Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles

of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena.[1][2] As

one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to
ascertain the nature of the heavenly bodies, rather than their positions or motions in
space–what they are, rather than where they are",[3] which is studied in celestial
mechanics.

Among the subjects studied are the Sun (solar physics),

other stars, galaxies, extrasolar planets, the interstellar medium and the cosmic
microwave background.[4][5] Emissions from these objects are examined across all
parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the properties examined
include luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition. Because
astrophysics is a very broad subject, astrophysicists apply concepts and methods
from many disciplines of physics, including classical
mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum
mechanics, relativity, nuclear and particle physics, and atomic and molecular
physics.

In practice, modern astronomical research often involves a substantial amount of

work in the realms of theoretical and observational physics. Some areas of study for
astrophysicists include their attempts to determine the properties of dark matter, dark
energy, black holes, and other celestial bodies; and the origin and ultimate fate of the
universe.[4] Topics also studied by theoretical astrophysicists include Solar System
formation and evolution; stellar dynamics and evolution; galaxy formation and
evolution; magnetohydrodynamics; large-scale structure of matter in the universe;
origin of cosmic rays; general relativity, special relativity, quantum and physical
cosmology (the physical study of the largest-scale structures of the universe),
including string cosmology and astroparticle physics.

History
[edit]
Astronomy is an ancient science, long separated from the study of terrestrial physics.
In the Aristotelian worldview, bodies in the sky appeared to be
unchanging spheres whose only motion was uniform motion in a circle, while the
earthly world was the realm which underwent growth and decay and in which natural
motion was in a straight line and ended when the moving object reached its goal.
Consequently, it was held that the celestial region was made of a fundamentally
different kind of matter from that found in the terrestrial sphere; either Fire as
maintained by Plato, or Aether as maintained by Aristotle.[6][7] During the 17th century,
natural philosophers such as Galileo,[8] Descartes,[9] and Newton[10] began to maintain
that the celestial and terrestrial regions were made of similar kinds of material and
were subject to the same natural laws.[11] Their challenge was that the tools had not
yet been invented with which to prove these assertions.[12]

For much of the nineteenth century, astronomical research was focused on the
routine work of measuring the positions and computing the motions of astronomical
objects.[13][14] A new astronomy, soon to be called astrophysics, began to emerge
when William Hyde Wollaston and Joseph von Fraunhofer independently discovered
that, when decomposing the light from the Sun, a multitude of dark lines (regions
where there was less or no light) were observed in the spectrum.[15] By 1860 the
physicist, Gustav Kirchhoff, and the chemist, Robert Bunsen, had demonstrated that
the dark lines in the solar spectrum corresponded to bright lines in the spectra of
known gases, specific lines corresponding to unique chemical elements.[16] Kirchhoff
deduced that the dark lines in the solar spectrum are caused
by absorption by chemical elements in the Solar atmosphere.[17] In this way it was
proved that the chemical elements found in the Sun and stars were also found on
Earth.

Among those who extended the study of solar and stellar spectra was Norman
Lockyer, who in 1868 detected radiant, as well as dark lines in solar spectra.
Working with chemist Edward Frankland to investigate the spectra of elements at
various temperatures and pressures, he could not associate a yellow line in the solar
spectrum with any known elements. He thus claimed the line represented a new
element, which was called helium, after the Greek Helios, the Sun personified.[18][19]

In 1885, Edward C. Pickering undertook an ambitious program of stellar spectral

classification at Harvard College Observatory, in which a team of woman computers,
notably Williamina Fleming, Antonia Maury, and Annie Jump Cannon, classified the
spectra recorded on photographic plates. By 1890, a catalog of over 10,000 stars
had been prepared that grouped them into thirteen spectral types. Following
Pickering's vision, by 1924 Cannon expanded the catalog to nine volumes and over
a quarter of a million stars, developing the Harvard Classification Scheme which was
accepted for worldwide use in 1922.[20]

In 1895, George Ellery Hale and James E. Keeler, along with a group of ten
associate editors from Europe and the United States,[21] established The
Astrophysical Journal: An International Review of Spectroscopy and Astronomical
Physics.[22] It was intended that the journal would fill the gap between journals in
astronomy and physics, providing a venue for publication of articles on astronomical
applications of the spectroscope; on laboratory research closely allied to
astronomical physics, including wavelength determinations of metallic and gaseous
spectra and experiments on radiation and absorption; on theories of the Sun, Moon,
planets, comets, meteors, and nebulae; and on instrumentation for telescopes and
laboratories.[21]

