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Every atom of our bodies has been part of a star. Our very own star, the Sun, is crucial to the development and sustainability of life on Earth. This Very Short Introduction presents a modern, authoritative examination of how stars live, producing all the chemical elements beyond helium, and how they die, sometimes spectacularly, to end as remnants such as black holes. Andrew King shows how understanding the stars is key to understanding the galaxies they inhabit, and thus the history of our entire Universe, as well as the existence of planets like our own. King presents a fascinating exploration of the science of stars, from the mechanisms that allow stars to form and the processes that allow them to shine, as well as the results of their inevitable death.
Preface
1: Science and the stars
2: How the Sun survives
3: Life on main street
4: Cooking the elements
5: Stellar corpses
6: Finding the bodies
7: Measuring the universe
8: The beginning
Further reading
Andrew King is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Leicester, and heads the theoretical astrophysics research group there. His work has been recognised by a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, and a Senior Fellowship of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. He has published more than 250 research papers and is a co-author of several books. He is also deputy editor-in-chief of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
