Essential Astrophysics

Essential Astrophysics is a book to learn or teach from, as well as a fundamental reference volume for anyone interested in astronomy and astrophysics. It presents astrophysics from basic principles without requiring any previous study of astronomy or astrophysics. It serves as a comprehensive introductory text, which takes the student through the field of astrophysics in lecture-sized chapters of basic physical principles applied to the cosmos.

This one-semester overview will be enjoyed by undergraduate students with an interest in the physical sciences, such as astronomy, chemistry, engineering or physics, as well as by any curious student interested in learning about our celestial science. The mathematics required for understanding the text is on the level of simple algebra, for that is all that is needed to describe the fundamental principles. 

The text is of sufficient breadth and depth to prepare the interested student for more advanced specialised courses in the future. Astronomical examples are provided throughout the text, to reinforce the basic concepts and physics, and to demonstrate the use of the relevant formulae. In this way, the student learns to apply the fundamental equations and principles to cosmic objects and situations. Astronomical and physical constants and units as well as the most fundamental equations can be found in the appendix. Essential Astrophysics goes beyond the typical textbook by including references to the seminal papers in the field, with further reference to recent applications, results, or specialised literature.

From the reviews:

“This work fills a unique position in the literature. It is a concrete, middle-level treatment that devotes as much attention to methods of research and observation as it does to results. Here at last is a book in English which bridges the gap between elementary introductory accounts and advanced technical monographs. … It is also a fine book for hobbyists and others with some grounding in astronomy who want to explore these matters in greater depth than elementary texts allow.” (Philosophy, Religion and Science Book Reviews, bookinspections.wordpress.com, May, 2014)

“This set of lecture notes on astrophysics discusses the topics that would be taught in an introductory undergraduate class. The text is sufficiently comprehensive to be used as the principle textbook for a lecture course or for self-study. … the references are excellent, enabling those who need more detail to find information quickly. The book will be easy to follow for anyone witha solid background in lower-level undergraduate physics. A valuable acquisition for academic library collections. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” (A. Spero, Choice, Vol. 51 (6), February, 2014)

Kenneth R. Lang is professor in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group at Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA. He is the author of several successful books (textbooks and popular science books) including "Astrophysical Formulae", "The Sun from Space" or "Parting the Cosmic Veil".