Αστροφυσική: Μια συνοπτική εισαγωγή

Very Short Introductions #470

by James Binney, Ιωάννης Παπαδόγγονας (translator), Βασίλης Χαρμανδάρης (editor)

Η αστροφυσική είναι η φυσική των άστρων, και ευρύτερα η φυσική του σύμπαντος. Μας επιτρέπει να κατανοήσουμε τη δομή και την εξέλιξη των πλανητικών συστημάτων, των άστρων, των γαλαξιών, του μεσοαστρικού αερίου, και του κόσμου ως συνόλου.

Σε αυτή τη συνοπτική εισαγωγή, ο κορυφαίος αστροφυσικός James Binney περιγράφει την ταχύτατη επέκταση του πεδίου της αστροφυσικής τον περασμένο αιώνα, χάρις στις τεράστιες ποσότητες δεδομένων που συγκεντρώθηκαν από τηλεσκόπια που διερεύνησαν όλες τις περιοχές του ηλεκτρομαγνητικού φάσματος και τη γρήγορη αύξηση της υπολογιστικής ισχύος, παράγοντες που επέτρεψαν να αναπτυχθούν ολοένα και πιο αποτελεσματικά μαθηματικά μοντέλα. Ο συγγραφέας εξηγεί με ποιον τρόπο η εφαρμογή των θεμελιωδών αρχών της φυσικής –όσον αφορά την ενέργεια, τη μάζα και την ορμή– μαζί με τους δύο πυλώνες της σχετικότητας και της κβαντομηχανικής οδήγησαν στην ουσιαστική κατανόηση φαινομένων που εκτείνονται από τους ταχύτατα περιστρεφόμενους πάλσαρ μέχρι τη σύγκρουση γιγάντιων σπειροειδών γαλαξιών.

Πρόκειται για μια εύληπτη και επιστημονικά ακριβή εισαγωγή στην αστροφυσική σε απλό μαθηματικό επίπεδο, για αναγνώστες που θέλουν να έρθουν σε ουσιαστική επαφή με τις βασικές έννοιές της.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Astronomy, Space, Popular Science

184 pages, Paperback

Published April 19, 2019

About the author

James Jeffrey Binney, FRS, FInstP (born 1950 in Surrey) is a British astrophysicist. He is a Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and former head of the Sub-Department of Theoretical Physics as well as a Professorial Fellow at Merton College. Binney is known principally for his work in theoretical galactic and extragalactic astrophysics, though he has made a number of contributions to areas outside of astrophysics as well.

Reviews

[Jose Brox · Rating 3 out of 5]

A difficult read, worthy only in particular passages. Apart from being too specialized (expert information without any definition of the elementary concepts) and too dense (small paragraphs condensing important processes in a few lines) for a very short introduction, the text is lacking in organization and motivation. I have enough knowledge of classical mechanics and particle physics, and being a mathematician I'm not scared in the slightest of formulas and graphs, yet while reading this book I found myself wondering many times where was the text trying to go next, what was the intention of the author here and there, why was I reading that particular explanation, what was the purpose of this particular graph at this particular moment. Adjacent paragraphs tend to talk about disparate subjects, just like if an academic text had been drastically summarized, each section being now condensed into a paragraph or two. Fairly enough, sometimes a mysterious, ad-hoc paragraph in some previous chapter happened to be crucial to understand some important concept in an ensuing chapter, but this was not sufficiently motivated.

On the positive side, the author clearly knows his field and gives some enlightening geometrical descriptions which allow to visualize processes such as the formation and evolution of stars, planetary systems, and galaxies. There is a wonderful sense of marvel in this book, if more sparse that I would have liked, and I have arisen from its reading more knowledgeable than before.

[Usfromdk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the author was trying to do too much with this book. He covers a very large number of topics, but unfortunately the book is not easy to read because he covers in a few pages topics which other authors write entire books about. If he'd covered fewer topics in greater detail I think the end result would have been better. Despite having watched a large number of lectures on related topics and read academic texts about some of the topics covered in the book, I found the book far from easy to read, certainly compared to other physics books in this series (the books about nuclear physics and particle physics are both significantly easier to read, in my opinion). The author sometimes seemed to me to have difficulties understanding how large the potential knowledge gap between him and the reader of the book might be.

Worth reading if you know some stuff already and you're willing to put in a bit of work, but don't expect too much from the coverage.

[Timo]

This was a nice read. Not perfect for people as a first introduction to the field in general I think. I could enjoy it, still learnt some cool new interesting facts and still had enough things I did not really understand. Recommendable to anyone interested in astrophysics who is already familiar with the basics.
I like stars.

[Julian Onions · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book. James Binney is a very clever man, and there are some complex concepts covered here. I think in some chapters it goes quite a way beyond being an introduction and feels a little more like a text book. So if you are thinking this is going to be an easy read, then beware. It also predates gravitational wave detection in one chapter.

[Kaitlyn Warden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in my learning era now that I’ve recovered from the trauma that was graduate school 🫶

To provide some context about my background going into this book: I have very little exposure to physics (introductory college courses that I took nearly a decade ago now) but quite a bit of experience reading scientific writings/textbooks.

