Book Description
Physical Processes in the Interstellar Medium discusses the nature of interstellar matter, with a strong emphasis on basic physical principles, and summarizes the present state of knowledge about the interstellar medium by providing the latest observational data. Physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium are treated, with frequent references to observational results. The overall equilibrium and dynamical state of the interstellar gas are described, with discussions of explosions produced by star birth and star death and the initial phases of cloud collapse leading to star formation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good book
good book
lot's of useful informations.
It's good to have one.

A classic in astronomy, but not worth the price for students
Here, Spitzer introduces many fundamental concepts in astronomy, and at the time it was written was perhaps the only single publication that covered all of the topics in the table of contents from a fairly fundamentallevel. When I paid $80 for this book for an Interstellar Medium course about 5 years ago, the instructor said he would not have required it had he known the price.Now it stands at $112! If this material is important to you and you do not have a well developed graduate level curriculum to study from, then perhaps it is worthhwhile, otherwise I recommend "Astrophysics of Gaseous Nebulae and Active Galactic Nuclei" by Donald E. Osterbrockfor $36 as an excellent substitute, though you won't find much on dust grains and kinetics in it. For those topics you should go to review articles and a statistical mechanics text anyway! Spitzer was a great astronomer and he wrote what was at the time an indispensible book, but at this price think carefully before you buy. ... Read more

Book Description
Updated and revised, The Physics of the Interstellar Medium, Second Edition leads the advanced undergraduate through a wide range of disciplines related to the interstellar medium. The book covers the study of the interstellar medium, which incorporates a large range of physical processes on both large and small scales. With chapter introductions provided to aid learning as well as problems and simple models included throughout, this comprehensive overview is suitable for any student studying physics or astrophysics. Considerable progress has been made in the field over the last decade, making this up-to-date understanding of the interstellar medium particularly timely. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Introductory Text
A concise and clear introduction to the interstellar medium.Chapters 5 to 7 on radiatively excited regions and gas dynamics are particularly well written (half the book). The rest of the book is perhaps too concise tocover adequately topics such as dust properties and star formation. ... Read more

Book Description
This book is a graduate-level text covering the fundamentalphysics and chemistry required for a modern understanding of theinterstellar medium.Radiation mechanisms are comprehensively presented,and extensive examples are drawn from observations in the X-ray,ultraviolet, optical, infrared, mm/sub mm, and radio observations. Thisbook goes beyond a phenomenological study of the interstellar medium togive a detailed quantitative treatment of the radiative and dynamicalinteractions between stars and the interstellar medium. With an emphasis ona physical understanding of these processes, the mathematical derivationsare clean, elegant and easily understandable by anyone with anundergraduate background in physics. ... Read more

Book Description

Describing interstellar matter in our galaxy in all of its various forms, this book also considers the physical and chemical processes that are occurring within this matter. The first seven chapters present the various components making up the interstellar matter and detail the ways that we are able to study them. The following seven chapters are devoted to the physical, chemical and dynamical processes that control the behaviour of interstellar matter. These include the instabilities and cloud collapse processes that lead to the formation of stars. The last chapter summarizes the transformations that can occur between the different phases of the interstellar medium. Emphasizing methods over results, The Interstellar Medium is written for graduate students, for young astronomers, and also for any researchers who have developed an interest in the interstellar medium.

