An Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure

Abstract

EDDINGTON'S “Internal Constitution of the Stars” was published in 1926 and gives what now ranks as a classical account of his own researches and of the general state of the theory at that time. Since then, a tremendous amount of work has appeared. Much of it has to do with the construction of stellar models with different equations of state applying in different zones. Other parts deal with the effects of varying chemical composition, with pulsation and tidal and rotational distortion of stars, and with the precise relations between the interior and the atmosphere of a star. The striking feature of all this work is that so much can be done without assuming any particular mechanism of stellar energy-generation. Only such very comprehensive assumptions are made about the distribution and behaviour of the energy sources that we may expect future knowledge of their mechanism to lead mainly to more detailed results within the framework of the existing general theory. An Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure By S. Chandrasekhar. (Astrophysical Monographs sponsored by The Astrophysical Journal.) Pp. ix+509. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press; London: Cambridge University Press, 1939.) 50s. net.