Thedepartment provides rigorous training for students of physics and astronomy and prepares them to be successful, confident, and versatile in their ability to apply physics and astronomy principles within any chosen field. The department also aims to deliver and instill a broad-based understanding of general physics and astronomy principles and practices to the wider university community through our Mason Core (general education) courses. Our student-centric curriculum and instruction use a mixture of traditional and current pedagogical techniques informed by on-going educational research. It is our goal to help students to develop versatility and creativity through analytical practice and problem-solving training in their coursework and faculty-led research projects.
Departmental research focuses on pushing the frontiers of physics and astronomy in a broad range of areas using theoretical, experimental, observational, and computational approaches. The department maintains many active collaborations with scientists across different disciplines within the university community and with other national and international institutions. The department believes strongly in incorporating both graduate as well as undergraduate students in our research programs. It is our goal to see students arrive with enthusiasm and curiosity for physics and astronomy and leave as true scientists ready to conduct their own scientific investigations.
This department offers the Applied and Engineering Physics, MS. The department also supports the Energy and Sustainability concentration in the Interdisciplinary Studies, MAIS program. Additionally, the department offers a Physics, PhD. These graduate programs are strongly supported by the extensive research activities of the faculty, including many collaborations with scientists and engineers at regional and national government laboratories.
Despite remarkable advances in astronomy, space research, and related technology since the first edition of this book was published, the philosophy of the prior editions has remained the same throughout. However, because of this progress, there is a need to update the information and present the new findings. In the fourth edition of Astronomy: Principles and Practice, much like the previous editions, the celebrated authors give a comprehensive and systematic treatment to the theories of astronomy.
This reference furthers your study of astronomy by presenting the basic software and hardware, providing several straightforward mathematical tools, and discussing some simple physical processes that are either involved in the astronomer's tools of trade or concerned in the mechanisms associated with astronomical bodies. The first six chapters introduce the simple observations that can be made by the eye as well as discuss how such observations were interpreted by previous civilizations. The next several chapters examine the interpretation of positional measurements and the basic principles of celestial mechanics. The authors then explore radiation, optical telescopes, and radio and high-energy technologies. They conclude with practical projects and exercises.
Features New to the Fourth Edition:
Revised values such as the obliquity of the ecliptic
Expanded material that is devoted to new astronomies and techniques such as optical data recording
A listing of Web sites that offer information on relevant astronomical events
Revised and expanded, this edition continues to offer vital information about the fundamentals of astronomy. Astronomy: Principles and Practice, Fourth Edition satisfies the need of anyone who has a strong desire to understand the philosophy and applications of the science of astronomy.
The first non-electromagnetic messengers from space were discovered in the early 20th century, but it is only now that multimessenger astronomy is coming into its own. The aim of Multimessenger Astronomy in Practice is to aid an astronomer who is new to research in a particular area of multimessenger astronomy. Covering electromatic radiation from radio through to gamma-rays, and moving on to neutrino, cosmic-ray and gravitational wave astronomy, it gives the reader an overview of the celestial objects detected in each region, the unique methods used to measure them, as well as the principles and methods of data collection, calibration, reduction and analysis. Further chapters cover dark matter, the multimessenger search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), and data science with machine learning. The book will help educate astronomy students taking a multimessenger approach, and add to the knowledge of professional astronomers about what is available in today's multimessenger toolbox.
Professor Miroslav D. Filipović is a scientist, philosopher and philanthropist with over 30 years of experience in astronomy. Since May 2002, Professor Filipović is affiliated with the Western Sydney University (WSU), and has been responsible for the development of Astronomy at WSU. He is Chair of the largest public Observatory in Australia (the WSU's Penrith Observatory), and has over 200 refereed publications. His research interests centre on supernovae, high-energy astrophysics, planetary nebulae, Milky Way structure and mass extinctions, H II regions, X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei, deep fields, and stellar content in nearby galaxies. All of this research is closely related to further our understanding of the interactions between galaxies and the processes of stellar formation and star evolution as they affect galaxy evolution.
Nicholas F. H. Tothill joined Western Sydney University in 2011, where he is now Senior Lecturer in the School of Science and Director of the Penrith Observatory. He is a member of the Astronomical Society of Australia and the International Astronomical Union. His research centres on the interstellar medium of the Milky Way, but includes topics as diverse as high-redshift galaxy surveys, Antarctic astronomy, and cosmic-ray astrophysics.
The second book, entitled Multimessenger Astronomy in Practice, is a comprehensive textbook which covers all of the individual divisions of astronomy outlined in the first book, plus a couple of extra sections. It has an unusual format, in that most of the chapters are multiauthored, and the total number of authors contributing to the book is 16. This is not entirely surprising, given the scope of the material and the effort required to explain the wide range of subject matter, but it does give the volume an aspect of a conference proceedings, or perhaps a set of review articles. I would see this volume as a handbook for a new graduate student preparing to carry out research in astronomy. Each chapter has an extended list of references to published papers which make sense in that context.
Throughout its history, astrology has had its detractors, competitors and skeptics who opposed it for moral, religious, political, and empirical reasons.[10][11][12] Nonetheless, prior to the Enlightenment, astrology was generally considered a scholarly tradition and was common in learned circles, often in close relation with astronomy, meteorology, medicine, and alchemy.[13] It was present in political circles and is mentioned in various works of literature, from Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer to William Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, and Caldern de la Barca. During the Enlightenment, however, astrology lost its status as an area of legitimate scholarly pursuit.[14][15] Following the end of the 19th century and the wide-scale adoption of the scientific method, researchers have successfully challenged astrology on both theoretical[16][17] and experimental grounds,[18][19] and have shown it to have no scientific validity or explanatory power.[20] Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing in the western world, and common belief in it largely declined, until a continuing resurgence starting in the 1960s.[21]
Throughout most of its history, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition. It was accepted in political and academic contexts, and was connected with other studies, such as astronomy, alchemy, meteorology, and medicine.[13] At the end of the 17th century, new scientific concepts in astronomy and physics (such as heliocentrism and Newtonian mechanics) called astrology into question. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, and common belief in astrology has largely declined.[21]
The ancient Arabs that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula before the advent of Islam used to profess a widespread belief in fatalism (ḳadar) alongside a fearful consideration for the sky and the stars, which they held to be ultimately responsible for every phenomena that occurs on Earth and for the destiny of humankind.[33] Accordingly, they shaped their entire lives in accordance with their interpretations of astral configurations and phenomena.[33]
The Hellenistic schools of philosophical skepticism criticized the rationality of astrology.[clarification needed] Criticism of astrology by academic skeptics such as Cicero, Carneades, and Favorinus; and Pyrrhonists such as Sextus Empiricus has been preserved.
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