Measuring the Universe
A Multiwavelength Perspective

A one-stop guide to astronomical instrumentation and data acquisition, with a focus on the underlying principles behind each instrument's operation.

George H. Rieke (Author)

9781108405232, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 May 2017

355 pages, 175 b/w illus. 50 exercises
24.5 x 17.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.5 kg

'Measuring the Universe provides a backbone of understanding to build on. Among its major strengths are its spare and uncluttered style, its good use of equations and figures, and its problem sets.' Physics Today

Astronomy is an observational science, renewed and even revolutionized by new developments in instrumentation. With the resulting growth of multiwavelength investigation as an engine of discovery, it is increasingly important for astronomers to understand the underlying physical principles and operational characteristics for a broad range of instruments. This comprehensive text is ideal for graduate students, active researchers and instrument developers. It is a thorough review of how astronomers obtain their data, covering current approaches to astronomical measurements from radio to gamma rays. The focus is on current technology rather than the history of the field, allowing each topic to be discussed in depth. Areas covered include telescopes, detectors, photometry, spectroscopy, adaptive optics and high-contrast imaging, millimeter-wave and radio receivers, radio and optical/infrared interferometry, and X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, all at a level that bridges the gap between the basic principles of optics and the subject's abundant specialist literature. Color versions of figures and solutions to selected problems are available online at www.cambridge.org/9780521762298.

1. Introduction
2. Gathering light - the telescope
3. Sensing the light: detectors for the optical and infrared
4. Imaging and astrometry
5. Photometry and polarimetry
6. Spectroscopy
7. Adaptive optics (AO) and high contrast imaging
8. Submillimeter and radio astronomy
9. Interferometry and aperture synthesis
10. X-ray and gamma-ray
Index.

Subject Areas: Astronomical observation: observatories, equipment & methods [PGG], Astronomy, space & time [PG], Mathematics & science [P]