Compact Stellar X-ray Sources

Compact Stellar X-ray Sources
Author: Walter Lewin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 667
Release: 2006-04-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1139451774

X-ray astronomy is the prime available window on astrophysical compact objects: black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs. In this book, prominent experts provide a comprehensive overview of the observations and astrophysics of these objects. This is a valuable reference for graduate students and active researchers.

Astrophotonics

Astrophotonics
Author: Stefano Minardi
Publisher: VCH
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2012-04-04
Genre:
ISBN: 9783527411108

Written by well-known scientists in the field with vast experience in teaching astrophotonics, this is the first book to bridge astronomy and photonics for the benefit of developing new astronomical instrumentation. The textbook is clearly structured and covers four main methods relevant to observational astronomy: adaptive optics, photometry, interferometry and spectroscopy. It follows a progressive didactical path in photonics, starting from fundamentals of wave- and micro-optics and developing step-by-step the formalisms required for the treatment of optical multilayers, fiber optics and diffraction/holographic gratings. This approach allows students with a physics/engineering background to learn about the problematic of observational astronomy, while, conversely, students of astronomy are exposed to topics in modern photonics. Each chapter is divided into three main sections devoted to the discussion of astronomical concepts required to size an instrument designed for the particular method, the photonic concepts that most suit that instrument, and an analysis of existing, related photonic instruments. A set of exercises and a bibliography complete each chapter. Appendices include a short review of fundamentals of wave optics and photon detectors, plus an overview of project design and management using a real-life example of an astronomical instrumentation project. With its review of the latest instrumentation and techniques, this is invaluable for graduate and post-graduate students in astronomy, physics and optical engineering.

Galileo Unbound

Galileo Unbound
Author: David D. Nolte
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2018-07-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0192528505

Galileo Unbound traces the journey that brought us from Galileo's law of free fall to today's geneticists measuring evolutionary drift, entangled quantum particles moving among many worlds, and our lives as trajectories traversing a health space with thousands of dimensions. Remarkably, common themes persist that predict the evolution of species as readily as the orbits of planets or the collapse of stars into black holes. This book tells the history of spaces of expanding dimension and increasing abstraction and how they continue today to give new insight into the physics of complex systems. Galileo published the first modern law of motion, the Law of Fall, that was ideal and simple, laying the foundation upon which Newton built the first theory of dynamics. Early in the twentieth century, geometry became the cause of motion rather than the result when Einstein envisioned the fabric of space-time warped by mass and energy, forcing light rays to bend past the Sun. Possibly more radical was Feynman's dilemma of quantum particles taking all paths at once — setting the stage for the modern fields of quantum field theory and quantum computing. Yet as concepts of motion have evolved, one thing has remained constant, the need to track ever more complex changes and to capture their essence, to find patterns in the chaos as we try to predict and control our world.

Europe's Quest for the Universe

Europe's Quest for the Universe
Author: Lodewijk Woltjer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2006-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9782868838131

Some of the more striking results obtained or anticipated on the ground or in space at radio, infrared and visible wavelengths and in X-, gamma-ray and cosmic-rays are covered. The roles of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the European Space Agency (ESA) are stressed, but national initiatives are also touched upon. Input into the research system in the form of financing and personnel and output as publications are evaluated. The time frame covered extends from around 1980 till about 2020. While this book centers on European developments, comparisons with what others are doing are included. After the war Europe in science had fallen far behind the US. Thanks to European cooperation equality has again been reached. Through ESO's Very Large Telescope and ESA's missions, like the Infrared Space Observatory, X- and gamma- ray satellites, Mars Express and others, Europe is fully and independently present at the forefront. The need to integrate the scientists and engineers from the new EU countries into the overall organization of European science is noted, an integration which ultimately could extend even further eastward. This book addresses a wide audience: astronomers and space scientists, students, politicians involved in science funding, amateur astronomers and the educated public with an interest in the science and technology achievable by European cooperation.

Exoplanet Science Strategy

Exoplanet Science Strategy
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2019-01-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 030947941X

The past decade has delivered remarkable discoveries in the study of exoplanets. Hand-in-hand with these advances, a theoretical understanding of the myriad of processes that dictate the formation and evolution of planets has matured, spurred on by the avalanche of unexpected discoveries. Appreciation of the factors that make a planet hospitable to life has grown in sophistication, as has understanding of the context for biosignatures, the remotely detectable aspects of a planet's atmosphere or surface that reveal the presence of life. Exoplanet Science Strategy highlights strategic priorities for large, coordinated efforts that will support the scientific goals of the broad exoplanet science community. This report outlines a strategic plan that will answer lingering questions through a combination of large, ambitious community-supported efforts and support for diverse, creative, community-driven investigator research.

Report

Report
Author: European Southern Observatory
Publisher:
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2007
Genre:
ISBN: