| DC Field | Value | Language |
|---|
| dc.contributor.author | Schneider, Peter | - |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-04-21T04:50:43Z | - |
| dc.date.available | 2021-04-21T04:50:43Z | - |
| dc.date.issued | 2015 | - |
| dc.identifier.isbn | 978-3-642-54083-7 | - |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/192 | - |
| dc.description | This book began as a series of lecture notes for an introductory astronomy course I have been
teaching at the University of Bonn since 2001. This annual lecture course is aimed at students
in the first phase of their studies. Most are enrolled in physics degrees and choose astronomy
as one of their subjects. This series of lectures forms the second part of the introductory course,
and since the majority of students have previously attended the first part, I therefore assume
that they have acquired a basic knowledge of astronomical nomenclature and conventions, as
well as on the basic properties of stars. Thus, in this part of the course, I concentrate mainly
on extragalactic astronomy and cosmology, beginning with a discussion of our Milky Way as
a typical (spiral) galaxy. To extend the potential readership of this book to a larger audience,
the basics of astronomy and relevant facts about radiation fields and stars are summarized in
the appendix.
The goal of the lecture course, and thus also of this book, is to confront physics students with
astronomy early in their studies. Since their knowledge of physics is limited in their first year,
many aspects of the material covered here need to be explained with simplified arguments.
However, it is surprising to what extent modern extragalactic astronomy can be treated with
such arguments. All the material in this book is covered in the lecture course, though not
all details written up here. I believe that only by covering this wide range of topics can the
students be guided to the forefront of our present astrophysical knowledge. Hence, they learn a
lot about issues which are currently unsettled and under intense discussion. It is also this aspect
which I consider of great importance for the role of astronomy in the framework of a physics
program, since in most other subdisciplines of physics the limits of our current knowledge are
approached only at a later stage in the education.
In particular, the topic of cosmology is usually met with interest by the students. Despite the
large amount of material, most of them are able to digest and understand what they are taught,
as evidenced from the oral examinations following this course—and this is not small-number
statistics: my colleague Klaas de Boer and I together grade about 100 oral examinations per
year, covering both parts of the introductory course. Some critical comments coming from
students concern the extent of the material as well as its level. However, I do not see a rational
reason why the level of an astronomy lecture should be lower than that of one in physics or
mathematics. | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | On the
instrument side, the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope brought two
new very powerful instruments to this unique observatory, the Herschel and Planck satellites
were launched and conducted their very successful missions, the South Pole Telescope and
the Atacama Cosmology Telescope started operation, ALMA was inaugurated and began
observations, and new powerful high-resolution instruments were installed on 10-m class
telescopes. Scientifically, the redshift frontier has been extended, with candidate galaxies at
redshifts of ten or higher and stellar explosions seen at redshifts beyond eight, a much improved
understanding of the high-redshift galaxy population has been obtained, as a consequence
of which also the origin of the cosmic infrared background is now understood, and greatly
improved multi-wavelength surveys carried out with the most powerful telescopes, together
with new simulation techniques, have provided us with a much better understanding of the
evolution of the galaxy population. The Pierre Auger observatory has shed much light on
the origin of the most energetic cosmic rays, and the advances of atmospheric Cherenkov
telescopes have identified dozens of active galaxies emitting at energies of teraelectron Volts. | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Springer | en_US |
| dc.subject | Cosmology | en_US |
| dc.subject | Astronomy | en_US |
| dc.title | Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology | en_US |
| dc.title.alternative | An Introduction | en_US |
| dc.type | Book | en_US |
| Appears in Collections: | ARTS & SCIENCE
|
