本书作为一本有关宇宙的创建和演化的课程用书，包括宇宙基本的宏观构造块（星系）和整体的大规模结构。本书试图涵盖物理系研究生课程中的大部分主题，在该学科中，学生可用于学习天体物理学的学时是有限的。本书共分五章，分别为概述，银河系，河外星系，活动星系，类星体（超重黑洞、广义相对论、宇宙学）。本书的具体内容包括星系结构、外部星系、星系团、活动星系、广义相对论和宇宙学，读者还可以从参考文献中更深入地探讨相关主题的内容。

Preface
Acknowledgment
Author biography
1 Introduction
1.1 Stellar structure
1.1.1 Polytropic and isothermal gas spheres
1.2 Equations of stellar structure
1.3 Our Sun
1.4 Stellar atmospheres
1.5 Stellar evolution
1.6 Galaxies
References
2 The Milky Way Galaxy
2.1 Coordinate systems, parallax and radial velocities
2.2 The equatorial coordinate system
2.3 Rotational transformations
2.4 Stellar motions
2.5 Measuring stellar parallaxes
2.6 Hipparcos results
2.7 Time in astronomy
2.8 Inertial reference frames
2.9 Galactic structure
2.9.1 Space distribution of stars
2.10 The interstellar medium
2.11 Star counts
2.12 Initial stellar mass function
2.13 Stellar kinematics
2.14 Mass of the Galaxy
2.15 Milky Way formation
References
3 External galaxies
3.1 History
3.2 Elliptical galaxies
3.3 Spiral galaxies
3.4 The Tully-Fisher relationship for spiral galaxies
3.5 Spiral structures through stochastic star formation
3.6 The cosmic distance ladder
3.7 Dark matter
References
4 Active galaxies, quasars and supermassive black holes
4.1 Active galaxies
4.2 Classifications of active galaxies
4.3 Discovery and history of quasars
4.4 Synchrotron emission
4.5 Accreting black holes
4.6 Jet acceleration
4.7 Synchrotron-self-Compton jets
4.8 Unified model of quasars
4.9 Quasar variability
References
5 General relativity and cosmology
5.1 A brief history of cosmology
5.2 Newtonian derivation of the cosmological equations
5.3 General relativistic derivation of cosmology
5.4 Big Bang cosmology
5.5 Confirmation of the Big Bang
5.6 Problems with the Big Bang theory
5.7 The future evolution of the accelerating Universe
5.8 Finding mass in the Universe
5.9 WMAP results
5.10 Age of the Universe
5.11 Gravitational waves
References
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