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Product: Book
ISBN-10: 0-521-40262-X
ISBN-13: 9780521402620
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Country:
Year: April 9, 2001
Size: 17.60 x 24.79 x 2.39cm
Number of pages: 248
Weight: 762gr
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 0-521-40262-X
ISBN-13: 9780521402620
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Country:
Year: April 9, 2001
Size: 17.60 x 24.79 x 2.39cm
Number of pages: 248
Weight: 762gr
Binding: Hardcover
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Book Description
Extreme Stars is a unique book describing the lives of stars from a new perspective, for anyone interested in stars. It examines their amazing extremes and results in a refreshing, up-to-date and engaging overview of stellar evolution, showing how each extreme turns into another under the inexorable twin forces of time and gravity. Ten chapters, generously illustrated throughout, explain the natures of the brightest, the largest, the hottest, the youngest, and so on, ending with a selection of the strangest stars the Universe has to offer.
Extreme Stars is a unique book describing the lives of stars from a new perspective, for anyone interested in stars. It examines their amazing extremes and results in a refreshing, up-to-date and engaging overview of stellar evolution, showing how each extreme turns into another under the inexorable twin forces of time and gravity. Ten chapters, generously illustrated throughout, explain the natures of the brightest, the largest, the hottest, the youngest, and so on, ending with a selection of the strangest stars the Universe has to offer.
Product Description
Over the past 200 years, our knowledge of stars has expanded enormously. From seeing myriad dots of different brightnesses, we haved moved on to measure their distances, temperatures, sizes, chemical compositions, and even ages, finding both young and ancient stars that dwarf our Sun and are dwarfed by it. Unique in its approach, Extreme Stars describes the lives of stars from a new perspective by examining their amazing features. The result is a refreshing, up-to-date, and engaging overview of stellar evolution, suitable for everyone interested in viewing or studying the stars. Ten chapters, generously illustrated throughout, explain the natures of the brightest, the largest, the hottest, and the youngest, among other kinds of stars, ending with a selection of the strangest stars the Universe has to offer. Extreme Stars shows how stars develop and die and how each extreme turns into another under the inexorable twin forces of time and gravity. James B. Kaler is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He has held Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, has been awarded medals for his work from the University of Liège in Belgium and the University of Mexico, and most recently was selected to give the Armand Spitz lecture by the Great Lakes Planetarium Association. His research area, in which he has published over 100 papers, involves dying stars. Kaler has also written for a variety of popular magazines, including Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, and Scientific American. His previous books include The Ever-Changing Sky (Cambridge, 1996), Stars and their Spectra (Cambridge, 1997), Cosmic Clouds (Scientific American Library Paperback, 1998), and The Little Book of Stars (Copernicus, 2000). He is a current member of the Board of Directors of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and is a frequent guest on radio and television shows.
Over the past 200 years, our knowledge of stars has expanded enormously. From seeing myriad dots of different brightnesses, we haved moved on to measure their distances, temperatures, sizes, chemical compositions, and even ages, finding both young and ancient stars that dwarf our Sun and are dwarfed by it. Unique in its approach, Extreme Stars describes the lives of stars from a new perspective by examining their amazing features. The result is a refreshing, up-to-date, and engaging overview of stellar evolution, suitable for everyone interested in viewing or studying the stars. Ten chapters, generously illustrated throughout, explain the natures of the brightest, the largest, the hottest, and the youngest, among other kinds of stars, ending with a selection of the strangest stars the Universe has to offer. Extreme Stars shows how stars develop and die and how each extreme turns into another under the inexorable twin forces of time and gravity. James B. Kaler is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He has held Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, has been awarded medals for his work from the University of Liège in Belgium and the University of Mexico, and most recently was selected to give the Armand Spitz lecture by the Great Lakes Planetarium Association. His research area, in which he has published over 100 papers, involves dying stars. Kaler has also written for a variety of popular magazines, including Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, and Scientific American. His previous books include The Ever-Changing Sky (Cambridge, 1996), Stars and their Spectra (Cambridge, 1997), Cosmic Clouds (Scientific American Library Paperback, 1998), and The Little Book of Stars (Copernicus, 2000). He is a current member of the Board of Directors of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and is a frequent guest on radio and television shows.
reviews
I ate this one up 
The stars are so distant that even at high power through a telescope they look like nothing more than colorful points of light. In »Extreme Stars«, Kaler shows us that in fact these little luminaries of our night sky come in an astonishing variety of temperatures, sizes, absolute brightnesses, and chemical compositions. A chapter is devoted to each type of extreme star, e.g. the coolest, brightest, youngest, etc. To me, the most interesting theme of the book is how a single star can actually change from one extreme type to another over its lifetime. For example, the brightest stars (accounting for 'unseen' radiation like ultraviolet and infrared) are the blue supergiants. These inevitably go supernova and often leave behind neutron star cores, which are both the smallest and hottest of stars. Also, the coolest red giants will form planetary nebulae and leave behind white dwarfs, which comprise one of the hottest types of stars at the outset. Another example is the faintest stars, which are so frugal with their fuel consumption that they have the longest lifespans and therefore will be the oldest stars. The book is written with great enthusiasm and is well illustrated. I do remember one time that Kaler kind of took it into the deep end with his discussion of electron degeneracy and the Pauli Exclusion Principle, but for the most part the book is easily accessible to the interested layman. Amateur astronomers like myself would really dig it. After reading the book, it made me want to get the telescope out and simply stare at some of these extreme stars for a while. The easiest ones to learn to identify by naked eye are the bright supergiants, like Betelgeuse and Deneb. But there are plenty of others in the other extreme types that are bright enough to see with the naked eye; these can be located with a decent star atlas. One minor quibble: I feel that Kaler didn't emphasize enough that the vast majority of stars we see are just regular main sequence stars, ranging from perhaps 0.2 to three or four times the mass of the Sun. Extreme stars are relatively rare. Highly recommended.
The stars are so distant that even at high power through a telescope they look like nothing more than colorful points of light. In »Extreme Stars«, Kaler shows us that in fact these little luminaries of our night sky come in an astonishing variety of temperatures, sizes, absolute brightnesses, and chemical compositions. A chapter is devoted to each type of extreme star, e.g. the coolest, brightest, youngest, etc. To me, the most interesting theme of the book is how a single star can actually change from one extreme type to another over its lifetime. For example, the brightest stars (accounting for 'unseen' radiation like ultraviolet and infrared) are the blue supergiants. These inevitably go supernova and often leave behind neutron star cores, which are both the smallest and hottest of stars. Also, the coolest red giants will form planetary nebulae and leave behind white dwarfs, which comprise one of the hottest types of stars at the outset. Another example is the faintest stars, which are so frugal with their fuel consumption that they have the longest lifespans and therefore will be the oldest stars. The book is written with great enthusiasm and is well illustrated. I do remember one time that Kaler kind of took it into the deep end with his discussion of electron degeneracy and the Pauli Exclusion Principle, but for the most part the book is easily accessible to the interested layman. Amateur astronomers like myself would really dig it. After reading the book, it made me want to get the telescope out and simply stare at some of these extreme stars for a while. The easiest ones to learn to identify by naked eye are the bright supergiants, like Betelgeuse and Deneb. But there are plenty of others in the other extreme types that are bright enough to see with the naked eye; these can be located with a decent star atlas. One minor quibble: I feel that Kaler didn't emphasize enough that the vast majority of stars we see are just regular main sequence stars, ranging from perhaps 0.2 to three or four times the mass of the Sun. Extreme stars are relatively rare. Highly recommended.
Excellent Book
No need for a long review here, just buy the book if you are interested in star stuff and don't mind a serious read. This book is very well written and gets deep into the nuts and bolts with out getting mathematical. I especially liked the chapter on neutron stars – my favorite! Very clear explanations of whats going on. Just buy the book.
No need for a long review here, just buy the book if you are interested in star stuff and don't mind a serious read. This book is very well written and gets deep into the nuts and bolts with out getting mathematical. I especially liked the chapter on neutron stars – my favorite! Very clear explanations of whats going on. Just buy the book.
A Galaxy Full
Have you ever wondered how many different types of stars are in space or are there planets orbiting them? The book Extreme Stars, At the Edge of Creation, by James Kaler is a must read for the astronomy enthusiast. This book is a fresh approach at examining the lives of stars. It covers all extremes from black holes and neutron stars to supergiants and hypergiants. Kaler takes a unique way of organizing the stars in sections for example the coolest, the hottest and the brightest stars. In each section Kaler includes lots of diagrams and pictures to help the reader relate to examples from the text. He is also very through about each topic and often explains the history behind the star and the links that change stars from one type to another. In one chapter, Kaler explains that giant Jupiter class planets have been found in orbit around certain stars. Kaler writes in a way that is very thorough and detailed but where even the most novice astronomer can still understand. The graphs and photos also help to clarify some of the more difficult. For example, when he talks about stars and their spectra he will often include a diagram to help show the relationship. Overall I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to someone interested in astronomy. It is really interesting and shows the great variety of stars that exist in the universe. Especially for people wanting to learn more about stars this book is a must read.
Have you ever wondered how many different types of stars are in space or are there planets orbiting them? The book Extreme Stars, At the Edge of Creation, by James Kaler is a must read for the astronomy enthusiast. This book is a fresh approach at examining the lives of stars. It covers all extremes from black holes and neutron stars to supergiants and hypergiants. Kaler takes a unique way of organizing the stars in sections for example the coolest, the hottest and the brightest stars. In each section Kaler includes lots of diagrams and pictures to help the reader relate to examples from the text. He is also very through about each topic and often explains the history behind the star and the links that change stars from one type to another. In one chapter, Kaler explains that giant Jupiter class planets have been found in orbit around certain stars. Kaler writes in a way that is very thorough and detailed but where even the most novice astronomer can still understand. The graphs and photos also help to clarify some of the more difficult. For example, when he talks about stars and their spectra he will often include a diagram to help show the relationship. Overall I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to someone interested in astronomy. It is really interesting and shows the great variety of stars that exist in the universe. Especially for people wanting to learn more about stars this book is a must read.
Absolutely Fascinating – Stellar Evolution, Stellar Spectra, and Stellar Superlatives
Extreme Stars – On the Edge of Creation (Cambridge University Press) is a remarkably fascinating, in-depth look at stellar evolution from the perspective of the Hertzsprung – Russell (HR) diagram, a chart plotting stellar luminosity against temperature (expressed by spectral classes O B A F G K M). James Kaler illustrates the complexity of stellar evolution by examining extreme stars – the faintest, coolest, hottest, brightest, largest, smallest youngest, oldest, and even strangest stars. Through the telescope most stars look alike, perhaps with a few showing a slight tinge of color. The key to understanding stars is to measure and analyze their spectra, a subject foreign to most readers. Kaler introduces atomic and molecular spectra early, thereafter steadily advancing the reader's understanding and appreciation of spectral analysis, all in the context of the HR diagram. The HR diagram shows that most stars brighten with increasing temperature; these main sequence stars lie on the chart within a narrow, curved band stretching from the lower-right corner (dim M stars) to the upper-left corner (bright O stars). Hertzsprung's and Russell's key discovery was that many stars lie outside this main sequence, such as the sub giants, giants, super giants, and hyper giants (and contrastingly, the white dwarfs). Many stellar types move either onto or off the main sequence as they age. The lower main sequence is the home of many of the faintest (and coolest) stars, grouped as M0 through M10. These faint stars, nearly all invisible to the naked eye, comprise about 50 percent of all stars. Surprisingly, other very faint stars – like the Mira variables that exhibit substantial variation in luminosity over months and years – are found among the giant stars, especially on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB). The magnificent, beautiful planetary nebulae are among the hottest stars. The brightest stars are actually quite rare, but due to their flamboyance some are well-known to the sky gazer. The largest stars (super giants and hyper giants) are not always the brightest, but are, nevertheless, absolutely awesome. The white dwarfs, among the smallest stars, exhibit a wide range in spectral characteristics; some even have variable luminosities with periods measured in only minutes. Even smaller yet are neutron stars. The youngest stars, such as the T Tauri variables, as they fire up by burning deuterium, become visible at the »birth line« on the HR diagram, thereafter evolving toward the main sequence. The chapter on oldest stars allows consideration of the evolution of galaxies themselves. A final chapter looks at truly strange stars that reside within the main sequence, their weirdness revealed by their most unusual spectra. In summary, Kaler's focus on superlatives (brightest, hottest, oldest, etc. ) proves immensely effective. Extreme Stars will appeal both to the amateur astronomer well-acquainted with the night sky and to the scientifically-inclined reader relatively new to astronomy. Five stars to James Kaler for this remarkable book.
