Stars

There is no shortage of introductory textbooks in Astronomy, yet many fail to meet the needs of specialized, in-depth courses required by some universities. Those textbooks that explore select topics in Astronomy in greater detail often assume a familiarity with physics and calculus, making these texts inappropriate for the non-science major. Stars provides an in-depth treatment of the subject of stars that is accessible to students who are not majoring in science or engineering.

Carl Sagan once said that we are all "star stuff." The goal of this book is to illustrate that without the stars, we would not exist. This book covers a range of topics, including the role of stars in human history, the naming of stars and constellations, the classification and properties of stars, star formation and evolution, Einstein's theories of relativity, black holes, and more. This book also reviews the basic principles of physics which are needed to understand the stars, such as gravity, light, and the structure of the atom.

Stars is designed to help readers answer and understand a variety of questions that are central to Astronomy, including:

Where can we find the stars? How do we get information from the stars? What are the stars made of? Do the stars ever change? How do stars live? How do stars die? Why are black holes so strange? How are stars born?