition of this market-leading book has been updated to include the latest results from relevant fields of astrophysics and advances in our theoretical understanding of astrophysical phenomena.

 

Designed for sophomore-level astrophysics for astronomy and physics majors,An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics is now offered in two derivative versions: Introduction to Modern Stellar Astrophysics, Second Edition and Introduction to Modern Galactic Astrophysics and Cosmology, Second Edition. The core text is geared for courses in stellar structure and evolution, while the briefer books provide additional coverage of the solar system, galactic and extragalactic astronomy, dynamics, evolution, and cosmology.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #299952 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 1400 pages

About the Author

Bradley Carroll received his B.A. in Mathematics and a Secondary Teaching Credential from the University of California, Irvine, his M.S. in Physics from the University of Colorado, Boulder and his Ph.D. Astrophysics from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Brad's lifelong fascination with astronomy, combined with a happy naivete concerning what lay ahead, led him to graduate school at CU Boulder. His thesis, supervised by Carl Hansen and John Cox, was a study of the effect of rotation on pulsating stars. Brad then headed east to work as a postdoc with Hugh Van Horn at the University of Rochester, where he carried out research on the oscillations of accretion disks and neutron stars. At both CU Boulder and the U of R, he learned the virtues of making simple models of complex astrophysical systems. .

Four years later, as the postdoc came to an end, Brad was lucky to find a teaching position in the Physics Department at Weber State University, and doubly lucky that Dale Ostlie was there. It is rare to find two experts in Stellar pulsation in the same institution and department, especially when their outlooks are congenial. .

Brad truly enjoys teaching which gives him the chance to share the wonders of the physical world with his students. Such a background served him well (especially his naivete about what lay ahead) when he and Dale decided to write An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics. Now that the book and solutions manual, are completed, Brad once again has the time to enjoy traveling, camping, and fishing.

Dale A. Ostlie's long-time interest in astronomy began with his childhood fascination in the space program, including vivid recollections of watching the Apollo missions with his family. His interest in teaching was born from his experiences as a student, being fortunate to have had excellent instructors and mentors in high school, college, and graduate school. During graduate school, Dale had the opportunity to spend a significant period of time working with Dr. Arthur N. Cox and the theoretical astrophysics group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. While at Los Alamos, Dale was introduced to great number of exciting and challenging problems in astrophysics, which spurred his interest in developing a broad exposure to the discipline.

After completing his graduate thesis on Mira variable stars, and after a two-year teaching position at Bates College in Maine, Dale accepted a teaching position at Weber State University. With WSU nestled up against the Wasatch mountains of Utah, Dale is able to indulge his addictions to skiing, hiking, camping, and mountain biking. One year after Dale arrived at Weber State, Brad Carroll was hired, and their partnership in stellar pulsation studies and text-book writing was born. Sharing many of the same pedagogical views, as well as a dedication to producing the best possible text, Brad and Dale worked for six years to write An Introduction to Modern Stellar Astrophysics and An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, and another year to produce the Instructor's Solutions Manual. Work related to the texts continues today with the maintenance of a collection of web pages associated with the books, including discussions of new discoveries since the publication of the texts in 1996.

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Customer Reviews

Well written and accessible
A huge (1400-odd pages) textbook printed on good paper with excellent diagrams and b&w photographs. No flashy colour plates, though; this is not one for your coffee table.

It is well-written and accessible to anyone with a modest grasp of calculus, providing an excellent introduction to the whole field: everything from Kepler's laws, through spectra, special relativity, stellar evolution, binary systems to galactic evolution and a brief introduction to cosmology.

The book is structured into sections and within each section are a number of chapters, each of which is a series of effective tutorials, typically building one upon the other.

(I purchased my copy near the beginning of a vacation to the UK, and found it so absorbing that I missed a good part of the countryside I had come to see, and considerably annoyed my family. Eventually, in Dublin, we agreed that Carroll & Ostlie would have to be consigned to a cardboard box and posted
home.)

Excellent, well written and comprehensive astrophysics book.
The book contains material from almost every subject in astrophysics, presented in a way that keeps the readers interest in the subject. It also contains worked examples, which isn't all that common in most astronomy books, who usually doesn't show the reader how to use his/her knowledge from physics/math. In all, an excellent book that also can be used as a source for further search into a particular subject, by pointing out refernce articles/book at the end of each subject, of both general and technical nature.

Brilliant text on theoretical astrophysics
This book, if you have the nessecary background, is a fantastic introduction to the study of the universe. This being Basic Classical Mechanics, Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus. This is a much more theoretical text than most on astrononmy and astrophysics, which is a refreshing change. This book is HUGE, and full to the brim with useful equations, facts, theorems, definitions, lots of worked examples, plenty of problems to challenge you.