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Astronomy 2e

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    Author: Morrison, David; Wolff, Sidney C.; Fraknoi, Andrew
    Contributor: BCcampus
    Date:
    Created
    2022
    Summary:

    "Designed to meet the scope and sequence of your course, Astronomy 2e is written in clear non-technical language, with the occasional touch of humour and a wide range of clarifying illustrations. It has many analogies drawn from everyday life to help non-science majors appreciate, on their own terms, what our modern exploration of the universe is revealing. The book can be used for either a one-semester or two-semester introductory course.The second edition has been updated according to new exploration and discoveries. The second edition also includes a significant amount of new art and images."--BCcampus website

    Contents:
    • Science and the universe: a brief tour
    • Observing the sky: the birth of astronomy
    • Orbits and gravity
    • Earth, moon, and sky
    • Radiation and spectra
    • Astronomical instruments
    • Other worlds: an introduction to the solar system
    • Earth as a planet
    • Cratered worlds
    • Earthlike planets: Venus and Mars
    • The giant planets
    • Rings, moons, and Pluto
    • Comets and asteroids: debris of the solar system
    • Cosmic samples and the origin of the solar system
    • The Sun: a garden-variety star
    • The Sun: a nuclear powerhouse
    • Analyzing starlight
    • The stars: a celestial census
    • Celestial distances
    • Between the stars: gas and dust in space
    • The birth of stars and the discovery of planets outside the solar system
    • Stars from adolescence to old age
    • The death of stars
    • Black holes and curved spacetime
    • The Milky Way Galaxy
    • Galaxies
    • Active galaxies, quasars, and supermassive black holes
    • The evolution and distribution of galaxies
    • The Big Bang
    • Life in the universe
    • Appendix A: How to study for an introductory astronomy class
    • Appendix B: Astronomy websites, images, and apps
    • Appendix C: Scientific notation
    • Appendix D: Units used in science
    • Appendix E: Some useful constants for astronomy
    • Appendix F: Physical and orbital data for the planets
    • Appendix G: Selected moons of the planets
    • Appendix H: Future total eclipses
    • Appendix I: The nearest stars, brown dwarfs, and white dwarfs
    • Appendix J: The brightest twenty stars
    • Appendix K: The chemical elements
    • Appendix L: The constellations
    • Appendix M: Star chart and sky event resources.
    Subject(s): Astronomy | Textbooks
    Original Publisher: Houston, Texas, OpenStax
    Language(s): English
    ISBN: 9781951693503, 1951693507
    Collection(s)/Series: BC Open Textbooks