Reddit Reddit reviews An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics (2nd Edition)

We found 34 Reddit comments about An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics (2nd Edition). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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34 Reddit comments about An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics (2nd Edition):

u/CalligraphMath · 25 pointsr/space

Great question! The most direct method is by spectroscopy. This exploits the fact that atoms absorb and emit light at specific wavelengths. So, we can look at what wavelengths of light distant stars are emitting and absorbing, and infer what kinds of atoms are in its atmosphere. This is what lets us know what white dwarfs are made of, for instance.

There are also indirect lines of evidence. We can take well-tested theories describing nuclear reactions, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and others, and apply them to the interiors of stars. The most sophisticated models are supercomputer simulations that couple fluid dynamics models with statistical descriptions of nuclear reactions and electromagnetic interactions. They're tested both by ensuring that they're correctly applying theories tested elsewhere, and against actual astrophysical observations of stellar luminosity and spectra. (Side note --- as you might expect, these numerical capabilities have a decidedly terrestrial origin.)

Scientific advances along these lines often look like rasterizing, where the scientific community takes a very simple model and makes successive passes elaborating and refining it. For instance, you can look at the sun, measure its temperature, mass, and radius, and notice that it's mostly made of hydrogen gas. Then you can show that the kind of conditions that exist at its core necessitate hydrogen fusion. Once you've done that, you see that a hydrostatic equilibrium balancing energy produced by fusion with gravitational collapse accurately predicts the sun's radius and temperature. Then it's on to building more complex models to try to understand its inner temperature gradients, convection, solar storms, etc ...

(Source: Mixed graduate/undergraduate astrophysics was one of my favorite classes in college and I still keep BOB in a special place on my shelf.)

u/HerrGeneral913 · 15 pointsr/askastronomy

A good place to start is Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, by Carroll and Ostlie:
https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-2nd/dp/0805304029
It's a good upper-undergrad to grad-level textbook that covers a lot of topics.

u/NGC6514 · 10 pointsr/askastronomy

The Cosmic Perspective is a pretty good introductory text for astronomy.

The most comprehensive text in astrophysics is An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Carroll and Ostlie (often referred to as the "big orange book," or BOB for short). This text is much more mathematically involved, but will teach you most anything you might want to know about astrophysics.

If you really want to understand astronomy, then BOB is the way to go, but you'll have to learn calculus and a couple of years of physics to understand some of the concepts. I would suggest starting with The Cosmic Perspective and learning some physics and math if you become interested enough to move on to BOB.

u/jfowl · 9 pointsr/astrophysics

For an astronomy 101 type textbook I would recommend Bennett's The Essential Cosmic Perspective. There are plenty of other 101 level books out there too if you just look around Amazon. If you want a meatier undergrad text book, I would recommend Carroll and Ostlie's Introduction to Modern Astrophysics (also known to many as the Big Orange Book, AKA BOB). BOB covers almost all the basics of astrophysics and has 30 chapter, if I recall correctly, but you'll probably want some grounding in college physics and math before diving too far into it.

Also, it may be worth checking out is Nick Strobel's site, www.astronomynotes.com. It has some good intro-level material.

u/Senno_Ecto_Gammat · 8 pointsr/space

This question gets asked all the time on this sub. I did a search for the term books and compiled this list from the dozens of previous answers:

How to Read the Solar System: A Guide to the Stars and Planets by Christ North and Paul Abel.


A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.


A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing by Lawrence Krauss.


Cosmos by Carl Sagan.

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan.


Foundations of Astrophysics by Barbara Ryden and Bradley Peterson.


Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program by Pat Duggins.


An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield.


You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes: Photographs from the International Space Station by Chris Hadfield.


Space Shuttle: The History of Developing the Space Transportation System by Dennis Jenkins.


Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle, 1971-2010 by Chapline, Hale, Lane, and Lula.


No Downlink: A Dramatic Narrative About the Challenger Accident and Our Time by Claus Jensen.


Voices from the Moon: Apollo Astronauts Describe Their Lunar Experiences by Andrew Chaikin.


A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin.


Breaking the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before NASA by Amy Teitel.


Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module by Thomas Kelly.


The Scientific Exploration of Venus by Fredric Taylor.


