Exploring the X-Ray Universe

1. Birth and childhood of X-ray astronomy; 2. X-ray emission and interaction with matter; 3. Tools and techniques; 4. Solar System X-rays; 5. X-ray absorption and scattering in the interstellar medium; 6. Active stellar coronae; 7. Early-type stars; 8. Supernova explosions and their remnants; 9. Neutron stars, pulsars, pulsar wind nebulae, more supernova remnants; 10. Cataclysmic variable stars; 11. X-ray binaries; 12. Black-hole X-ray binaries; 13. Normal and starburst galaxies; 14. Active galactic nuclei; 15. Clusters of galaxies; 16. The diffuse X-ray background; 17. Gamma-ray bursts; Index.

Frederick D. Seward has been leader of the High Altitude Physics Group at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Director of the Einstein Guest Observer Program at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Head of Chandra User Support and an Assistant Director of the Chandra Observatory before retiring in 2004. Philip A. Charles is Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory, which operates SALT, the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere. He has recently been head of the astronomy group at the University of Southampton's School of Physics and Astronomy.

'The authors make use of their wide experience in both instrumentation and observations to balance knowledge against inference ... I like this book and highly recommend it.' The Observatory