Kay L., Palen S., Smith B., Blumenthal G. 21st Century Astronomy

4th Edition. — New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013. — 858 p. — ISBN: 978-0-393-91878-6.Teaches students to think like scientists. Authors Laura Kay and Stacy Palen have developed pedagogy that helps students understand the process of science, and how physical principles are used to discover the origins of the universe. The authors emphasize how we know what we know in the figures, text, and end-of-chapter material.Introduction to Astronomy
Why Learn Astronomy?
Patterns in the Sky—Motions of Earth
Motion of Astronomical Bodies
Gravity and Orbits
Light
The Tools of the Astronomer
The Solar System
The Birth and Evolution of Planetary Systems
The Terrestrial Planets and Earth’s Moon
Atmospheres of the Terrestrial Planets
Worlds of Gas and Liquid—The Giant Planets
Planetary Adornments—Moons and Rings
Dwarf Planets and Small Solar System Bodies
Stars and Stellar Evolution
Taking the Measure of Stars
Our Star—The Sun
Star Formation and the Interstellar Medium
Evolution of Low-Mass Stars
Evolution of High-Mass Stars
Relativity and Black Holes
Galaxies, the Universe, and Cosmology
The Expanding Universe
Galaxies
The Milky Way—A Normal Spiral Galaxy
Modern Cosmology
Large-Scale Structure in the Universe
Life