Around 1920, following the discovery of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram still used
as the basis for classifying stars and their evolution, Arthur Eddington anticipated the
discovery and mechanism of nuclear fusion processes in stars, in his paper The
Internal Constitution of the Stars.[23][24] At that time, the source of stellar energy was a
complete mystery; Eddington correctly speculated that the source was fusion of
hydrogen into helium, liberating enormous energy according to Einstein's equation E
= mc2. This was a particularly remarkable development since at that time fusion and
thermonuclear energy, and even that stars are largely composed
of hydrogen (see metallicity), had not yet been discovered.[25]

In 1925 Cecilia Helena Payne (later Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin) wrote an influential

doctoral dissertation at Radcliffe College, in which she applied Saha's ionization
theory to stellar atmospheres to relate the spectral classes to the temperature of
stars.[26] Most significantly, she discovered that hydrogen and helium were the
principal components of stars, not the composition of Earth. Despite Eddington's
suggestion, discovery was so unexpected that her dissertation readers
(including Russell) convinced her to modify the conclusion before publication.
However, later research confirmed her discovery.[27][28]

By the end of the 20th century, studies of astronomical spectra had expanded to
cover wavelengths extending from radio waves through optical, x-ray, and gamma
wavelengths.[29] In the 21st century, it further expanded to include observations based
on gravitational waves.

Observational astrophysics
[edit]

Supernova remnant LMC N 63A imaged in x-ray (blue),

optical (green) and radio (red) wavelengths. The X-ray glow is from material heated
to about ten million degrees Celsius by a shock wave generated by the supernova
explosion.
Observational astronomy is a division of the astronomical science that is concerned
with recording and interpreting data, in contrast with theoretical astrophysics, which
is mainly concerned with finding out the measurable implications of physical models.
It is the practice of observing celestial objects by using telescopes and other
astronomical apparatus.

Most astrophysical observations are made using the electromagnetic spectrum.

 Radio astronomy studies radiation with a wavelength greater than a few

millimeters. Example areas of study are radio waves, usually emitted by cold
objects such as interstellar gas and dust clouds; the cosmic microwave
background radiation which is the redshifted light from the Big Bang; pulsars,
which were first detected at microwave frequencies. The study of these waves
requires very large radio telescopes.
 Infrared astronomy studies radiation with a wavelength that is too long to be
visible to the naked eye but is shorter than radio waves. Infrared observations
are usually made with telescopes similar to the familiar optical telescopes.
Objects colder than stars (such as planets) are normally studied at infrared
frequencies.
 Optical astronomy was the earliest kind of astronomy. Telescopes paired with
a charge-coupled device or spectroscopes are the most common instruments
used. The Earth's atmosphere interferes somewhat with optical observations,
so adaptive optics and space telescopes are used to obtain the highest possible
image quality. In this wavelength range, stars are highly visible, and many
 chemical spectra can be observed to study the chemical composition of stars,
galaxies, and nebulae.
 Ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma ray astronomy study very energetic processes
such as binary pulsars, black holes, magnetars, and many others. These kinds of
radiation do not penetrate the Earth's atmosphere well. There are two methods in
use to observe this part of the electromagnetic spectrum—space-based
telescopes and ground-based imaging air Cherenkov telescopes (IACT).
Examples of Observatories of the first type are RXTE, the Chandra X-ray
Observatory and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Examples of IACTs are
the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) and the MAGIC telescope.
Other than electromagnetic radiation, few things may be observed from the Earth
that originate from great distances. A few gravitational wave observatories have
been constructed, but gravitational waves are extremely difficult to
detect. Neutrino observatories have also been built, primarily to study the Sun.
Cosmic rays consisting of very high-energy particles can be observed hitting the
Earth's atmosphere.

Observations can also vary in their time scale. Most optical observations take
minutes to hours, so phenomena that change faster than this cannot readily be
observed. However, historical data on some objects is available,
spanning centuries or millennia. On the other hand, radio observations may look at
events on a millisecond timescale (millisecond pulsars) or combine years of data
(pulsar deceleration studies). The information obtained from these different
timescales is very different.