The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.


Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her by Rowland White and Richard Truly.


An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Bradley Carroll and Dale Ostlie.


Rockets, Missiles, and Men in Space by Willy Ley.


Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Clark.


A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.


Russia in Space by Anatoly Zak.


Rain Of Iron And Ice: The Very Real Threat Of Comet And Asteroid Bombardment by John Lewis.


Mining the Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets by John Lewis.


Asteroid Mining: Wealth for the New Space Economy by John Lewis.


Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris.


The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe Report by Timothy Ferris.


Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandries by Neil deGrasse Tyson.


Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson.


Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson.


The Martian by Andy Weir.


Packing for Mars:The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach.


The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution by Frank White.


Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler.


The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne.


Entering Space: An Astronaut’s Oddyssey by Joseph Allen.


International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems by Hopkins, Hopkins, and Isakowitz.


The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene.


How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space by Janna Levin.


This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age by William Burrows.


The Last Man on the Moon by Eugene Cernan.


Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Eugene Cernan.


Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.


The end

u/UltraVioletCatastro · 7 pointsr/Astronomy

"The Orange Book" is usually used as intro to astronomy: http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-2nd-Edition/dp/0805304029

u/davincisbeard · 6 pointsr/askastronomy

Start here and go through the trig and calculus videos, problems, etc. Then hit up the physics stuff. After that you might want to find other resources to learn Trig, Calc, and College level physics. Then you can think about picking up this hefty thing.

Edit: There is also an "ebook" version of the book above. I won't say where. But it's out there.

u/InfinityFlat · 6 pointsr/Physics

The most mainstream is by and far Carroll and Ostlie's Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, lovingly known as the Big Orange Book or BOB. Be warned that it is somewhat hardcore - you need to have a firm founding in Newtonian mechanics and electromagnetism to understand and appreciate the calculations, which are really the heart of the matter. Lacking this, though, you can actually read through the conceptual and qualitative discussions quite well and still learn a lot.

u/Malakite213 · 5 pointsr/astrophysics

Possibly the best all round book out there for a basic introduction:
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-2nd-Edition/dp/0805304029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344988735&sr=8-1&keywords=introduction+to+modern+astrophysics

Far too expensive to buy, but if you can find it in a local library it would be invaluable. Everything in it is at a level that you can easily teach yourself stuff you don't know from various online resources.

u/The_Artful_Dodger_ · 5 pointsr/AskPhysics

The textbooks recommended in the intro Astronomy class here are An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Carroll & Ostlie and Foundations of Astrophysics. I've never read through either, but apparently the first one is much more detailed.

The older edition of Modern Astrophysics is significantly cheaper and will fit your purposes just as well: 1st Edition Carroll

u/antpuncher · 4 pointsr/spaceporn

Sure.

The gold standard in intro astronomy is the Big Orange Book by Carroll and Ostlie (orange standard?). Probably not the first book to read, but if you're serious about astronomy it's essential reading.

I really like the podcast Space Time with Stuart Gary. He basically goes over recent papers, but at a level that is very approachable for non-scientists.

You may get a lot out of a non-major intro textbook. I believe that John Fix's book is the one we use at my university. There are a number of intro texts out there, I'm not an expert on which is the best. But make sure it's not more than 5 or so years old, a lot has happened in the last few years.

Also, don't let the math scare you off. You need to learn calculus, and it was hard for me, too. But, you can definitely do it.

I hope that helps!

u/Cpt_Burrito · 4 pointsr/astrophysics

Yes!

If you don't know any calculus Stewart Calculus is the typical primer in colleges. Combine this with Khan Academy for easy mode cruise control.

After that, you want to look at The Big Orange Book, which is essentially the bible for undergrad astrophysics and 100% useful beyond that. This book could, alone, tell you everything you need to know.

As for other topics like differential equations and linear algebra you can shop around. I liked Linear Algebra Done Right for linear personally. No recommendations from me on differential equations though, never found a book that I loved.

u/blablabliam · 4 pointsr/Astronomy

Hmm. Well, I really like Codyslab on youtube. He has some intersting stuff. Vihart uses to make some creative math videos back in the day.

If you want books, Richard Feynman wrote a bunch that are great. My favorite is "Surely you must be joking, Mr Feynman!" Which covers such adventutes as cracking the safes of the Manhattan project, sleeping on a bench the first day of his professorship, and his eureka moment with quantum electrodynamics!

A good textbook for a little light reading is the Big Orange Book, or the BOB. https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-2nd/dp/0805304029 It is a good intro to all different subjects on astrophysics, and if you take it in college, this may be one of the books you need to get. Some solutions can be found online for it too ;)

u/skyboard10 · 4 pointsr/askastronomy

Carrol and Ostlie, a.k.a BOB (big orange book).

u/uhwuggawuh · 3 pointsr/cosmology

I wouldn't be too afraid of Carroll & Ostlie's Big Orange Book, even though it is very comprehensive. I'm an engineer and just started reading it when a physics grad student at my lab recommended it as the standard introductory text.

The text requires some technical background, but is designed to be accessible to all (or most) math, science, and engineering majors.

u/xeno60 · 3 pointsr/Astronomy

Start by finding some astronomy clubs in your area. That would be very helpful if you wanted to get into stargazing. Most people would be more than happy to let you try out their telescopes. If you're near a university or college, try finding some astro groups there as well. Even if you're not a student it would be good to check it out. If you want to get into more astrophysics/cosmology I found this book to be a very well written introductory text http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-2nd-Edition/dp/0805304029/ref=dp_ob_title_bk. It was the textbook I used in my intro astrophysics course. Other than that, there is always the popular authors that reddit likes. NDT, Laurence Krauss, Stephen Hawking, etc...

u/lifeinpixels · 3 pointsr/Physics

I'm a physics student excited to take astrophysics this fall semester. We're using the Big Orange Book (Intro to Modern Astrophysics by Carroll and Ostlie, 2nd ed.), which, according to many around here, seems to be a great text. My copy came in the mail today but I'm wondering if I got a counterfeit.

There are a few reasons I am suspicious. The cover is a faded and uneven shade of orange, the print appears low quality on close inspection, the binding is glued, and the overall feel of the book falls short of most textbooks I've used. Additionally, the book shipped new, from Malaysia (with a customs value of $25).

I bought the book from Abebooks (specifically not an international edition) and am hoping for a refund. Just to be sure though, would anyone be willing to take pictures of their copy for me to compare? I am specifically interested in color, the binding as seen while the book is closed, and how well the print on the cover aligns with the spine.

I'm hoping this is a book I keep for a while, so I want to make sure I have a copy that will last! Thanks for your help!

u/sidhebaap · 2 pointsr/IWantToLearn

Carroll and Ostlie might work as a good starting point for you. It's introductory, covers a lot of material, and doesn't assume you've already done all the standard physics major's coursework.

An alternative to look at might be Astrophysics for Physicists, by Choudhuri.

There's also Essential Astrophysics, by Lang.

(Carroll and Ostlie is probably the "default" textbook, but I'd recommend either of the others more, if they suit your level.)

(A useful trick, for any topic, is to search for course notes on professors' webpages. You can often find really nice things out there. Here is an especially nice example. Even just finding syllabi can point you at textbooks and recommended references.)

If you enjoy video lectures, Caltech has courses at edx (astronomy/cosmology aimed at non-majors) and Coursera (galaxies and cosmology, introductory-for-majors perhaps?) Cornell has relativity+astrophysics at edx, though I'd say it's heavier on relativity. Australia National University has a series of four at edx, covering astronomy and cosmology. I'm not sure what's available soon through Coursera, but they've offered quite a few astro courses in the past.

u/lmxbftw · 2 pointsr/astrophysics

If you want a post-graduate level of understanding, it will be hard to learn the math past calculus that you will need with no instruction. Maybe impossible unless you are very gifted or studious. You'll need to learn more advanced math (taylor expansions, more advanced integration methods not always taught in calc I, multi-variable calculus, ordinary differential equations and linear algebra for starters). A layperson's understanding wouldn't require that much (maybe reading Sagan and Co. would be enough?), but it sounds like you aren't content with that. Maybe it would be good to start reading some journal articles and seeing what you can glean from them (introductions mostly), especially reviews of subjects you find interesting. If those are opaque, check a local university library for textbooks like Introduction to Modern Astrophysics, Padmanabhan's astrophysics I-III, Binney and Tremaine and things like that. There are text books more focused on specific subjects as well, but that's more a matter of personal interest. For me, Lewin and van der Klis is good, and so is Accretion Power in Astrophysics and the "CV Bible." You might notice Cambridge Astrophysics publishes quite a lot of quality astrophysics textbooks.