Extreme Stars – On the Edge of Creation (Cambridge University Press) is a remarkably fascinating, in-depth look at stellar evolution from the perspective of the Hertzsprung – Russell (HR) diagram, a chart plotting stellar luminosity against temperature (expressed by spectral classes O B A F G K M). James Kaler illustrates the complexity of stellar evolution by examining extreme stars – the faintest, coolest, hottest, brightest, largest, smallest youngest, oldest, and even strangest stars. Through the telescope most stars look alike, perhaps with a few showing a slight tinge of color. The key to understanding stars is to measure and analyze their spectra, a subject foreign to most readers. Kaler introduces atomic and molecular spectra early, thereafter steadily advancing the reader's understanding and appreciation of spectral analysis, all in the context of the HR diagram. The HR diagram shows that most stars brighten with increasing temperature; these main sequence stars lie on the chart within a narrow, curved band stretching from the lower-right corner (dim M stars) to the upper-left corner (bright O stars). Hertzsprung's and Russell's key discovery was that many stars lie outside this main sequence, such as the sub giants, giants, super giants, and hyper giants (and contrastingly, the white dwarfs). Many stellar types move either onto or off the main sequence as they age. The lower main sequence is the home of many of the faintest (and coolest) stars, grouped as M0 through M10. These faint stars, nearly all invisible to the naked eye, comprise about 50 percent of all stars. Surprisingly, other very faint stars – like the Mira variables that exhibit substantial variation in luminosity over months and years – are found among the giant stars, especially on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB). The magnificent, beautiful planetary nebulae are among the hottest stars. The brightest stars are actually quite rare, but due to their flamboyance some are well-known to the sky gazer. The largest stars (super giants and hyper giants) are not always the brightest, but are, nevertheless, absolutely awesome. The white dwarfs, among the smallest stars, exhibit a wide range in spectral characteristics; some even have variable luminosities with periods measured in only minutes. Even smaller yet are neutron stars. The youngest stars, such as the T Tauri variables, as they fire up by burning deuterium, become visible at the »birth line« on the HR diagram, thereafter evolving toward the main sequence. The chapter on oldest stars allows consideration of the evolution of galaxies themselves. A final chapter looks at truly strange stars that reside within the main sequence, their weirdness revealed by their most unusual spectra. In summary, Kaler's focus on superlatives (brightest, hottest, oldest, etc. ) proves immensely effective. Extreme Stars will appeal both to the amateur astronomer well-acquainted with the night sky and to the scientifically-inclined reader relatively new to astronomy. Five stars to James Kaler for this remarkable book.
Quite good. 
This is the third book by James Kaler I've read--the other two being »Stars and Their Spectra« and »The Hundred Greatest Stars«, in that order. The other reviews and the back matter of the book give pretty much all the relevent info on what the book is about: stellar superlatives. As usual, Kaler's personal enthusiasm for his subject shines through, to a degree exceptional for any scientific text. He knows how to turn a phrase, how to create a provocative image with words that will stimulate the reader's imagination. There is much here to amaze even those who consider themselves well-versed in astronomy. Much as I hate to say it, though, the book isn't perfect. It feels like it occupies an uncertain valley between the introductory »Greatest Stars« and the more advanced »Stars and their Spectra«, like it's attempting to be the best of both worlds. Consequently, there are parts that are wonderfully new … as well as those that are »Hmm, he wrote about this in _____.« As was the case with »Stars and their Spectra«, I would have liked an appendix for more dyed in the wool geeks like myself. ;) Though he eschews math and advanced physics, I can't quite recommend it for beginners; in my op, people just getting into his work should read »Greatest Stars«, then this, and finally »Stars and their Spectra«. Good hunting!
This is the third book by James Kaler I've read--the other two being »Stars and Their Spectra« and »The Hundred Greatest Stars«, in that order. The other reviews and the back matter of the book give pretty much all the relevent info on what the book is about: stellar superlatives. As usual, Kaler's personal enthusiasm for his subject shines through, to a degree exceptional for any scientific text. He knows how to turn a phrase, how to create a provocative image with words that will stimulate the reader's imagination. There is much here to amaze even those who consider themselves well-versed in astronomy. Much as I hate to say it, though, the book isn't perfect. It feels like it occupies an uncertain valley between the introductory »Greatest Stars« and the more advanced »Stars and their Spectra«, like it's attempting to be the best of both worlds. Consequently, there are parts that are wonderfully new … as well as those that are »Hmm, he wrote about this in _____.« As was the case with »Stars and their Spectra«, I would have liked an appendix for more dyed in the wool geeks like myself. ;) Though he eschews math and advanced physics, I can't quite recommend it for beginners; in my op, people just getting into his work should read »Greatest Stars«, then this, and finally »Stars and their Spectra«. Good hunting!
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