Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover
  • Book
  • © 2000

New Light on Dark Stars

Red Dwarfs, Low-Mass Stars, Brown Dwarfs

Authors:

  1. I. Neill Reid

    1. Formerly of Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Scotland

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Suzanne L. Hawley

    1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Provides the first detailed summary of the results of recent dark matter surveys, culminating in the first successful identification of a brown dwarf
  • Comprehensive discussion of the statistical and astrophysical properties of low mass stars

Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books (PRAXIS)

Part of the book sub series: Astronomy and Planetary Sciences (ASTRONOMY)

Sections

Buy it now

eBook USD 74.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
    PDF

  2. Astronomical concepts

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 1-35

  3. Observational properties of low-mass dwarfs

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 37-82

  5. The photosphere

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 127-162

  6. Stellar activity

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 163-208

  7. A Galactic structure primer

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 209-250

  8. The stellar luminosity function

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 251-300

  9. The mass function

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 301-340

  10. Brown dwarfs

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 341-389

  11. Extrasolar planets

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 391-419

  12. M dwarfs in the Galactic halo

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 421-449

  13. Epilogue

    • I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley
    Pages 451-451

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 453-470
    PDF
Back to top

About this book

Perhaps the most common question that a child asks when he or she sees the night sky from a dark site for the first time is: 'How many stars are there?' This happens to be a question which has exercised the intellectual skills of many astronomers over the course of most of the last century, including, for the last two decades, one of the authors of this text. Until recently, the most accurate answer was 'We are not certain, but there is a good chance that almost all of them are M dwarfs. ' Within the last three years, results from new sky-surveys - particularly the first deep surveys at near­ infrared wavelengths - have provided a breakthrough in this subject, solidifying our census of the lowest-mass stars and identifying large numbers of the hitherto almost mythical substellar-mass brown dwarfs. These extremely low-luminosity objects are the central subjects of this book, and the subtitle should be interpreted accordingly. The expression 'low-mass stars' carries a wide range of meanings in the astronomical literature, but is most frequently taken to refer to objects with masses comparable with that of the Sun - F and G dwarfs, and their red giant descendants. While this definition is eminently reasonable for the average extragalactic astronomer, our discussion centres on M dwarfs, with masses of no more than 60% that of the Sun, and extends to 'failed stars' - objects with insufficient mass to ignite central hydrogen fusion.
Back to top

Keywords

Back to top

Authors and Affiliations

  • Formerly of Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, Scotland

    I. Neill Reid

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

    Suzanne L. Hawley

Back to top

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: New Light on Dark Stars

  • Book Subtitle: Red Dwarfs, Low-Mass Stars, Brown Dwarfs

  • Authors: I. Neill Reid, Suzanne L. Hawley

  • Series Title: Springer Praxis Books

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3663-7

  • Publisher: Springer London

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag London 2000

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4471-3663-7Published: 27 November 2013

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXV, 470

  • Number of Illustrations: 167 b/w illustrations, 5 illustrations in colour

  • Additional Information: Jointly published with Praxis Publishing, UK

  • Topics: Astronomy, Observations and Techniques, Astrophysics and Astroparticles

Back to top

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top
Access via your institution

Buy it now

eBook USD 74.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Search

Navigation