Princeton University Press
Princeton Series in Modern Observational Astronomy
Essential Radio Astronomy is the only textbook on the subject specifically designed for a one-semester introductory course for advanced undergraduates or graduate students in astronomy and astrophysics. It starts from first principles in order to fill gaps in students' backgrounds, make teaching easier for professors who are not expert radio astronomers, and provide a useful reference to the essential equations used by practitioners.
This unique textbook reflects the fact that students of multiwavelength astronomy typically can afford to spend only one semester studying the observational techniques particular to each wavelength band. Essential Radio Astronomy presents only the most crucial concepts—succinctly and accessibly. It covers the general principles behind radio telescopes, receivers, and digital backends without getting bogged down in engineering details. Emphasizing the physical processes in radio sources, the book's approach is shaped by the view that radio astrophysics owes more to thermodynamics than electromagnetism.
Proven in the classroom and generously illustrated throughout, Essential Radio Astronomy is an invaluable resource for students and researchers alike.
- The only textbook specifically designed for a one-semester course in radio astronomy
- Starts from first principles
- Makes teaching easier for astronomy professors who are not expert radio astronomers
- Emphasizes the physical processes in radio sources
- Covers the principles behind radio telescopes and receivers
- Provides the essential equations and fundamental constants used by practitioners
- Supplementary website includes lecture notes, problem sets, exams, and links to interactive demonstrations
- An online illustration package is available to professors
As telescopes, detectors, and computers grow ever more powerful, the volume of data at the disposal of astronomers and astrophysicists will enter the petabyte domain, providing accurate measurements for billions of celestial objects. This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the cutting-edge statistical methods needed to efficiently analyze complex data sets from astronomical surveys such as the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, the Dark Energy Survey, and the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. It serves as a practical handbook for graduate students and advanced undergraduates in physics and astronomy, and as an indispensable reference for researchers.
Statistics, Data Mining, and Machine Learning in Astronomy presents a wealth of practical analysis problems, evaluates techniques for solving them, and explains how to use various approaches for different types and sizes of data sets. For all applications described in the book, Python code and example data sets are provided. The supporting data sets have been carefully selected from contemporary astronomical surveys (for example, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey) and are easy to download and use. The accompanying Python code is publicly available, well documented, and follows uniform coding standards. Together, the data sets and code enable readers to reproduce all the figures and examples, evaluate the methods, and adapt them to their own fields of interest.
- Describes the most useful statistical and data-mining methods for extracting knowledge from huge and complex astronomical data sets
- Features real-world data sets from contemporary astronomical surveys
- Uses a freely available Python codebase throughout
- Ideal for students and working astronomers
