Knowra Astrophysics Astrophysics Astrophysics applies physical laws and measurements to explain celestial objects and the universe, including their properties, behavior, and evolution.
Gravitation : The mutual attraction between masses, described in modern physics by the curvature of spacetime. It governs orbits, stellar structure, black holes, and the large-scale clustering of matter.
Stellar nucleosynthesis : The creation of atomic nuclei through nuclear reactions inside stars and during stellar explosions. It explains how stars forge many elements later found in planets and interstellar gas.
Astronomical spectroscopy : The analysis of celestial light by wavelength to infer source composition, motion, temperature, and physical conditions. Spectral lines let astrophysicists estimate what distant objects contain and how they move.
Arthur Eddington : A British astronomer and physicist who advanced stellar structure theory and tested general relativity observationally. His work connected stellar interiors to measurable luminosities and helped establish modern stellar astrophysics.
Astronomy : The scientific study of celestial objects, phenomena, and the universe. Astrophysics is a physics-centered branch of this broader study.
Electromagnetic radiation : Energy carried through space by oscillating electric and magnetic fields, across wavelengths from radio waves to gamma rays. Nearly all information about distant celestial objects reaches astronomers as radiation.
Radiative transfer : The propagation and interaction of radiation with matter through absorption, emission, and scattering. It links the conditions inside and around an object to the light that emerges from it.
Photometry : The measurement of the brightness of astronomical sources across selected wavelength bands. Brightness changes and colors constrain stellar properties, transits, and energetic events.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin : An astronomer whose 1925 doctoral thesis showed that stars are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. Her spectral analysis transformed understanding of stellar composition.
Observational astronomy : The collection and analysis of data from celestial sources using instruments across the electromagnetic spectrum and beyond. It emphasizes gathering evidence, while astrophysics emphasizes physical explanations of that evidence.
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