I. Introducing Astronomy
1. Astronomy and the Universe
Guest Essay Why Astronomy? Sandra M. Faber
2 Knowing the Heavens
Guest Essay Why Astrology Is Not Science James Randi
3 Eclipses and the Motion of the Moon
Guest Essay Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy Mark Hollabaugh
4 Gravitation and the Waltz of the Planets
5 The Nature of Light
6 Optics and Telescopes
II. Planets and Moons
7 Comparative Planetology I: Our Solar System
8. Comparative Planetology II: The Origin of our Solar System
Scientific American Dangling a COROT, Alexander Hellemens
III. Stars and Stellar Evolution
16 Our Star, the Sun
17 The Nature of the Stars
18 The Birth of Stars
19 Stellar Evolution: On and After the Main Sequence
20 Stellar Evolution: The Deaths of Stars
21 Neutron Stars
22 Black Holes
IV. Galaxies and Cosmology
23 Our Galaxy
24 Galaxies
25 Quasars and Active Galaxies
26 Cosmology: The Origin and Evolution of the Universe
Scientific American Dark Forces at Work, David Appell
27 Exploring the Early Universe
Scientific American Making Sense of Modern Cosmology, P. James E. Peebles
28 The Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Guest Essay A Biologist’s View of Astrobiology, Kevin W. Plaxco