Essential Astrophysics (Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics)

This book delivers in its being described as "a serious introduction to astrophysics complete with the necessary formulae." Not only does it have a serious comprehensive coverage of the topic, I found it to be extremely well written and edited. As I worked thru the book I found very few errors. I found almost no errors at all in the huge number of astronomical "Examples" where formulas were given in illustrating the topic under discussion and then used to solve a typical problem.The immense range of topics include: Making Astronomical Observations, Types of Radiation, Gravity, Cosmic Motions and Rotation, Moving Particles, Heat, Gas and Plasma Pressures, Detecting Atoms in Stars, Spectral Lines, Element Transmutation, The Sun, Solar Atmospheres, Flares, and Prominences, H-R Diagrams, Stellar Evolution, Nebulae, Stellar and Planetary Formation, Stellar End States, The Expanding Universe, The Cosmic Background Radiation, Galactic Evolution, Dark Matter, and Dark Energy.One thing I found very useful was that every Example was completely worked out showing its solution. This helps immensely for a person such as myself doing a self-study. Also, when a solution to a problem was shown in an Example all the necessary quantities to put into the formulas (along with their associated units) were given so the reader did not have to search thru the book elsewhere looking them up.The book includes a huge number of references for each topic discussed so that the reader could look up original research papers written over the years by different people who made discoveries.In short, this is a great book!

I was desperately searching for a mid-level astrophysics book (i.e. not intro astronomy and not advanced astrophysics) and this book fit the bill. A solid background in classical mechanics, electromagnetic theory, and atomic physics is needed to understand where the formulas in the book come from. There are no derivations of the equations, but those can be found in other books. Written at the senior undergraduate level.Excellent historical overview for each topic. Easy to read and understand.

A great text for those interested in astrophysics, text does a good job of covering all realms of astrophysics.

Product as promised