None of those are going to be legible without the math, though. There's not really anything between the "popular science" and "so you're taking a graduate course in astrophysics..." level texts that I've seen.

u/DopeFishLives · 2 pointsr/science

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-Bradley-Carroll/dp/0805304029
More in depth than the others mentioned but most parts arn't to bad if you have a basic understanding of physics and math.

u/The_Wisenheimer · 2 pointsr/askastronomy

The most common introductory book to astronomy is probably this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-2nd/dp/0805304029

It is pretty much the bible of undergraduate astronomy. Keep in mind, that a lot of it is going to be hard to follow if you do not have a couple of semesters of calculus and physics under your belt, but if you want an overview of the material you would be learning as an undergraduate. It is pretty thorough, though a bit outdated at this point.

There are also plenty of textbooks used to teach GE astronomy classes that do not have a steep math and physics assumption. You might want to find out what the local college or university uses for their GE astronomy classes and start there. Those books should be easier to follow.

u/CapNMcKickAss · 2 pointsr/AskPhysics

There's a lot of fun and interesting physics and astronomy that can be understood with little more than solid algebra skills. Add a little bit of introductory calculus, and there's a lot to keep you busy. If you're brave enough to dive into calc, I recommend this book.

Since you expressed particular interest in Astronomy, I would suggest using that as an anchor point. Get a good Astrophysics text like An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Carroll and start there. Inevitably, you will come upon concepts that you're shaky on-- luckily this is the age of the internet! I find HyperPhysics is a great resource (which appears to be down at the moment).

If you find that Newtonian physics is tripping you up, I recommend Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide to fill in the gaps.

u/JimmyBob15 · 2 pointsr/askscience

Looking on their website it seems as if they do not let outside people borrow from their library, sorry :(.

I know many libraries have "partnerships" for the lack of a better word, where if you try to borrow a book from the library, and they don't have it, they will request it from somewhere else they are partnered with and get it for you.

Some ideas of books:

For my undergraduate astrophysics class I used - Foundations of Astrophysics by Ryden and Peterson, ISBN13: 978-0-321-59558-4

I have also used (more advanced, graduate level) - An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Carroll and Ostlie, ISBN13: 978-0-805-30402-2

There are plenty of other undergraduate text books for astrophysics, but those are the only two I have experience with.

Some other books that may be just fun reads and aren't text books:

A Brief History of Time - Hawking

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter - Feynman

Random popular science books:

Parallel Worlds - Kaku (or anything else by him Michio Kaku)

Cosmos - Sagan

Dark Cosmos - Hooper

or anything by Green, Krauss, Tyson, etc.

Videos to watch:

I would also suggest, if you have an hour to burn, watching this video by Lawrence Krauss. I watched it early on in my physics career and loved it, check it out:

Lawrence Krauss - A Universe From Nothing

Also this video is some what related:

Sean Carroll - Origin of the Universe and the Arrow of Time

Hope you enjoy!

Edit: Formatting.

u/KubrickIsMyCopilot · 2 pointsr/space

If you want a rigorous basic understanding of astrophysics, you need a couple of years of college-level math and physics. If you are the sort who can learn difficult material on your own, they have textbooks at libraries. These topics go into it:

Math: Presumably you had the full track of algebra and trigonometry, so then you need single and multivariable calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra.

Physics: Newtonian mechanics, heat and electromagnetism, relativity, and quantum mechanics.

You also need statistics, which I would advise learning the basics of before trying to learn quantum mechanics. Chemistry is nice to have too, but isn't essential except for certain topics.

