Fundamental Astronomy

Hannu Karttunen is a Finnish astronomer and science writer. He is an associate professor at Turku University and works at Tuorla Observatory. Besides astronomical articles Dr. Karttunen has published astronomy textbooks and teaching material as well as articles for anthologies and encyclopedias. Karttunen has also produced a radio lecture series on astronomy. Hannu Karttunen received the 1998 Tieto-Finlandia Award for his book Oldest science: Astronomy Stone Age to the mission to the moon, and, in2007, the Finnish News Writers Association Tietopöllö Award for his writings and books for children and young people.Heikki Oja is a Finnish astronomer and associate professor at the University of Helsinki, as well as the former director of the Almanac Office. Dr. Oja has written dozens of non-technical non-fiction books and appeared frequently on the radio to talk about astronomy and space research. He has received several awards for his outreach activities.

"The overall choice of topics and the depth and breadth that this book ... are essential for a great understanding of astronomy. I feel like it is as good a book as far as the basics of theory and observational astrophysics are concerned. Everything is explained clearly and where possible there are helpful diagrams, figures and photos that are there exactly when you need them. ... Something that I also enjoyed a lot, was the extensive set of tables." (AstroMadness.com, May, 2017)

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Spherical Astronomy.- 3. Observations and Instruments.- 4. Photometric Concepts and Magnitudes.- 5. Radiation Mechanisms.- 6. Celestial Mechanics.- 7. The Solar System Part I.- 8. The Solar System Part II.- 9. Stellar Spectra.- 10. Binary Stars and Stellar Masses.- 11.