The study of the Sun has a special place in observational astrophysics. Due to the
tremendous distance of all other stars, the Sun can be observed in a kind of detail
unparalleled by any other star. Understanding the Sun serves as a guide to
understanding of other stars.

The topic of how stars change, or stellar evolution, is often modeled by placing the
varieties of star types in their respective positions on the Hertzsprung–Russell
diagram, which can be viewed as representing the state of a stellar object, from birth
to destruction.

Theoretical astrophysics
[edit]
See also: Theoretical astronomy
Theoretical astrophysicists use a wide variety of tools which include analytical
models (for example, polytropes to approximate the behaviors of a star)
and computational numerical simulations. Each has some advantages. Analytical
models of a process are generally better for giving insight into the heart of what is
going on. Numerical models can reveal the existence of phenomena and effects that
would otherwise not be seen.[30][31]

Theorists in astrophysics endeavor to create theoretical models and figure out the
observational consequences of those models. This helps allow observers to look for
data that can refute a model or help in choosing between several alternate or
conflicting models.
Theorists also try to generate or modify models to take into account new data. In the
case of an inconsistency, the general tendency is to try to make minimal
modifications to the model to fit the data. In some cases, a large amount of
inconsistent data over time may lead to total abandonment of a model.

Topics studied by theoretical astrophysicists include stellar dynamics and evolution;

galaxy formation and evolution; magnetohydrodynamics; large-scale structure of
matter in the universe; origin of cosmic rays; general relativity and physical
cosmology, including string cosmology and astroparticle physics. Relativistic
astrophysics serves as a tool to gauge the properties of large-scale structures for
which gravitation plays a significant role in physical phenomena investigated and as
the basis for black hole (astro)physics and the study of gravitational waves.

Some widely accepted and studied theories and models in astrophysics, now
included in the Lambda-CDM model, are the Big Bang, cosmic inflation, dark matter,
dark energy and fundamental theories of physics.

Popularization
[edit]
The roots of astrophysics can be found in the seventeenth century emergence of a
unified physics, in which the same laws applied to the celestial and terrestrial realms.
[11]
There were scientists who were qualified in both physics and astronomy who laid
the firm foundation for the current science of astrophysics. In modern times, students
continue to be drawn to astrophysics due to its popularization by the Royal
Astronomical Society and notable educators such as prominent professors Lawrence
Krauss, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Stephen Hawking, Hubert Reeves, Carl
Sagan and Patrick Moore. The efforts of the early, late, and present scientists
continue to attract young people to study the history and science of astrophysics.[32][33]
[34]
The television sitcom show The Big Bang Theory popularized the field of
astrophysics with the general public, and featured some well known scientists
like Stephen Hawking and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

See also
[edit]

 Astrochemistry – Study of molecules in the Universe and their reactions

 Astronomical observatories
 Astronomical spectroscopy – Study of astronomy using spectroscopy to measure
the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation
 Astroparticle physics – Branch of particle physics
 Gravitational-wave astronomy – Branch of astronomy using gravitational waves
 Hertzsprung–Russell diagram – Scatter plot of stars showing the relationship of
luminosity to stellar classification
 High-energy astronomy – Study of astronomical objects that release highly
energetic electromagnetic radiation
 Important publications in astrophysics
 List of astronomers – (includes astrophysicists)
 Neutrino astronomy – Observing low-mass stellar particles
 Timeline of gravitational physics and relativity
 Timeline of knowledge about galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and large-scale
structure
 Timeline of white dwarfs, neutron stars, and supernovae – Chronological list of
developments in knowledge and records
References
[edit]

1. ^ Maoz, Dan (2016). Astrophysics in a Nutshell. Princeton University Press.

