| Home | Commentary | Surveys | Research | Background | Store | Previously | Site Info |
|
This is the top-level page for background articles on astronomy, astrophysics, and physics. These articles are support for the articles describing current research in the astrophysical community. The level of these articles range from the introductory to the moderately technical. All of the pages on this site are aimed at an audience with a knowledge of basic physical and astronomical principals. For example, this site assumes the reader understands the electromagnetic spectrum (what is a radio wave and what is an x-ray), knows the nine planets of the solar system, and has some familiarity with conservation of energy and momentum. Be forewarned that the author of these pages believes that the reader will benefit from occasionally seeing a mathematical equation. In the introductory material these are rare birds of simple plumage, being high-school level algebraic equations. Their purpose is to make points about why objects behave the way that they do. These pages should be intelligible to most readers. The background pages are organized as survey pages that cover a particular topic. The first half of a survey path covers the current state of knowledge on a topic, while the second half discusses current research on the topic. A survey path contains both text and simulator pages, and within these pages are links to tables of information. Surveys of AstrophysicsThe surveys of astrophysics are designed to support the Current Research pages. The surveys discuss the current state of astronomy and astrophysics. The emphasis is on the scientific frontier: on why certain problems are considered important within the scientific community, on the observational obstacles holding the field back, and on the variety of theories supported by the observations. On a more philosophical level, these pages draw out the underlying themes that appear over and over as one studies the bewildering array of astronomical objects. The complexity we see in astrophysics is created by a small number of physical processes and a small range of physical parameters. The basic simplicity of astrophysical objects is discussed at length in the survey pages. Go to the Surveys in Astrophysics page. Tables of Astronomical InformationThe tables found on this site serve two purposes: they illustrate properties or trends of a set of objects, and they gather in one place information that may be scattered over a large number of books, articles, and web pages. The tables are accompanied by explanatory information and references and links to the sources of the information. Many pages in the survey paths link to these tables. Go to the Tables of Astronomical Information page. Simulator PagesThe simulator pages contains Java applets that simulate various astrophysical processes. These pages are an integral part of the astrophysical surveys. They are designed so that the reader can experiment with the astrophysics discussed on a survey path. While one normally encounters a simulator page while following a survey path, one can access any simulator page on this web site from the simulator index page. Go to the Index of Simulator Pages. Live FiguresLive figures are figures that can be configured by the reader. The figures are Java applets. They are generally simpler than the simulators on this web site. The index page lists and describes all of the live figures on the web site. Go to the Index of Live Figures. Applet Control GuideThe live figures and the simulators on this web site are Java applets. All of these applets follow a single set of guidelines for their control. The Applet Control Guide page describes how to control these applets with either the mouse or the keyboard. Go to the Applet Control Guide. BibliographyThe bibliography page presents references to books and articles used by the author in writing pages for this web site. The criteria for including a reference is its usefulness and currentness. Web ResourcesThis page lists web sites that provide useful or interesting information on astronomy and astrophysics, or that have a link to this web site. The list includes links to online magazines, government space agencies, home pages of astronomical spacecraft, and space science laboratories. |
|