Once you have this background, there are introductory astrophysics textbooks you can read. In fact, you might just want to browse through one at a library just to see what it's like. The one I learned from in college was pretty great:

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-2nd/dp/0805304029

Even without completing the entire background knowledge, you can pick up some fascinating things reading a book like that.

u/acnine · 2 pointsr/Astronomy

The best bang for your buck, in my opinion, is Abell's Exploration of the Universe. It's dirt cheap (comparatively), and it contains a lot of the basic math you should know. The major concern is that this book is old, and some of its information is very well out of date. However, the basics of the planets and stars haven't changed significantly in, oh, 50 years or so, so this book is a solid introduction.

If you want something a little more up-to-date (and a little pricier), you might want to check out The Cosmic Perspective. My main complaint is that this book has very little mathematical rigor, but its explanations of concepts are rock solid.

If you really want to shoot for the moon (heh), you could pick up copies of Foundations of Astrophysics or An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics. These are NOT 100-level texts, but these two (especially the second) are must-reads in the world of astronomy textbooks.

u/Cletus_awreetus · 2 pointsr/astrophys

Square one...

You should have a solid base in math:

Introduction to Calculus and Analysis, Vol. 1 by Courant and John. Gotta have some basic knowledge of calculus.

Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences by Mary Boas. This is pretty high-level applied math, but it's the kind of stuff you deal with in serious physics/astrophysics.

You should have a solid base in physics:

They Feynman Lectures on Physics. Might be worth checking out. I think they're available free online.

You should have a solid base in astronomy/astrophysics:

The Physical Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy by Frank Shu. A bit outdated but a good textbook.

An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Carroll and Ostlie.

Astrophysics: A Very Short Introduction by James Binney. I haven't read this and there are no reviews, I think it was very recently published, but it looks promising.

It also might be worth checking out something like Coursera. They have free classes on math, physics, astrophysics, etc.

u/astrochica · 2 pointsr/astrophysics

Find a used version of Carroll & Ostlie and read it cover to cover. Bits of it might get too in-depth depending on your experience, but then you can branch off and find other resources for those areas that interest you. The NED Knowledgebase is also fun to read and I recommend AstroBites to keep up on current literature until you feel comfortable delving directly into publications. Have fun! :)

u/john_o · 1 pointr/astrophysics

Good to hear! Might I suggest then An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics. You might be thinking, "well, that's just a general astronomy book", and you'd be right, but it also contains within the entirety of this book. I'd recommend it anyway, as it's the standard undergraduate astronomy text. It touches on pretty much every field in astronomy you can think of, however briefly, so many people keep it as a reference well past their undergraduate careers.

This may be a bit of a challenge to get through if you're at the Calculus 2 level. Some of the math goes quite beyond it, such as differential equations and Fourier analysis, but I'll trust you when you say that you have an aptitude for math.

u/xarious · 1 pointr/Physics

I'm just surprised that you have no serway, though you have grifiths, and stewart. your also missing my favorite book http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-Bradley-Carroll/dp/0805304029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293159973&sr=8-1 , since you don't really have any astro in there. Can't get a picture of my shelf right now, at my parents for christmas.

u/erictrea87 · 1 pointr/astrophysics

Then work through this. Should keep you busy for a few years.

An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics (2nd Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0805304029/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_VurBDbZFX95WE

u/ab_ra_ca_dabba · 1 pointr/Astronomy

Book that you want is Carroll & Ostlie's Introduction to Modern Astrophysics. This is the standard Astronomy textbook.

It assumes you are aware of Differential Equations and Atomic Physics.

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Astrophysics-2nd/dp/0805304029

EDIT: At a slightly less advanced level is Ryden & Peterson's Foundation of Astrophysics. Peterson writes very good papers and Ryden has another book called Cosmology which is pretty good. I have not reviewed/ used this book so my knowledge is slightly iffy on this one.

u/spacemark · 1 pointr/astrophys

Can't believe no one has mentioned edX. You can audit for free or pay (like $50 iirc) to get a course certificate. This course series is done by ANU, one of the best astrophysics schools in the world. I've been told the "Best Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe" course is the best comprehensive look at today's burning questions, but haven't taken it myself yet.

Someone else mentioned the textbook "An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics" or BOB (big orange book) as it's called by students, but I don't think you want to sit there reading a textbook with a bunch of math, even if it is the "bible" of astrophysics. Go with edX would be my recommendation.