San Antonio College Library

This program illustrates how a scientific quest to understand massive intergalactic gamma ray bursts revealed the nature of massive stars and the possibility that they will point the way to the place where the very first stars were born.

"This is the definitive book for those who are serious about this fascinating aspect of astronomy. It deals with equipment (you can start quite modestly with commercial or home-made instruments), observing methods from binoculars upward, CCD camera techniques, and finally advanced instrumentation including speckle interferometry. The astronomy of double stars, including orbital calculation, is given its own section."--BOOK JACKET.

This complete practical guide and resource package instructs amateur astronomers in observing and monitoring variable stars and other objects of variable brightness.

Mizar, Betelgeuse, Sirius, Delta Cephei, Vega, Algol, Eta Carinae are just some of the wonderful names astronomers over the centuries have given to stars. Moore, vice-president of the British Astronomical Association, introduces readers to the mysteries of astronomy by telling the captivating stories of certain stars. For example, Mizar, whose name means "girdle" in Arabic, in the handle of the Big Dipper has a visible companion called Alcor--"rider,"...

"This is a definitive book about observing variable stars, and is suitable for amateur astronomers at all levels of experience and ability."--Jacket.

It is our light, our warmth, our food. Humans rise with it and fear its disappearance. We are so accustomed to its presence that we forgot it was born and will die someday. But how well do we really know the Sun?

Presents a coherent picture of the birth, growth, middle age, and sometimes violent death of stars, showing that these different manifestations represent stars in different stages of their life cycles. This is also the story of the new techniques and instruments astronomers have devised to extend our knowlendge of the cosmos.

Studies the clouds of interstellar space, considering the process by which new stars are formed, looking at how star birth generates planets and perhaps life, and studying how the deaths of stars begins the process anew.