Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe, CourseSmart eTextbook, 7th Edition

For one-semester Introduction to Astronomy courses.

 

With Astronomy: A Beginner’s Guide, Seventh Edition, the briefer version of their two seminal textbooks, trusted authors Eric Chaisson and Steve McMillan continue to emphasize three major themes: the process of science, the size and scale of the universe, and the evolution of the universe. The Seventh Edition introduces three additional core features: learning outcomes, collaborative and individual activities, and scientific history and culture. Known for its stunning art program, A Beginner’s Guide now also provides revised visual analogies that help students connect cosmic concepts to their daily lives.

BRIEF CONTENTS

0. Charting the Heavens: The Foundations of Astronomy

I. FOUNDATIONS

1. The Copernican Revolution: The Birth of Modern Science

2. Light and Matter: The Inner Workings of the Cosmos

3. Telescopes: The Tools of Astronomy

II. OUR PLANETARY SYSTEM

4. The Solar System: Interplanetary Matter and the Birth of the Planets

5. Earth and Its Moon: Our Cosmic Backyard

6. The Terrestrial Planets: A Study in Contrasts

7. The Jovian Planets: Giants of the Solar System

8. Moons, Rings, and Plutoids: Small Worlds Among Giants

III. THE STARS

9. The Sun: Our Parent Star

10. Measuring the Stars: Giants, Dwarfs, and the Main Sequence

11. The Interstellar Medium: Star Formation in the Milky Way

12. Stellar Evolution: The Lives and Deaths of Stars

13. Neutron Stars and Black Holes: Strange States of Matter

IV. GALAXIES AND THE UNIVERSE

14. The Milky Way Galaxy: A Spiral in Space

15. Normal and Active Galaxies: Building Blocks of the Universe

16. Hubble’s Law and Dark Matter: The Large-Scale Structure of the Cosmos

17. Cosmology: The Big Bang and the Fate of the Universe

18. Life in the Universe: Are We Alone?