Sunquakes: Probing the Interior of the Sun - Hardcover

Zirker, J. B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080187419X ISBN 13: 9780801874192

Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003

Inhaltsangabe

Book by Zirker J B

Über diesen Titel

Críticas:

In his rich and enjoyable book, Jack Zirker presents the history of helioseismology, from the work of Leighton and Evans to current detailed investigations of the Sun's internal structure and dynamics... Zirker's excellent book combines the development of helio- and asteroseismology with a lucid and detailed overview of modern solar physics. The text is at a level that is accessible to the interested layperson, with more technical aspects discussed in the substantial set of notes... The book is wholeheartedly recommended.

(Jørgen Christensen-Dalsgaard Nature)

The whole riveting story of helioseismology is now told by J. B. Zirker in Sunquakes. Science books often fall between two stools. Scientists know their stuff but are rarely good storytellers whereas good storytellers rarely possess the necessary sweeping command of a scientific discipline. Zirker is that rare animal who can both communicate the most demanding technical detail and make it accessible. For years, solar astronomy has been the poor relation, overshadowed by such headline-grabbers as pulsars, gamma-ray bursters and supermassive black holes. After reading Zirker's breezy page-turner, you will wonder why.

(New Scientist)

Sunquakes provides an excellent, comprehensive overview of the history of [helioseismology], from the early discoveries of the 1960s through the establishment of current Earth-based and space-based helioseismology programs. Lucid discussions of the scientific principles and challenges of the quest to understand solar oscillations are interspersed with anecdotes revealing the personalities involved... Sunquakes is a remarkable book that conveys a true sense of the excitement involved in the development of a new scientific discipline.

(Steve Kawaler American Scientist)

A very thorough account of helioseismology... Writing in an easy-to-read manner, he conveys the complexity and beauty of the interior structure of the sun and explains how and why solar astronomers came to their conclusions... This good, self-contained book is enjoyable and interesting.

(Choice)

This book is a rigorous yet approachable treatment of one of the newer branches of astronomy, helioseismology... [and] will be an important addition to a school or classroom astronomy library.

(Cary Seidman Science Teacher)

The book is written in an accessible and readable style, is well illustrated, and I can thoroughly recommend it.

(C.R. Kitchen Astronomy Now)

These pages bring to life the work of helioseismologists during the last century. Zirker makes understanding the many esoteric physical laws and concepts involved in this field intuitive for the lay reader.

(Edward Rhodes, University of Southern California)

Jack Zirker uses his deep understanding of solar astronomy to explain how scientists have done something long thought impossible—to see deep inside the Sun. Though it is hidden below hundreds of thousands of miles of opaque gas, the solar core has recently revealed its secrets through studies of changing ripples on the Sun's surface and through study of a tiny fraction of mysterious particles generated as part of making the Sun shine. Zirker carefully and clearly explains these exciting topics to the general reader.

(Jay M. Pasachoff, Williams College)

A great read! Zirker has done a masterful job in conveying the science and telling the exciting story behind the discovery that we can 'see' beneath the opaque surface of the Sun. Having made fundamental contributions to the field himself, he is very well placed to synthesize the science and the essential, human side of the story right up to the present. His very accessible style will lead the reader to understand what a generation ago was unimaginable—daily CT scans of this prototype of all stars and the source of our life and environment.

(John Leibacher, National Optical Astronomy Observatory)

Reseña del editor:

One of the most recent and exciting branches of astronomy, helioseismology—like its terrestrial counterpart—studies why the surface of the sun vibrates like a bell. Over the past three decades astronomers have gained spectacular insights into the structure and composition of the sun's interior, transforming the way we understand stellar matter. In Sunquakes, Jack B. Zirker tells the story of this new science and explains the physics behind these illuminating vibrations.

Zirker recounts the discovery of solar oscillations in the early 1960s and international efforts throughout the rest of the decade to explain this phenomenon. By the mid-1970s, scientists working independently in France, Germany, Japan, and the U.S. had developed a new theoretical model of the sun that postulated the existence of trapped sound and gravity waves as the cause for the roiling of the sun's surface. Using solar oscillation data, scientists derived for the first time the thermal and dynamic properties of the solar interior and revealed its complicated rotation patterns; even such astronomical mysteries as the deficit of solar neutrinos were solved.

Describing the competition and cooperation between astronomers, particle physicists, and other theorists to the technological innovations that makes solar observation more and more precise, Sunquakes provides professionals and nonscientists alike with an absorbing and accessible guide to the field of helioseismology. The book concludes with an account of recent efforts to probe the interiors of stars far beyond our own solar system.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2003
• ISBN 10: 080187419X
• ISBN 13: 9780801874192
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 296