An Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics

Prof. Pankaj Jain is the head of the Department of Space, Planetary & Astronomical Sciences & Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. He earlier held the position of Professor of Physics at the same institution. He obtained his doctoral degree in physics from Syracuse University. He has extensive research experience in high-energy particle physics, cosmology and astrophysics. He also has considerable experience in teaching courses in physics, astrophysics and astronomy.

1. Introduction. 1.1. Scales and Dimensions. 1.2. Night Sky. 1.3. Constellations. 1.4. Earth, Sun, and the Solar System. 1.5. Sidereal Time. 1.6. Astronomical Catalogs and Software. 2. Observations. 2.1. Electromagnetic Waves. 2.2. Electromagnetic Spectrum. 2.3. Telescopes. 2.4. Observations at Visible Frequencies. 2.5. Mounting of Telescope. 2.6. Interferometry. 2.7. Observations at Other Wavelengths. 3. Astrometry. 3.1. Coordinate Systems. 3.2. Space Velocity and Proper Motion of Stars. 3.3. Parallax. 3.4. Aberration. 3.5. Coordinate Transformations. 4. Photometry. 4.1. Flux Density and Intensity. 4.2. Blackbody Radiation. 4.3. Energy Density in an Isotropic Radiation Field. 4.4. Magnitude Scale. 4.5. Stellar Temperatures. 4.6. Appendix: Solid Angle. 5. Gravitation and Kepler's Laws. 5.1. Two-Body Problem. 5.2. Application to Solar System. 5.3. Virial Theorem. 5.4. Tidal Forces and Roche Limit. 6. Stars, Stellar Spectra, and Classification. 6.1. Stellar Spectra. 6.2. Harvard Classification of Stellar Spectra. 6.3. Saha Equation. 6.4. Derivation of the Saha Equation. 6.5. Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) Diagram. 6.6. Star Clusters and Associations. 6.7. Distance and Age Determination of Clusters Using Color-Magnitude Diagram. 7. Radiation from Astronomical Sources. 7.1. Continuous Spectra. 7.2. Absorption and Emission Line Spectrum. 7.3. Molecular Band Spectra. 7.4. Extinction. 8. Stellar Structure. 8.1. Pressure Gradient. 8.2. Mass Distribution. 8.3. Energy Production. 8.4. Temperature Gradient. 8.5. Boundary Conditions. 8.6. Rosseland Mean Opacity. 8.7. Equation of State. 8.8. Energy Production in Stars. 8.9. Polytropic Model of a Star. 8.10. Appendix: Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution. 9. Stellar Nuclear Reactions. 9.1. Fundamental Interactions. 9.2. Fundamental Particles. 9.3. A Brief Introduction to Neutrinos. 9.4. PP Chain. 9.5. Nuclear Reaction Rate. 9.6. Energy Released in Nuclear Reactions. 9.7. Standard Solar Model. 10. Star Formation and Stellar Evolution. 10.1. Early Stage of Star Formation. 10.2. The Main Sequence Phase. 10.3. Degenerate Free Electron Gas. 10.4. Evolution beyond the Main Sequence. 10.5. Population I, II and III Stars. 10.6. White Dwarfs. 10.7. Neutron Star. 10.8. Black Holes. 10.9. Supernova. 11. The Sun. 11.1. Solar Atmosphere. 11.2. Dynamo Mechanism for Magnetic Field Enhancement. 11.3. Sunspots and the Solar Cycle. 11.4. Some Transient Phenomena. 12. The Solar System. 12.1. Orbital Properties of Planets. 12.2. Retrograde Motion of Planets. 12.3. Albedo and Temperature of Planets. 12.4. Terrestrial Planets: Interior Structure. 12.5. Jovian Planets. 12.6. The Moon. 12.7. Why Did Pluto Lose Its Planetship? 12.8. Formation of the Solar System. 13. Binary Stars. 13.1. Kinematics of a Binary Star System. 13.2. Classification of Binary Stars. 13.3. Mass Determination. 13.4. Mass Transfer in Binary Systems. 14. The Milky Way. 14.1. The Distance Ladder. 14.2. Distribution of Matter in the Milky Way. 14.3. Differential Rotation of the Milky Way. 14.4. Mapping the Galactic Disk with Radio Waves. 14.5. Formation of the Spiral Arms. 15. Galaxies. 15.1. Elliptical Galaxies. 15.2. Spiral Galaxies. 15.3. Evidence for Dark Matter. 15.4. Galaxy Clusters and Superclusters. 16. Cosmology. 16.1. Euclidean Space. 16.2. Curved Space. 16.3. Minkowski Space-Time. 16.4. Big Bang Cosmology. 16.5. The Early Universe. 17. Active Galaxies. 17.1. Active Galactic Nuclei: Some Basic Properties. 17.2. Classification of Active Galaxies. 17.3. Unified Model of AGNs.