Principles of Multimessenger Astronomy: (AAS-IOP Astronomy)

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgements Author Biographies Foreword 1 Introduction to Multimessenger Astronomy: Fusing Intellect and Technology Through Telescopes 2 Electromagnetic Radiation 3 The Measurement of Cosmic Messengers 4 The Transfer of Electromagnetic Radiation Through Space 5 The Earth’s Atmosphere 6 Emission Mechanisms of Electromagnetic Radiation 7 Particle Astrophysics: Gamma Ray, Cosmic Ray, and Neutrino Astronomy 8 Gravitational Waves and Their Production 9 Obtaining and Interpreting Astronomical Data Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E Appendix F Appendix G

About the Author :
Professor Miroslav D. Filipović is a scientist, philosopher and philanthropist with over 30 years of experience in astronomy. Since May 2002, Professor Filipović is affiliated with the Western Sydney University (WSU), and has been responsible for the development of Astronomy at WSU. He is Chair of the largest public Observatory in Australia (the WSU’s Penrith Observatory), and has over 200 refereed publications. His research interests centre on supernovae, high-energy astrophysics, planetary nebulae, Milky Way structure and mass extinctions, H II regions, X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei, deep fields, and stellar content in nearby galaxies. All of this research is closely related to further our understanding of the interactions between galaxies and the processes of stellar formation and star evolution as they affect galaxy evolution. Nick Tothill joined Western Sydney University in 2011, where he is now Senior Lecturer in the School of Science and Director of the Penrith Observatory. He is a member of the Astronomical Society of Australia and the International Astronomical Union. His research centres on the interstellar medium of the Milky Way, but includes topics as diverse as high-redshift galaxy surveys, Antarctic astronomy, and cosmic-ray astrophysics.

Review :
Multimessenger Astronomy has become a ‘buzzphrase’ since the publication in 2016 of the first measurements of gravitational waves. The basic sense was that the advent of measurements using gravitational waves had broken the monopoly of electromagnetic radiation in observational astronomy. This was known not to be strictly true, because information from outside the Earth had been received and interpreted in the form of cosmic rays since the first decades of the 20th Century, and neutrinos from the Sun and from supernova SN1987a had, before the turn of the millenium, opened another channel to our understanding of the wider Universe. In their textbook Principles of Multimessenger Astronomy, Miroslav Filipović and Nicholas Tothill aim to present a students’ systematic introduction to the sub-fields included in the term. As well as to physics students who want an introductory way into modern astronomy, the book should be of interest to graduate students in physics who are starting astronomical research. I have to admit that I found the colour of the printed text, grey rather than black, lacking in contrast. The use of colour in the illustrations generally works well, although some of the figures could have better contrast and sharpness. Taken overall the book would be a good addition to the libraries of astronomical institutions. John Beckman, The Observatory, February 2023