Spectroscopy: The Key to the Stars: Reading the Lines in Stellar Spectra (The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series)

This is the first non-technical book on spectroscopy written specifically for practical amateur astronomers. It includes all the science necessary for a qualitative understanding of stellar spectra, but avoids a mathematical treatment which would alienate many of its intended readers. Any amateur astronomer who carries out observational spectroscopy and who wants a non-technical account of the physical processes which determine the intensity and profile morphology of lines in stellar spectra will find this is the only book written specially for them. It is an ideal companion to existing books on observational amateur astronomical spectroscopy. Keith Robinson obtained a degree in physics from the University of Lancaster, and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Spectroscopy-A New Golden Age for Amateur Astronomy.- The Basic Stuff-Light Radiation and Atoms.- Behind the Lines-The Magnificent Energy Level Structure of an Atom.- Our Old Friend the Doppler Effect.- When Is a Spectral Line Not a Spectral Line?.- Stellar Spectra and That Famous Mnemonic.- Cool but not Smooth-The Molecular Spectra of Red Stars.- Glows in the Dark-Emission Lines and Nebulae.- Glowing Vortices-Accretion Disks.- The P Cygni Profile and Friends.- Spectral Magnetism-The Zeeman Effect.- ‘How Much Gold in Them There Stars?’-The Curve of Growth.