В атласе дана исчерпывающая информация по всем объектам Каталога Мессье (фотографии, история открытия, местоположение на небосводе, условия наблюдения и т.п.), также изложена биография составителя Чарльза Мессье, и история развития самого каталога.

Книга начинается с исторического введения "Звездообразование: Ранняя история", представляющего новый материал для учащихся и учёных. Затем следуют две большие статьи на темы "Эволюция к главной последовательности звёзд и молодых кластеров" и "Наблюдения за молодыми звёздными объектами". Эти статьи, посвящённые увлекательной проблеме образования звёзд из межзвёздного вещества, дают полный обзор современных теорий и наблюдений. Статьи содержат материалы, до сих пор не публиковавшиеся в астрономической литературе. Книга адресована аспирантам и может быть использована в качестве учебного пособия для продвинутых курсов звёздной астрофизики.

Книга Брайана Грина «Элегантная Вселенная» – увлекательнейшее путешествие по современной физике, которая как никогда ранее близка к пониманию того, как устроена Вселенная. Квантовый мир и теория относительности Эйнштейна, гипотеза Калуцы—Клейна и дополнительные измерения, теория суперструн и браны, Большой взрыв и мульти-вселенные – вот далеко не полный перечень обсуждаемых вопросов. Используя ясные аналогии, автор переводит сложные идеи современной физики и математики на образы, понятные всем и каждому. Брайан Грин срывает завесу таинства с теории струн, чтобы представить миру 11-мерную Вселенную, в которой ткань пространства рвется и восстанавливается, а вся материя порождена вибрациями микроскопических струн. Книга вызовет несомненный интерес как у специалистов естественнонаучных дисциплин, так и у широкого круга читателей.

Книга "Астероиды, кометы и метеориты: космические захватчики Земли", написанная понятным языком и снабжённая чёрно-белыми фотографиями, иллюстрациями и полезными таблицами, предоставляет учащимся, исследователям и прочим читателям самую последнюю информацию из этой завораживающей области. В книге рассматриваются все аспекты этих космических захватчиков, начиная с эпохи динозавров и заканчивая нашим временем.

This book, the first in a series of forthcoming volumes, consists of topical and timely reviews of a number of carefully selected topics in solar systemn science. Contributions, in form of up-to-date reviews, are mainly aimed at professional astronomers and planetary scientists wishing to inform themselves about progress in fields closely related to their own field of expertise.

This volume contains a comprehensive treatment of X-ray spectroscopy, as applied in astrophysics. It is presented in the form of extensive notes of lectures given by seven distinguished scientists at the Tenth Summer School of the European Astrophysics Doctoral Network. The subjects covered are: basic line and continuum radiation processes in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy; atomic physics of collision- and radiation-dominated plasmas; X-ray spectroscopic observations with ASCA and BeppoSAX; future X-ray spectroscopy missions; X-ray optics, and X-ray spectroscopy instrumentation. The book, which will appeal to both researchers and graduate students, is timely in view of the scheduled launches of the big X-ray observatories AXAF and XMM in 1999.

"A classic of physics ... the first systematic presentation of Einstein's theory of relativity" - British Journal for Philosophy and Science. Long one of the standard texts in the field, this excellent introduction probes deeply into Euclidean space, Riemann's space, Einstein's general relativity, gravitational waves and energy, laws of conservation...

Ever since Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity burst upon the world in 1915 some of the most brilliant minds of our century have sought to decipher the mysteries bequeathed by that theory, a legacy so unthinkable in some respects that even Einstein himself rejected them. Which of these bizarre phenomena, if any, can really exist in our universe? Black holes, down which anything can fall but from which nothing can return; wormholes, short spacewarps connecting regions of the cosmos; singularities, where space and time are so violently warped that time ceases to exist and space becomes a kind of foam; gravitational waves, which carry symphonic accounts of collisions of black holes billions of years ago; and time machines, for traveling backward and forward in time. Kip Thorne, along with fellow theorists Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, a cadre of Russians, and earlier scientists such as Oppenheimer, Wheeler and Chandrasekhar, has been in the thick of the quest to secure answers. In this masterfully written and brilliantly informed work of scientific history and explanation, Dr. Thorne, the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, leads his readers through an elegant, always human, tapestry of interlocking themes, coming finally to a uniquely informed answer to the great question: what principles control our universe and why do physicists think they know the things they think they know? Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time has been one of the greatest best-sellers in publishing history. Anyone who struggled with that book will find here a more slowly paced but equally mind-stretching experience, with the added fascination of a rich historical and human component.

The Local Group is a small cluster of galaxies of which thirty-five members are currently known, including the Milky Way. With characteristic clarity of expression, Sidney van den Bergh provides a complete overview of all that is known about the galaxies of the Local Group and their evolution. He also places this knowledge in the wider context of continuing studies of galaxy formation and evolution, the cosmic distance scale, and the conditions in the early Universe. This volume thoroughly details our current understanding of each of the thirty-five members of the Local Group, as well as those galaxies previously regarded as possible members. The book goes on to examine the mass, stability and evolution of the Local Group as a whole and includes many important, previously unpublished results and conclusions.

This book provides the most complete academic treatment on the application of polytropes ever published. It is primarily intended for students and scientists working in Astrophysics and related fields. It provides a full overview of past and present research results and is an indispensible guide for everybody wanting to apply polytropes.