Galactic Astronomy James Binney and Michael Merrifield is an English-language textbook about astronomy, aimed at students in higher education and professionals.
This reference work offers an extensive and up-to-date treatment of the phenomenology of galaxies, with special attention to the structure and properties of the Milky Way and external galaxies. The book replaces the classic edition by Binney with Mihalas and complements Galactic Dynamics by Binney and Tremaine.
The authors cover essential astronomical concepts such as coordinate systems, magnitudes, stellar phenomenology, stellar and chemical evolution, and distance measurements. In addition, they discuss in depth the interstellar media, star clusters, and the kinematics of both the Milky Way and external galaxies. The emphasis is on observations as the foundation for the current understanding of these topics.
This textbook is indispensable for researchers, PhD students, and advanced students who want to delve into galactic astronomy within the field of astronomy and space science.
Series: Princeton Series in Astrophysics