List of Focus Elements ......................................... ix
List of Tables ................................................. xi
Preface ...................................................... xiii
1 Light of the Sun ............................................. 1
1.1 Ultimate Power .......................................... 1
1.2 The Closest Star ........................................ 2
1.3 Waves of Light .......................................... 5
1.4 Invisible Rays .......................................... 7
1.5 The Radiation Energy of the Sun ......................... 8
1.6 The Size and Temperature of the Sun's Visible Disk ...... 9
1.7 Thermal Radiation ...................................... 10
1.8 The Energy of Light .................................... 12
1.9 Observing the Radiation ................................ 13
2 Gravity and Motion .......................................... 18
2.1 Wanderers in the Sky ................................... 18
2.2 Gravitational Attraction ............................... 20
2.3 Tidal Forces ........................................... 23
2.4 Motion Holds Up the Planets ............................ 27
2.5 The Massive Sun ........................................ 27
2.6 What Causes Gravity? ................................... 28
3 Atomic and Subatomic Particles .............................. 31
3.1 Inside the Atom ........................................ 31
3.2 Heat, Motion, and Pressure ............................. 35
3.3 The Density and the Temperature within the Sun ......... 40
3.4 What Is the Sun Made Of? ............................... 42
3.5 Quantization of Atomic Systems ......................... 49
3.6 Excited Atoms .......................................... 52
3.7 Ionization and Element Abundance in the Sun and Other
Stars .................................................. 52
3.8 Altering Spectral Lines ................................ 54
4 Transmutation of the Elements ............................... 58
4.1 Things That Glow in the Dark ........................... 58
4.2 Radioactivity .......................................... 60
4.3 Tunneling out of the Nuclear Prison .................... 62
4.4 The Electron and the Neutrino .......................... 64
4.5 Particles from Outer Space ............................. 66
4.6 Nuclear Alchemy and Atomic Bombs ....................... 70
5 What Makes the Sun Shine? ................................... 76
5.1 Awesome Power, Enormous Times .......................... 76
5.2 How Hot Is the Center of the Sun? ...................... 77
5.3 Nuclear Fusion in the Sun's Core ....................... 78
5.4 Catching the Ghost ..................................... 86
5.5 How the Energy Gets Out ................................ 91
5.6 Looking Inside the Sun ................................. 94
5.7 The Faint-Young-Sun Paradox ............................ 98
5.8 When the Sun Dies ...................................... 99
6 The Extended Solar Atmosphere .............................. 102
6.1 Hot, Volatile, Magnetized Gas ......................... 102
6.2 The Sun's Varying Winds ............................... 112
6.3 Explosions on the Sun ................................. 116
6.4 Space Weather ......................................... 118
7 Comparisons of the Sun with Other Stars .................... 128
7.1 Where and When Can the Stars Be Seen? ................. 128
7.2 How Far Away Are the Stars? ........................... 132
7.3 How Bright and Luminous Are the Stars? ................ 134
7.4 How Hot Are the Stars? ................................ 137
7.5 How Big Are the Stars? ................................ 140
7.6 How Massive Are the Stars? ............................ 143
7.7 Motions of the Stars .................................. 146
8 The Lives of Stars ......................................... 157
8.1 Main-Sequence and Giant Stars ......................... 157
8.2 Nuclear Reactions Inside Stars ........................ 165
8.3 Using Star Clusters to Watch How Stars Evolve ......... 174
8.4 Where Did the Chemical Elements Come From? ............ 178
9 The Material Between the Stars ............................. 186
9.1 Bright Stars Light Up Their Surroundings .............. 186
9.2 Dark Places Filled with Dust .......................... 191
9.3 Interstellar Radio Signals ............................ 195
9.4 Cold, Rarefied Hydrogen Atoms Between the Stars ....... 197
9.5 Molecular Cocktails in a Smoky Room ................... 199
10 New Stars Arise from the Darkness .......................... 201
10.1 How the Solar System Came into Being .................. 201
10.2 Star Birth ............................................ 204
10.3 Planet-Forming Disks and Planets around Nearby Stars .. 210
11 Stellar End States ......................................... 219
11.1 A Range of Destinies .................................. 219
11.2 The Winds of Death .................................... 220
11.3 Stars the Size of the Earth ........................... 225
11.4 Crushed States of Matter .............................. 230
11.5 Stars That Blow Up .................................... 233
11.6 Expanding Remnants of Shattered Stars ................. 244
11.7 Neutron Stars and Pulsars ............................. 249
11.8 Stellar Black Holes ................................... 256
12 A Larger, Expanding Universe ............................... 259
12.1 Where Does the Milky Way End and How Does It Move? .... 259
12.2 Out Beyond the Stars .................................. 269
12.3 The Universe Is Expanding ............................. 274
12.4 The Cosmic Web ........................................ 277
13 Birth, Life, and Death of the Universe ..................... 287
13.1 Hotter Than Anything Else ............................. 287
13.2 Three Degrees above Absolute Zero ..................... 287
13.3 The Beginning of the Observable Universe .............. 292
13.4 When Galaxies Formed and the First Stars Began ........ 295
13.5 How Did It All Begin? ................................. 305
13.6 When Stars Cease to Shine ............................. 308
Quotation References .......................................... 313
Author Index .................................................. 317
Subject Index ................................................. 321
|
