Editorial Reviews
Review
Preface for the Student. Preface for the Instructor. Prologue: Science and the Universe: A Brief Tour. 1. Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy. 2. Orbits and Gravity. 3. Earth, Moon, and Sky. 4. Radiation and Spectra. 5. Astronomical Instruments. 6. The Sun: A Garden-Variety Star. 7. The Sun: A Nuclear Powerhouse. 8. Analyzing Starlight. 9. The Stars: A Celestial Census. 10. Celestial Distances. 11. Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space. 12. The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets Outside the Solar System. 13. Stars: From Adolescence to Old Age. 14. The Death of Stars. 15. Black Holes and Curved Spacetime. 16. The Milky Way Galaxy. 17. Galaxies. 18. Active Galaxies, Quasars, and Giant Black Holes. Interlude: The Mystery of the Gamma-Ray Bursts. 19. The Evolution and Distribution of Galaxies. 20. The Big Bang. 21.Life in the Universe. Appendices: 1. Astronomy on the World Wide Web. 2. Sources of Astronomical Information. 3. Glossary. 4. Powers-of-Ten Notation. 5. Units Used in Science. 6. Some Useful Constants for Astronomy. 7. Data for the Planets. 8. Selected Satellites of the Planets. 9. Upcoming (Total) Eclipses. 10. The Nearest Stars. 11. The Brightest Stars. 12. The Brightest Members of the Local Group of Galaxies. 13. The Chemical Elements. 14. The Constellations. 15. The Messier Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters. Index. Star Maps.
About the Author
Andrew Fraknoi is the Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College near San Francisco, where his courses are taken by about 900 students per year. He is also Director of Project ASTRO at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, a national program that forms partnerships between volunteer astronomers and school teachers in their communities. From 1978 to 1992 he was Executive Director of the Society, as well as Editor of MERCURY Magazine and the UNIVERSE IN THE CLASSROOM Newsletter. He has taught astronomy and physics at San Francisco State University, Canada College, and the University of California Extension Division. He is co-author and editor of THE UNIVERSE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS and MORE UNIVERSE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS, two widely used collections of astronomy teaching activities and resources. In the 1980's, he was scientific editor of THE PLANETS and THE UNIVERSE, two collections of science articles and science fiction stories. For five years he was the lead author of a nationally syndicated newspaper column on astronomy, and he appears regularly on radio and television explaining astronomical developments. With Sidney Wolff, he is co-editor of ASTRONOMY EDUCATION REVIEW, a new on-line journal/magazine for those working in space science education. (http://aer.noao.edu) In addition, he has organized three national symposia on teaching introductory astronomy at the college level, and over 20 national workshops on improving the way astronomy is taught in earlier grades. He has received the Annenberg Foundation Prize of the American Astronomical Society and the Klumpke-Roberts Prize of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for his contributions to the public understanding of astronomy. Asteroid 4859 was named Asteroid Fraknoi in 1992 in recognition of his work in astronomy education.
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