Günther Hasinger - Böcker

When observing the sky on a very clear, dark night, the soft glow of the Milky Way with its thousands of stars can be seen with the naked eye. Over the centuries since Galileo Galilei first pointed a telescope at the galaxy in 1609, this awe-inspiring yet easily visible panorama was our cosmos, our celestial world. With each new scientific discovery, however, this cosmos has grown dramatically, increasing rapidly over the last several decades. As we look deeper into space, the earlier phases of the cosmos are unveiled to us, but we know that even with the largest telescopes, we will see only a tiny fraction of the vast expanse of the Universe.In Astronomy's Limitless Journey, astrophysicist Günther Hasinger takes the reader on a journey to the far reaches of the Universe—an exciting time travel that begins with the incredibly hot fireball of the Big Bang roughly 13.8 billion years ago and ends in distant aeons with its cold, dark demise. In between lie the times in which extensive structures, galaxies, stars, and planets form. As the field of astrophysics and cosmology experiences a ""golden age"" due to larger telescopes, faster computers, and more sophisticated algorithms, fundamental changes are taking place in our understanding of space and time and of the origin and future of our Universe. Hasinger thoroughly explains these fascinating revelations and describes the methods utilized in modern astrophysics. He cautions, however, that the boundaries between knowledge and ignorance shift constantly; where our knowledge is so incomplete such that we can only speculate, the journey becomes shaky. Indeed, every new discovery opens a further door to the unknown and with every answered question, we discover more locked doors still to be opened.

In the last 45 years, X-ray astronomy has become an integral part of modern astrophysics and cosmology. There is a wide range of astrophysical objects and phenomena, where X-rays provide crucial diagnostics. In particular they are well suited to study hot plasmas and matter under extreme physical conditions in compact objects. This book summarizes the present status of X-ray astronomy in terms of observational results and their astrophysical interpretation. It is written for students, astrophysicists as well a growing community of physicists interested in the field. An introduction including historical material is followed by chapters on X-ray astronomical instrumentation. The next two parts summarize in 17 chapters the present knowledge on various classes of X-ray sources in the galactic and extragalactic realm. While the X-ray astronomical highlights discussed in this book are mainly based on results from ROSAT, ASCA, RXTE, BeppoSAX, Chandra and XMM-Newton, a final chapter provides an outlook on observational capabilities and projects discussed for the future.

"Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology" have developed into important and fruitful research areas with a hitherto unprecented public interest. The year 2005, which marked the 100th anniversary of the 'annus mirabilis', that year in which Albert Einstein published three of his most important scientific papers, was the perfect opportunity to review and to present the current scientific understanding of relativistic topics including cosmological models, cosmology related measurements, the large scale properties of the Universe, dark matter and dark energy, the theory of gravity, black holes, theory and measurements, active galactic nuclei, clusters of galaxies, jets. Each of these subjects is addressed and the book represents a useful reference tool both for the expert and the new-comer in these fields.

"Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology" have developed into important and fruitful research areas with a hitherto unprecented public interest. The year 2005, which marked the 100th anniversary of the 'annus mirabilis', that year in which Albert Einstein published three of his most important scientific papers, was the perfect opportunity to review and to present the current scientific understanding of relativistic topics including cosmological models, cosmology related measurements, the large scale properties of the Universe, dark matter and dark energy, the theory of gravity, black holes, theory and measurements, active galactic nuclei, clusters of galaxies, jets. Each of these subjects is addressed and the book represents a useful reference tool both for the expert and the new-comer in these fields.