This is the first non-technical book on spectroscopy written specifically for practical amateur astronomers. It includes all the science necessary for a qualitative understanding of stellar spectra, but avoids a mathematical treatment.

Most amateur astronomers may know about red shift, and have a general idea of the ways that stellar spectra provide insight into the atomic processes of the star, but detailed knowledge is unusual. This is because most available books are pitched at professional astronomers and college-level students, and are difficult to read. This is the first non-technical book on spectroscopy, written specifically for practical amateur astronomers. It includes all the science needed for a qualitative understanding of stellar spectra, but avoids bogging down in heavy math. It's the only book written for the amateur astronomer interested in and doing observational spectroscopy, who wants a non-technical account of the physical processes that determine the intensity and profile morphology of lines in stellar spectra. Of course, "armchair astronomers" who simply want to understand the physical processes which shape lines in stellar spectra will find this book equally fascinating.

The first non-technical yet detailed account of a fascinating area of stellar astrophysics Invaluable to the rapidly-growing number of amateur astronomical spectroscopists An ideal companion to existing books on observational amateur astronomical spectroscopy, particularly Springer's Practical Amateur Spectroscopy by Steve Tonkin (2002) Useful as a reference for astronomy/astrophysics students

Autorentext

Keith Robinson obtained a degree in physics from the University of Lancaster, and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Klappentext

More can be learned about physical processes going on in stars and nebulae by understanding and analyzing their spectra than by any other means.

Many amateur astronomers who use CCD cameras are taking up spectroscopy as part of their observational program, but until now the physics that underlies astronomical spectroscopy has been confined to advanced academic books.

Not any more!

In Spectroscopy the Key to the Stars, Keith Robinson describes the physics and physical processes that cause the stellar spectra to be as they are spectra that amateur astronomers can image with today's commercially-made equipment. Written specifically for amateur astronomers, this book assumes only a basic knowledge of physics but looks in detail at many topics, including energy levels in atoms, the molecular spectra of red stars, emission lines in nebulae, and much, much more.

Here is everything you need to know about how the atomic processes in stars and nebulae produce the spectra that amateur astronomers can image, and why spectroscopy is such a powerful tool for astronomers.

Inhalt
SpectroscopyA New Golden Age for Amateur Astronomy.- The Basic StuffLight Radiation and Atoms.- Behind the LinesThe Magnificent Energy Level Structure of an Atom.- Our Old Friend the Doppler Effect.- When Is a Spectral Line Not a Spectral Line?.- Stellar Spectra and That Famous Mnemonic.- Cool but not SmoothThe Molecular Spectra of Red Stars.- Glows in the DarkEmission Lines and Nebulae.- Glowing VorticesAccretion Disks.- The P Cygni Profile and Friends.- Spectral MagnetismThe Zeeman Effect.- 'How Much Gold in Them There Stars?'The Curve of Growth.