The New Cosmos: An Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics [Hardcover]

Albrecht Unsöld (Author), Bodo Baschek (Author), William D. Brewer (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2005 | ISBN-10: 3540678778 | ISBN-13: 978-3540678779 | Edition: 5th

Astronomy, astrophysics and space research have witnessed an explosive development over the last few decades. The new observational potential offered by space stations and the availability of powerful and highly specialized computers have revealed novel aspects of the fascinating realm of galaxies, quasars, stars and planets. The present completely revised 5th edition of The New Cosmos provides ample evidence of these dramatic developments. In a concise presentation, which assumes only a modest prior knowledge of mathematics and physics, the book gives a coherent introduction to the entire field of astronomy and astrophysics. At the same time it takes into account the art of observation and the fundamental ideas behind their interpretation. Like its predecessors, this edition of The New Cosmos will provide new insight and enjoyment not only to students and researchers in the fields of astronomy, physics and earth sciences, but also to a wide range of interested amateurs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews of the fifth edition: "... The library copies of the earlier editions are well thumbed, which is a good indication of how often they are referenced. I have no doubt that this new edition will prove as popular." (Journal of the British Astronomical Association) "The present volume remains, I believe, a valuable contribution to astronomy education, particularly because of its enormous breadth at a level of detail not really found elsewhere. For many an undergraduate course it should provide an ideal text, while for a wide range of other situations … it will provide an excellent companion; even among the professional community, it will be a handy reference … . It is nicely produced and at a very reasonable price." (David Stickland, The Observatory, Vol. 122 (1167), 2002)

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 571 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 5th edition (February 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3540678778
• ISBN-13: 978-3540678779
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,450,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid astronomical textbook, December 27, 2002

By 

Peter Kretschmar - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Cosmos: An Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics (Hardcover)

This book may not be the most flashy in illustrations and will require that you actually read whole sections instead of just browsing the highlights in sidebars. But it does contain a lot of solid information going into more detail on several topics than other introductory textbooks. It is targeted rather at the graduating physics student than at an interested lay person.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars applies physics to astronomy, February 20, 2006

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Cosmos: An Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics (Hardcover)

As a physics undergrad, an earlier edition of this book was one of our texts in 1982. The latest edition continues the tradition of providing a lucid description of the basic physical principles underlying astronomic phenomena.

Hence, you are shown how the temperature in a star can rise, because as its atoms fall towards each other under mutual gravity, the conservation of energy leads to an increase in kinetic energy and hence temperature. Enough to eventually trigger ignition of nuclear reactions. Well, provided the initial mass is large enough. Otherwise one gets brown dwarfs or gas giants like Jupiter.

Other subjects like spectroscopy are also derived from basic principles. It's nice to see how we can get the surface temperature of a star by looking at its spectrum and seeing which lines exist. And the strength of the magnetic field on its surface by the amount of splitting in certain lines. And even the rate of rotation by the minute Doppler shifts.

The evolution of the elements, from nuclear fusion, is well done. The text refers to the classic papers, including B2FH (Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler and Hoyle). Other key contributors like Chandrasekhar get their fair mention.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The New Cosmos, Intro Astronomy & Astrophysics, November 11, 2007

By 

Philip M. Levine - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Cosmos: An Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics (Hardcover)

This book meets my expectations in that it covers a wide variety of topics, in some detail. I wanted to take a "step up" regarding technical detail, and this book is what I was looking for. The only drawback is the occasional heavy mathematics, but this is something I can grow into, and is not essential to enjoying the book.