Book Description
Emphasizing microscopic physical and chemical processes in space, and their influence on the macroscopic structure of the interstellar medium of galaxies, this book includes the latest developments in an exciting area of molecular astrophysics. New space and ground-based observational opportunities have resulted in significant additions to our knowledge of the molecular universe in recent years. This comprehensive overview will be an invaluable reference source for undergraduates, graduates and researchers.Download Description
This work provides a comprehensive overview of our current theoretical and observational understanding of the interstellar medium of galaxies. With emphasis on the microscopic physical and chemical processes in space, and their influence on the macroscopic structure of the interstellar medium of galaxies, the book includes the latest developments in this area of molecular astrophysics. The various heating, cooling, and chemical processes relevant for the rarefied gas and submicron-sized dust grains that constitute the interstellar medium are discussed in detail. This provides a firm foundation for an in-depth understanding of the ionized, neutral atomic, and molecular phases of the interstellar medium. The physical and chemical properties of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules and their role in the interstellar medium are highlighted, and the physics and chemistry of warm and dense photodissociation regions are discussed. This is an invaluable reference source for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and research scientists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The state of understanding as it exists today
Inteller space is the hardest vacuum that we know of. But it is not empty. Over the vast distances there are atoms, molecules, dust grains, radiations and more. It is a coprehensive overview of our current theories as backed up by the most recent observational understanding of the interstellar medium of galaxies as of 2005.

As this is a rapidly developing field, the book is filled with references for the student to find more information from web sites and the like that will contain the most recent findings, research, and theories.

This book is suitable for a course for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and for research scientists. The author is a professor of Astrophysics at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in the Netherlands and is a senior scientist with the Dutch Space Agency, SRON. ... Read more

Book Description
A leading stellar astronomer summarizes our understanding of supernovae and their interaction with interstellar gas, including the ambient interstellar medium, the gas ejected in the explosion itself, and the gas emitted as stellar wind. She examines the evolution of supernova remnants as they interact with the gas and considers the role of supernovae and stellar wind in the physical state of the interstellar medium. Essential reading for specialists in supernovae and stellar evolution. ... Read more

Book Description
The Interstellar Medium in Galaxies is a collection ofseven reviews covering the following constituents of the interstellarmedium: dust, molecular gas, neutral atomic hydrogen, ionizedhydrogen, and hot gas, and covering the abundances of heavy elementsin the interstellar medium and the role of star formation. The reviewsnot only provide a good background in these subjects, but alsodescribe in detail the most recent advances in the area and discussthe current problems in the field. The properties of the differentconstituents of the interstellar medium are discussed within theperspective of the difference in properties of the parent galaxies andthe environment. The interplay between star formation and thecharacteristics of the interstellar medium is also discussed indetail.
This volume provides very up-to-date material on the subject of theinterstellar medium in galaxies and is useful both as a basicreference for professional scientists in this field and as anintroductory book for astronomers who want to familiarize themselveswith this field. This volume can also serve as an accompanying textbook for graduate courses on the interstellar medium. ... Read more

Book Description
This volume gives a comprehensive and integrated overview ofcurrent knowledge about the local interstellar medium (LISM)surrounding our heliosphere (HS). It is the result of the firstworkshop at ISSI, where both space physicists and astronomerspresented and discussed their views on the density, velocity,temperature, composition, and morphology of the LISM and how itinteracts with the HS. The volume is unique in its combination of dataobtained by remote UV, EUV, and X-ray observations outside the HS within situ observations of interstellar atoms, ions, and dust inside theHS. It thus demonstrates a new synergy between these two communities.The book is intended to provide active researchers in space physicsand in astronomy with an up-to-date status report of its topic, andalso to furnish the advanced graduate student with introductorymaterial into the field. ... Read more

Book Description
In the interstellar medium - the space between the stars in galaxies - new stars are born from material that is replenished by the debris ejected by stars when they die. This book is a comprehensive manual for studying the collisional and radiative processes observed in the interstellar medium. This second edition has been thoroughly updated and extended to cover related topics in radiation theory. It considers the chemistry of the interstellar medium both at the present epoch and in the early Universe, and discusses the physics and chemistry of shock waves. The methods of calculation of the rates of collisional excitation of interstellar molecules and atoms are explained, emphasising the quantum mechanical method. This book will be ideal for researchers involved in the interstellar medium and star formation, and physical chemists specialising in collision theory or in the measurement of the rates of collision processes. ... Read more