Ebook: The Hundred Greatest Stars

I have always loved the stars. I watch them, photograph one. And you can hardly talk about Zubenelgenubi them, research them, write about them. Their wonder without bringing in Zubeneschamali, so they too are is that they are there not simply for scientists, but for treated within one story. The Sun is not included in the all of us, filling the night sky with their sparkling beauty. 100 list, but instead leads the pack as “Star Zero. ” There are as many different kinds as there are stars Before describing the glories of the 100 stars, an themselves, each an individual. The heavens give us introduction briefs the beginning stargazer on basic bright ones, dim ones, near ones, far ones, the aged, stellar properties and explains the astronomical the young, those that help tell our ancient stories, and terminology, without which we would be continuously those nearly invisible even with the greatest of our tongue-tied. A separate glossary provides a quick technologies. Taken together, they relate the tale of our reminder. Then we move on to the stars themselves. existence, of the birth, life, and death of the Sun on Each of my favorite stars is introduced by a short which we depend.

There are as many different kinds of stars as there are stars themselves. Each an individual, every one unique. In this arresting and lavishly illustrated volume, noted astronomy writer and teacher Jim Kaler choose 100 stars to illustrate the mind-boggling variety of the stars' shapes and sizes, their immense ages, and the vast range of configurations in which they exist.

From AG Draconis to Z Andromedae, this alphabetically arranged volume first lists each star's resident constellation, its class, its apparent brightness as viewed from Earth, its distance from our Sun, and its visual luminosity. Then the real story begins. In choosing his "top 100," Kaler has aimed not just at providing a representative sample of the Universe's extraordinarily diverse population, but at capturing their complexity, their dynamism, and the amazing view they provide into the extraordinary physical forces at play in the Universe.

James B. Kaler is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has held both Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, and has been awarded medals for his work from the University of Lige (Belgium) and the University of