Review of Volume 4:'The Handbook can be a good reference for a higher-degree science student approaching the subject or for an expert in a similar field in astronomical instrumentation. The reader requiring an in-depth presentation of a specific topic will be guided by the rich reference lists included at the end of each chapter.'The ObservatoryOur goal is to produce a comprehensive handbook of the current state of the art of astronomical instrumentation with a forward view encompassing the next decade. The target audience is graduate students with an interest in astronomical instrumentation, as well as practitioners interested in learning about the state of the art in another wavelength band or field closely related to the one in which they currently work. We assume a working knowledge of the fundamental theory: optics, semiconductor physics, etc. The purpose of this handbook is to bring together some of the leading experts in the world to discuss the frontier of astronomical instrumentation across the electromagnetic spectrum and extending into multimessenger astronomy.

This revised edition of Solar Astrophysics describes our current understanding of the sun - from its deepest interior, via the layers of the directly observable atmosphere to the solar wind, right out to its farthest extension into interstellar space. It includes a comprehensive account of the history of solar astrophysics, along with an overview of the key instruments throughout the various periods. In contrast to other books on this topic, the choice of material deals evenhandedly with the entire scope of important topics covered in solar research. The authors make the advances in our understanding of the sun accessible to students and non-specialists by way of careful use of relatively simple physical concepts. The book offers an incisive, reliable, and well-planned look at all that is fascinating and new in studies of the sun.

There are several textbooks available on solar astronomy which deal with advanced astrophysical aspects of solar physics, and books which provide very elementary knowledge about the Sun. This book will help to bridge the gap. It aims to stimulate interest in solar astronomy, presenting at one place the basic methods and techniques used in the field, together with the latest findings and the excitement in solar physics. As solar astronomy is becoming very popular among amateur astronomers and laymen, the book provides the practical knowledge to build simple solar telescopes and other equipment for making solar observations. Amateur astronomers have made important contributions to solar astronomy, and this book will help to guide them in their endeavours. The book can also serve as a text for undergraduate and graduate students starting out on solar physics. Using it, graduate students can easily embark on specific topics of research in solar astronomy.

This book by one of the leaders in adaptive optics covers the fundamental theory and then describes in detail how this technology can be applied to large ground-based telescopes to compensate for the effects of atmospheric turbulence. It includes information on basic adaptive optics components and technology, and has chapters devoted to atmospheric turbulence, optical image structure, laser beacons, and overall system design. The chapter on system design is particularly detailed and includes performance estimation and optimization. Combining a clear discussion of physical principles with numerous real-world examples, this book will be a valuable resource for all graduate students and researchers in astronomy and optics.

This is a follow-on book to the introductory textbook "Physics of the Solar Corona" previously published in 2004 by the same author, which provided a systematic introduction and covered mostly scientific results from the pre-2000 era. Using a similar structure as the previous book the second volume provides a seamless continuation of numerous novel research results in solar physics that emerged in the new millennium (after 2000) from the new solar missions of RHESSI, STEREO, Hinode, CORONAS, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) during the era of 2000-2018. The new solar space missions are characterized by unprecedented high-resolution imaging, time resolution, spectral capabilities, stereoscopy and tomography, which reveal the intricate dynamics of magneto-hydrodynamic processes in the solar corona down to scales of 100 km. The enormous amount of data streaming down from SDO in Terabytes per day requires advanced automated data processing methods. The book focuses exclusively on new research results after 2000, which are reviewed in a comprehensive manner, documented by over 3600 literature references, covering theory, observations, and numerical modeling of basic physical processes that are observed in high-temperature plasmas of the Sun and other astrophysical objects, such as plasma instabilities, coronal heating, magnetic reconnection processes, coronal mass ejections, plasma waves and oscillations, or particle acceleration.

In preparing the report, Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millenium , the AASC made use of a series of panel reports that address various aspects of ground- and space-based astronomy and astrophysics. These reports provide in-depth technical detail. Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millenium: An Overview summarizes the science goals and recommended initiatives in a short, richly illustrated, non-technical booklet.

The field of Adaptive Optics (AO) for astronomy has matured in recent years, and diffraction-limited image resolution in the near-infrared is now routinely achieved by ground-based 8 to 10m class telescopes. This book presents the proceedings of the ESO Workshop on Science with Adaptive Optics held in the fall of 2003. The book provides an overview on AO instrumentation, data acquisition and reduction strategies, and covers observations of the sun, solar system objects, circumstellar disks, substellar companions, HII regions, starburst environments, late-type stars, the galactic center, active galaxies, and quasars. The contributions present a vivid picture of the multitude of science topics being addressed by AO in observational astronomy.

This volume is dedicated to the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which was launched 11 February 2010. The articles focus on the spacecraft and its instruments: the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE), and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). Articles within also describe calibration results and data processing pipelines that are critical to understanding the data and products, concluding with a description of the successful Education and Public Outreach activities. This book is geared towards anyone interested in using the unprecedented data from SDO, whether for fundamental heliophysics research, space weather modeling and forecasting, or educational purposes. Previously published in Solar Physics journal, Vol. 275/1-2, 2012. Selected articles in this book are published open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license at link.springer.com. For further details, please see the license information in the chapters.

“Telescopes and Techniques” has proved itself in its first edition, having become probably one of the most widely used astronomy texts, both for numerate amateur astronomers and for astronomy and astrophysics undergraduates. The first and second editions of the book were widely used as set texts for introductory practical astronomy courses in many universities. This book guides the reader through the mathematics, physics and practical techniques needed to use telescopes (from small amateur models to the larger instruments installed in many colleges) and to observe objects in the sky. Mathematics to around Advanced Placement standard (US) or A level (UK) is assumed, although High School Diploma (US) or GCSE-level (UK) mathematics plus some basic trigonometry will suffice most of the time. Most of the physics and engineering involved is described fully and requires no prior knowledge or experience. This is a ‘how to’ book that provides the knowledge and background required to understand how and why telescopes work. Equipped with the techniques discussed in this book, the observer will be able to operate with confidence his or her telescope and to optimize its performance for a particular purpose. In principle the observer could calculate his or her own predictions of planetary positions (ephemerides), but more realistically the observer will be able to understand the published data lists properly instead of just treating them as ‘recipes.’ When the observer has obtained measurements, he/she will be able to analyze them in a scientific manner and to understand the significance and meaning of the results. “Telescopes and Techniques, 3rd Edition” fills a niche at the start of an undergraduate astronomer’s university studies, as shown by it having been widely adopted as a set textbook. This third edition is now needed to update its material with the many new observing developments and study areas that have come into prominence since it was published. The book concentrates on the knowledge needed to understand how small(ish) optical telescopes function, their main designs and how to set them up, plus introducing the reader to the many ways in which objects in the sky change their positions and how they may be observed. Both visual and electronic imaging techniques are covered, together with an introduction to how data (measurements) should be processed and analyzed. A simple introduction to radio telescopes is also included. Brief coverage of the most advanced topics of photometry and spectroscopy are included, but mainly to enable the reader to see some of the developments possible from the basic observing techniques covered in the main parts of the book.