The Milky Way and Beyond: Stars, Nebulae, and Other Galaxies (An Explorer's Guide to the Universe)

The Sun is merely one of some 200 billion stars that make up the Milky Way--and the Milky Way is only one of a billion galaxies in the known universe. Packed with fascinating facts and stunning photography, this book examines the Galaxy humans call home and travels light years away, to the domain of phenomena such as the Oort cloud. TITLE......Page 3 COPYRIGHT......Page 4 CONTENTS......Page 5 INTRODUCTION......Page 12 THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY......Page 21 STRUCTURE OF THE SPIRAL SYSTEM......Page 22 MAGNETIC FIELD......Page 25 MASS......Page 26 STARS AND STELLAR POPULATIONS......Page 28 DENSITY DISTRIBUTION......Page 35 STELLAR MOTIONS......Page 38 SOLAR MOTION......Page 40 SIZE AND ACTIVITY......Page 45 DISTANCES TO THE STARS......Page 49 STELLAR POSITIONS......Page 52 STELLAR MAGNITUDES......Page 53 STELLAR SPECTRA......Page 55 SPECTRAL ANALYSIS......Page 56 BULK STELLAR PROPERTIES......Page 58 STELLAR STATISTICS......Page 68 VARIABLE STARS......Page 73 STELLAR ATMOSPHERES......Page 80 STELLAR INTERIORS......Page 82 BIRTH OF STARS AND EVOLUTION TO THE MAIN SEQUENCE......Page 89 SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT ON THE MAIN SEQUENCE......Page 92 EVOLUTION OF LOW-MASS STARS......Page 93 ORIGIN OF THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS......Page 96 EVOLUTION OF HIGH-MASS STARS......Page 99 END STATES OF STARS......Page 102 WHITE DWARFS......Page 103 NEUTRON STARS......Page 104 BLACK HOLES......Page 108 OPEN CLUSTERS......Page 110 GLOBULAR CLUSTERS......Page 114 OB AND T ASSOCIATIONS......Page 117 DYNAMICS OF STAR CLUSTERS......Page 119 CLUSTERS IN EXTERNAL GALAXIES......Page 120 ALPHA CENTAURI......Page 122 FOMALHAUT......Page 123 POLARIS......Page 124 SIRIUS......Page 125 VEGA......Page 126 CHAPTER 5: NEBULAE......Page 127 CLASSES OF NEBULAE......Page 129 THE WORK OF THE HERSCHELS......Page 131 20TH-CENTURY DISCOVERIES......Page 132 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES......Page 133 INTERSTELLAR DUST......Page 134 TURBULENCE......Page 136 MOLECULAR CLOUDS......Page 137 HYDROGEN CLOUDS......Page 140 H II REGION......Page 141 PLANETARY NEBULAE......Page 148 SUPERNOVA REMNANTS......Page 154 DIFFUSE IONIZED GAS......Page 158 CASSIOPEIA A......Page 159 HORSEHEAD NEBULA......Page 160 ORION NEBULA......Page 161 TRIFID NEBULA......Page 162 CHAPTER 6: GALAXIES......Page 163 THE EVOLUTION OF GALAXIES......Page 165 HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE STUDY OF GALAXIES......Page 167 THE PROBLEM OF THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS......Page 168 THE SCALE OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY......Page 169 THE VAN MAANEN ROTATION......Page 171 THE SHAPLEY-CURTIS DEBATE......Page 172 HUBBLE'S DISCOVERY OF EXTRAGALACTIC OBJECTS......Page 173 THE DISTANCE TO THE ANDROMEDA NEBULA......Page 175 THE GOLDEN AGE OF EXTRAGALACTIC ASTRONOMY......Page 176 PRINCIPAL SCHEMES OF CLASSIFICATION......Page 177 OTHER CLASSIFICATION SCHEMES AND GALAXY TYPES......Page 182 THE EXTRAGALACTIC DISTANCE SCALE......Page 183 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF EXTERNAL GALAXIES......Page 186 STRUCTURE......Page 188 GALAXY CLUSTERS......Page 189 GALAXIES AS A RADIO SOURCE......Page 191 ANDROMEDA GALAXY......Page 195 COMA CLUSTER......Page 196 GREAT ATTRACTOR......Page 197 M81 GROUP......Page 198 VIRGO A......Page 199 VIRGO CLUSTER......Page 200 ALGOL......Page 201 BARNARD'S STAR......Page 202 BETA PICTORIS......Page 203 CYGNUS X-1......Page 204 ETA CARINAE......Page 205 HR 8799......Page 206 MIRA CETI......Page 207 OMEGA CENTAURI......Page 208 RAS ALGETHI......Page 209 S DORADUS......Page 210 TYCHO'S NOVA......Page 211 GLOSSARY......Page 212 FOR FURTHER READING......Page 213 INDEX......Page 214 The Sun is merely one of some 2 billion stars that make up the Milky Way. Even more mind-boggling, the Milky Way is a tiny speck, being only one of a billion galaxies in the universe. Packed with fascinating facts and stunning photography, this book examines the Galaxy that humans call home. Readers are also taken on a journey light years away, to the domain of phenomena such as the Oort cloud. This book provides a study of the Milky Way Galaxy, as well as information on the Andromeda Galaxy and other galaxies scattered across the cosmos