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This broad interest text describes how our current understanding of the interiors of the stars came about, beginning in 1870. It starts by discussing the development of our knowledge of the inside of the Sun, and continues on to compare the Sun's and other stars' properties and then discusses how stars form, evolve, and die. The book describes the properties of a variety of stars with special characteristics, and it ends with a discussion of the first stars that formed after the Big Bang. Aiming to show how interesting scientific investigations can encourage young men and women to pursue STEM careers, this book also underscores the role women have played in the development of our understanding.
Key Features
- Includes the stories of the historical advances that have led to our current understanding of the nature of the stars
- Underscores the important roles women have played in the development of this understanding
- Avoids the use of technical jargon and clearly defines the terms used
- Identifies some of the key questions that remain unresolved at the time of writing
Part I Understanding the Inside of the Sun
1 A Glimpse of the Solar Interior
2 The Sun as a Star
3 The Role of Radiation Inside Stars
4 The Nature of Star Stuff
5 Discovering the Source of Solar Energy
6 Properties of the Matter Inside Stars
Part II A Closer Look at the Solar Interior
7 How Our Understanding of the Present Sun Developed
8 Ghost Particles from the Center of the Sun
9 The Sounds of Sunlight
Part III From the Sun to the Stars
10 Properties of Main Sequence Stars
11 Where Do Stars Come From?
12 Failed Stars: Brown Dwarfs
Part IV Why and How Stars Evolve and Die
13 What Happens When a Low-Mass Star Exhausts Its Nuclear Fuel?
14 How an Intermediate-Mass Star Becomes a White Dwarf
15 White Dwarfs: Fading Embers of Burnt-Out Stars
16 The Evolution of High-Mass Stars and Supernovae
17 Astrophysical Alchemy: Origins of the Chemical Elements
18 Neutron Stars
19 Stellar-Mass Black Holes and Gravitational Waves
Part V Stars with Special Characteristics
20 Pulsating Stars
21 Cataclysmic Variables
22 The First Stars
Appendix A: Forms of the Hertzsprung–Russell Diagram
Appendix B: Some Physical Properties of the Sun
Appendix C: Zero-Age Main Sequence Stars
Appendix D: Electron Degeneracy
Appendix E: Properties of Some Brown Dwarf Stars
Appendix F: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO)
Appendix G: Zero-Age Main Sequence Models for the First Stars
Bibliography