Forty Ways to Know a Star

Using Stars to Understand Astronomy

Jillian Scudder

• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781797235004
• eBook ISBN: 9781797235011
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Natural History

Explore the fascinating facts and visual wonder of stars in this easy-to-read and beautifully illustrated guide from astrophysicist and popular science blogger Dr. Jillian Scudder. Stars, the building blocks of the universe, are simply luminous spheres of plasma held together by gravity, but there are many kinds and many remarkable examples. Astoundingly, there are at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy and an estimated two trilliongalaxies in our visible universe.Understanding the birth, life, and death of stars is key to a knowledge of astronomy. 40 Ways to Know a Star offers forty short essays that explore everything from the Milky Way to planetary nebulae, from how a star is born to the colors of stars, each enhanced by a color illustration or graphic image. Dr. Scudder, whose popular Astroquizzical blog features an engaging "ask an astronomer" format, writes in a way that makes complex physics accessible. Magnificent imagery of the heavens, including ten color plates featuring NASA photographs, makes this space book as enticing as it is informative.ASTROPHYSICS EXPERT: Dr.JillianScudderis an astrophysicist and Associate Professor of Physics at Oberlin College, Ohio. She hosts and writes Astroquizzical, a blog in which she tackles some of the mysteries of the universe by answering space-related questions from the public. ACCESSIBLE CONTENT: This unique science book helps any reader understand our universe; it is full of charts and distinctive color illustrations that give clear and accessible explanations of the content and a resource page for further exploration. ASTRONOMY GIFT: Beautifully designed inside and out, the book's cover features gold foil to highlight the stellar content, making it an excellent coffee table book or gift for astronomy enthusiasts of all levels.Perfect for:

• Astronomy and space enthusiasts
• Teachers, librarians, and students seeking an instructive and accessible resource
• Gift-giving for graduation, birthday, retirement, Mother's Day, Father's Day, or any occasion for people interested in science and technology
• Fans of popular science books by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, NASA, and National Geographic

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• contents
• introduction
• [One]: as a light in the sky
• [Two]: as the source of daylight
• [Three]: by its internal structure
• [Four]: during a solar eclipse
• [Five]: by its mass
• [Six]: by its color
• [Seven]: by its wobble
• [Eight]: by magnitude
• [Nine]: by its birth
• [Ten]: as the host of planets
• [Eleven]: by the aurorae
• [Twelve]: in a diagram
• [Thirteen]: as a brown dwarf
• [Fourteen]: as a red giant
• [Fifteen]: as a planetary nebula
• [Sixteen]: as a white dwarf
• [Seventeen]: as a repeating explosion
• [Eighteen]: as a red supergiant
• [Nineteen]: as Betelgeuse
• [Twenty]: by an explosive end
• [Twenty-One]: as a neutron star
• [Twenty-Two]: as a black hole
• [Twenty-Three]: as an unsteady object
• [Twenty-Four]: as an eclipsing binary
• [Twenty-Five]: as part of the Milky Way
• [Twenty-Six]: by its petal-like orbit
• [Twenty-Seven]: As part of a galaxy
• [Twenty-Eight]: within a cluster
• [Twenty-Nine]: in the structures of galaxies
• [Thirty]: as a tracer of dark matter
• [Thirty-One]: as part of dwarf galaxies
• [Thirty-Two]: by its metals
• [Thirty-Three]: as proof of massive black holes
• [Thirty-Four]: as a distance marker
• [Thirty-Five]: at cosmic noon
• [Thirty-Six]: in a galaxy’s collisions
• [Thirty-Seven]: as a type 1a supernova
• [Thirty-Eight]: tracing an expanding Universe
• [Thirty-Nine]: as hints of the early Universe
• [Forty]: in silver and gold
• resources & references
• index
• acknowledgments
• Back Cover