Intro to Astronomy & Astrophysics

Nusc

Introductory Astronomy & Astrophysics by Zeilkik and Gregory 4th edition.

What are your opinions on this book?

As far as I know the field has changed dramatically over the years and I was wondering if I should get a better or newer book since it was published in 98. I also heard it had a lot of errors in it.

franznietzsche

I haven't used their book, but I will recommend Carrol and Ostlie's book Modern Astrophysics (or Modern Stellar Astrophysics which is just the first half of the other book, otherwise the same). Its a very good overview text.

SpaceTiger

Agreed. Consider also:

The Physical Universe

This one's by Frank Shu. It's a bit dated, but has been shown to be quite good for graduate students reviewing the basic material for their general exams. Most of the basics of astronomy and astrophysics can be learned from older texts. I find the main downfall of older review texts (including Carroll & Ostlie) is their poor coverage of cosmology. The field has exploded in recent times, so you might want to consider getting a separate book that deals only with cosmology. I've yet to see a text that does a satisfactory job of this at a low level, so if anyone else has a suggestion...

Chronos

My list is not much different
Introductory Astronomy & Astrophysics by Zeilik, Gregory & Smith
Fundamental Astronomy by Karttunen, Kroger, Oja, Poutanen & Donner
The Physical Universe, An Introduction to Astronomy by Shu
My only gripe about Shu is it's a bit outdated.

ek

My classes have recommended having all of Zeilik/Gregory, Caroll/Ostlie and Shu.

The only one I have is C/O though. It's pretty much the standard. Plus it cost me $C200. Great book though. A little on the old side but still very solid.

Zeilik/Gregory is a little on the hand wavy side I think.