I definitely learned a lot from this book and much of it was written at a level I could understand. However, there was a significant portion that went a little too in-depth on the math and I didn’t have enough of a basic understanding to have a clue what he was yapping about lol. I think this introduction would be more suited to a layperson if he just said “the math checks out, trust me” and I’d be like “I believe you, thanks”

That being said, it was a very thorough overview for such a short book and that in itself is impressive! I also appreciated the author’s occasional use of humor. Really added a little pizzazz to an otherwise serious topic ✨

[Daniel Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chapter 1: Big ideas
Chapter 2: Gas between the stars
Chapter 3: Stars
Chapter 4: Accretion
Chapter 5: Planetary systems
Chapter 6: Relativistic astrophysics
Chapter 7: Galaxies
Chapter 8: The big picture

[Shane Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and conceptually clear text that was proofed horribly!

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Largely non-mathematical. A few good insights but he does seems to assume varying levels of competence.

[Grason Edens · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars out of 5.

I bought this book right after Christmas of 2022, and started reading around the time that the spring semester started up. Of course, the spring semester was far busier than I thought it would be. Because of the heavy schedule, I did not finish this book until today(June 6th, 2023). Was this book worth the wait?

Eh.

I am not an expert in astrophysics whatsoever, so I came into this book as a complete layperson. Sadly, I think I came out of this book more confused than when I came in.
The overall structure of the book is somewhat odd. The best analogy I can think of is chunks of Mr. Binney's lectures poorly strung together for more than 140 pages. At times I got lost going through a single page of text and often had to reread certain paragraphs. Additionally, as other reviews of this book have concluded, I feel like the overall vision for this book was too big. There are many topics covered throughout this book. The fact that some topics in this book have entirely separate entries in the Very Short Introduction series sort of exemplifies this issue(Ex. Planets V.S.I, Stars V.S.I, The Sun V.S.I, Planetary Systems V.S.I, Galaxies V.S.I, etc.). Astrophysics V.S.I feels like trying to cram several complex topics into a small book. However, even with this criticism, I understand that astrophysics is a complex topic with overlaps from many disciplines. But throughout this entire book, I just felt kind of lost.

If you have some background in astrophysics and you want to read this, you will probably be fine. However, if you are a layperson like myself, this book is hard to recommend.

[Christopher Byram · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered the Very Short Introductions book series from a video on YouTube, uploaded by the channel Tibees, entitled "Books for Learning Physics". In the video, the narrator, Toby Hendy, a mathematics and physics graduate, is present with a guest, David Gozzard, who also has a background in physics. David mentions the Very Short Introductions book series which gives a (very short) introduction on a wide range of topics, such as business management or Islam, and that for physics, you can get the books in the series that are on physics itself, nuclear physics, particle physics, quantum mechanics and cosmology. He claims that there are over 400 of these books, and they are very small, you can read them in a few hours and pick them up for about $13. The books on physics do not go into the maths behind the physics, but they give you a very brief overview of the concepts and where the science is today. This book series is good to get you started on a subject that you do not have a background in.

[Semih · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bu Very Short Introduction kitaplarını aslında ilgimi çeken chapter'a dair Further Readings kısmından kopya çekerek derinleşmek amaçlı kullanmayı seviyorum ve kitaplar genelde merak uyandırıcı bir derinlikte oluyor ve bana yeni bir pencere açıyor. Bu kitapta aradığım derinliği yakalamama rağmen yeterince samimi bir anlatım yerine kendimi çok akademiksel bir anlatı içinde bulduğum için ders kitabı okur gibi hissettim. Bölümler birbiriyle iletişim kuramadı. Derinlik açısından kötü bir kitap olmamasına rağmen üslup açısından yetersizdi.

[fengyu · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf-ed this. was expecting this to be a good introduction to astrophysics, pitched at a beginner’s level or at most requiring some knowledge of physics, but it’s decidedly not popular science writing and seems more like something a college student would rush through in lieu of studying for their exam the next week. not for me, sorry!

[Stephen Sun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite a Very Short Introduction. While the topics discussed are interesting, they are presented in a way that's too technical for a reader without background knowledge. A good book for someone taking an astrophysics course in college, but not for a layperson wanting a quick overview of astrophysics, thus missing the essence of a Very Short Introduction.

[Molly Sharpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good for people interested in it who don’t know a lot about it. However, i would only recommend it to people who have a general background/ understanding in physics as some concepts are tricky to get if you don’t get it

[Caleb Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note - I read this before I had any formal training in physics.
Found it to expose some some very interesting concepts, but it was so dense with information that I struggled to get through it.
Kind of relieving to read the reviews and know it wasn’t just me 😂

[Margarita · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK. But really not an "introduction".

[Bob Small · Rating 4 out of 5]

First half is better than the second. An interesting account of accretion discs.

[Aron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Not an introduction, impossible to read if you don’t have a background in physics or the subject

[Adagiobear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Challenging in places but still an interesting read.

[Daniel Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different book, it made me begin seeing the universe in terms of fluids and physics I a way I hadn't before

[apageofabook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think we can really call a university level text an "introduction."

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a beginner book for people not majored in physics

[Pablo Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple pero complicado, de rápida lectura, bastante completo para una visión global de la astrofísica y sus variadas areas

[Queen Elsa]

Breezes through concepts and terms at warp speed leaving me very befuddled.

[Huckle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this book 3 stars because the author crammed too much information into what is supposed to be an introduction to the subject. The numerous mathematical equations and concepts are overwhelming, and it’s hard to keep up at times. I still adored the knowledge I acquired, but I suggest reading another book on astrophysics if you want an introduction.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a layperson of casual interest, I didn't find this book very helpful. It assumes a lot of knowledge of math, physics, and technical terminology, and so wasn't very accessible as an introduction to the subject.

The text itself was also full of typographical errors: misspelled words, duplicated words, etc. Hard to believe this came from Oxford University Press.