Book recommendations stellar physics and evolution

[old_eyes]

Hi,

As the clouds have been soilid for a while in North Wales, and look like they may continue, I am looking for a good book on how stars work.

I have a lot of observing books, books on imaging etc, but nothing on my bookshelf that helps me get my mind round star formation and evolution, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, nucleosynthesis etc.

I can find lots on popular cosmology of the Big Bang, expanding balloon, microwave background, dark matter/energy, Oh Wow! type, but nothing that gets me inside how stars work.

I am a professional scientist so I am not freaked out by maths (but I am a chemist so not too hard please).

Any good recommendations? What helped you understand the things we spend so much time staring at?

old_eyes

[callump]

On my bookshelf there is a small book called "The Stars: their structure and evolution" by R.J. Taylor - quite old now (was one of my first year astronomy textbooks). Has a bit of maths but not too heavy.

Also have "Structure and Evolution of the Stars" by Martin Schwarzchild which has a bit more maths, but is not a bad read. Again from Uni days, but I'm not sure the physics has changed much.

/callump

[Merlin66]

Try and find a copy of:

Fundamental Astronomy by Karttunen et al

It covers EVERYTHING you'll ever need to know on all astronomical topics.

I found a 4th edition cheap on eBay.

Well worth the money and highly recommended.

[steveangel]

I do physics at university and the two books that i would recommend are:

Fundamental Astronomy by Karttunen et al (as merlin suggested)

OR

Universe: Stars and Galaxies by Kaufmann et al.

I will warn you though that fundamental astronomy covers EVERYTHING and in alot of detail. It can be a bit of a daunting read if you don't know the basics.

Having said that you will never need another book on the subject!

Hope this helps,

Steve

[old_eyes]

Thanks Guys.

I'm going with Fundamental Astronomy, and we will see how I get on. At 500+ pages it should last out the cloudy weather!

old_eyes