Foundations of Astrophysics

by Barbara Ryden, Bradley M. Peterson

Foundations of Astrophysics provides a contemporary and complete introduction to astrophysics for astronomy and physics majors. With a logical presentation and conceptual and quantitative end-of-chapter problems, the material is accessible to introductory astrophysics students taking a two-semester survey course. Starting with the motions of the solar system and a discussion of the interaction of matter and light, the authors explore the physical nature of objects in the solar system, and the exciting new field of exoplanets. The second half of their text covers stellar, galactic, and extragalactic astronomy, followed by a brief discussion of cosmology. This is a reissue of the original 2010 edition, which has established itself as one of the market-leading astrophysics texts, well known for its clarity and simplicity. It has introduced thousands of physical science students to the breadth of astronomy, and helped prepare them for more advanced studies.

Genres: Physics, Science, Astronomy, Textbooks, Academic

610 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Josh Issa]

Barbara is so good at explaining stars!

[Samuel Andersen]

Extremely comprehensive, thorough, comedic, and enjoyable text. Offers a good deal of simple math problems that take more thought than raw computational prowess. Highly recommend reading through the whole book and attempting practice problems as they come up, as it only invites more questions and curiosities.

[Kronas]

Very straightforward textbook, examples, equations clearly outlined and explained.

[Marty]

Readable and well formatted. Could do for more mathematical nuance.

[Rose]

read selected chapters for data lab

[Tyler Robbins]

Cool stars

[Michael Tabb]

Impressively clear and very helpful, though the problems at the ends of the chapters are more complex than they would initially seem, and often don't actually derive from the chapter.