p. 272. ISBN 978-1400881178.
2. ^ "astrophysics". Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Archived from the original on 10
June 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
3. ^ Keeler, James E. (November 1897), "The Importance of Astrophysical Research
and the Relation of Astrophysics to the Other Physical Sciences", The Astrophysical
Journal, 6 (4): 271–
288, Bibcode:1897ApJ.....6..271K, doi:10.1086/140401, PMID 17796068
4. ^ Jump up to:a b "Focus Areas – NASA Science". nasa.gov. Archived from the
original on 2017-05-16. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
5. ^ "astronomy". Encyclopædia Britannica. 29 May 2023.
6. ^ Lloyd, G. E. R. (1968). Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of His Thought.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 134–135. ISBN 978-0-521-09456-6.
7. ^ Cornford, Francis MacDonald (c. 1957) [1937]. Plato's Cosmology:
The Timaeus of Plato translated, with a running commentary. Indianapolis: Bobbs
Merrill Co. p. 118.
8. ^ Galilei, Galileo (1989), Van Helden, Albert (ed.), Sidereus Nuncius or The
Sidereal Messenger, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 21, 47, ISBN 978-0-
226-27903-9
9. ^ Edward Slowik (2013) [2005]. "Descartes' Physics". Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. Retrieved 2015-07-18.
10. ^ Westfall, Richard S. (1983), Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (published 1980), pp. 731–732, ISBN 978-
0-521-27435-7
11. ^ Jump up to:a b Burtt, Edwin Arthur (2003) [First published 1924], The Metaphysical
Foundations of Modern Science (second revised ed.), Mineola, NY: Dover
Publications, pp. 30, 41, 241–2, ISBN 978-0-486-42551-1
12. ^ Ladislav Kvasz (2013). "Galileo, Descartes, and Newton – Founders of the
Language of Physics" (PDF). Institute of Philosophy, Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic. Retrieved 2015-07-18. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |
journal= (help)
13. ^ Case, Stephen (2015), "'Land-marks of the universe': John Herschel against the
background of positional astronomy", Annals of Science, 72 (4): 417–
434, Bibcode:2015AnSci..72..417C, doi:10.1080/00033790.2015.1034588, PMID 2
6221834, S2CID 205397708, The great majority of astronomers working in the early
nineteenth century were not interested in stars as physical objects. Far from being
bodies with physical properties to be investigated, the stars were seen as markers
measured in order to construct an accurate, detailed and precise background
against which solar, lunar and planetary motions could be charted, primarily for
terrestrial applications.
14. ^ Donnelly, Kevin (September 2014), "On the boredom of science: positional
astronomy in the nineteenth century", The British Journal for the History of
Science, 47 (3): 479–503, doi:10.1017/S0007087413000915, S2CID 146382057
15. ^ Hearnshaw, J.B. (1986). The analysis of starlight. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. pp. 23–29. ISBN 978-0-521-39916-6.
16. ^ Kirchhoff, Gustav (1860), "Ueber die Fraunhofer'schen Linien", Annalen der
Physik, 185 (1): 148–
150, Bibcode:1860AnP...185..148K, doi:10.1002/andp.18601850115
17. ^ Kirchhoff, Gustav (1860), "Ueber das Verhältniss zwischen dem
Emissionsvermögen und dem Absorptionsvermögen der Körper für Wärme und
Licht", Annalen der Physik, 185 (2): 275–
301, Bibcode:1860AnP...185..275K, doi:10.1002/andp.18601850205
18. ^ Cortie, A. L. (1921), "Sir Norman Lockyer, 1836 – 1920", The Astrophysical
Journal, 53: 233–248, Bibcode:1921ApJ....53..233C, doi:10.1086/142602
19. ^ Jensen, William B. (2004), "Why Helium Ends in "-ium"" (PDF), Journal of
Chemical Education, 81 (7): 944–
945, Bibcode:2004JChEd..81..944J, doi:10.1021/ed081p944
20. ^ Hetherington, Norriss S.; McCray, W. Patrick, Weart, Spencer
R. (ed.), Spectroscopy and the Birth of Astrophysics, American Institute of Physics,
Center for the History of Physics, archived from the original on September 7, 2015,
retrieved July 19, 2015
21. ^ Jump up to:a b Hale, George Ellery (1895), "The Astrophysical Journal", The
Astrophysical Journal, 1 (1): 80–
84, Bibcode:1895ApJ.....1...80H, doi:10.1086/140011
22. ^ The Astrophysical Journal. 1 (1).
23. ^ Eddington, A. S. (October 1920), "The Internal Constitution of the Stars", The
Scientific Monthly, 11 (4): 297–
303, Bibcode:1920Sci....52..233E, doi:10.1126/science.52.1341.233, JSTOR 6491,
PMID 17747682
24. ^ Eddington, A. S. (1916). "On the radiative equilibrium of the stars". Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 77: 16–
35. Bibcode:1916MNRAS..77...16E. doi:10.1093/mnras/77.1.16.
25. ^ McCracken, Garry; Stott, Peter (2013). McCracken, Garry; Stott, Peter
(eds.). Fusion (Second ed.). Boston: Academic Press. p. 13. doi:10.1016/b978-0-
12-384656-3.00002-7. ISBN 978-0-12-384656-3. Eddington had realized that there
would be a mass loss if four hydrogen atoms combined to form a single helium
atom. Einstein's equivalence of mass and energy led directly to the suggestion that
this could be the long-sought process that produces the energy in the stars! It was
an inspired guess, all the more remarkable because the structure of the nucleus and
the mechanisms of these reactions were not fully understood.
26. ^ Payne, C. H. (1925), Stellar Atmospheres; A Contribution to the Observational
Study of High Temperature in the Reversing Layers of Stars (PhD Thesis),
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Radcliffe College, Bibcode:1925PhDT.........1P
27. ^ Haramundanis, Katherine (2007), "Payne-Gaposchkin [Payne], Cecilia Helena", in
Hockey, Thomas; Trimble, Virginia; Williams, Thomas R. (eds.), Biographical
Encyclopedia of Astronomers, New York: Springer, pp. 876–878, ISBN 978-0-387-
30400-7, retrieved July 19, 2015
28. ^ Steven Soter and Neil deGrasse Tyson (2000). "Cecilia Payne and the
Composition of the Stars". American Museum of Natural History.
29. ^ Biermann, Peter L.; Falcke, Heino (1998), "Frontiers of Astrophysics: Workshop
Summary", in Panvini, Robert S.; Weiler, Thomas J. (eds.), Fundamental particles
and interactions: Frontiers in contemporary physics an international lecture and
workshop series. AIP Conference Proceedings, vol. 423, American Institute of
Physics, pp. 236–
248, arXiv:astro-ph/9711066, Bibcode:1998AIPC..423..236B, doi:10.1063/1.55085,
ISBN 1-56396-725-1
 30. ^ Roth, H. (1932), "A Slowly Contracting or Expanding Fluid Sphere and its
Stability", Physical Review, 39 (3): 525–
529, Bibcode:1932PhRv...39..525R, doi:10.1103/PhysRev.39.525
31. ^ Eddington, A.S. (1988) [1926], "Internal Constitution of the
Stars", Science, 52 (1341), New York: Cambridge University Press: 233–
240, Bibcode:1920Sci....52..233E, doi:10.1126/science.52.1341.233, ISBN 978-0-
521-33708-3, PMID 17747682
32. ^ D. Mark Manley (2012). "Famous Astronomers and Astrophysicists". Kent State
University. Retrieved 2015-07-17.
33. ^ The science.ca team (2015). "Hubert Reeves – Astronomy, Astrophysics and
Space Science". GCS Research Society. Retrieved 2015-07-17.
34. ^ "Neil deGrasse Tyson". Hayden Planetarium. 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-17.

Further reading
[edit]

 Longair, Malcolm S. (2006), The Cosmic Century: A History of Astrophysics and

Cosmology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-47436-8
 Astrophysics, Scholarpedia Expert articles
External links
[edit]

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Astrophysics

Library resources about
Astrophysics

 Online books
 Resources in your library
 Resources in other libraries

 Astronomy and Astrophysics, a European Journal

 Astrophysical Journal
 Cosmic Journey: A History of Scientific Cosmology Archived 2008-10-21 at
the Wayback Machine from the American Institute of Physics
 International Journal of Modern Physics D from World Scientific
 List and directory of peer-reviewed Astronomy / Astrophysics Journals
 Ned Wright's Cosmology Tutorial, UCLA
show

Major branches of physics

show
 Major subfields of astronomy

show

Astronomy
Portals:
 Physics
 Astronomy
 Stars
 Spaceflight
 Outer space
 Solar System

show
Authority control databases
Categories:
 Astrophysics
 Astronomical sub-disciplines
 This page was last edited on 18 October 2024, at 21:30 (UTC).
 Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply. By
using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.