The purpose of the three-volume set is to offer an introduction to key physics and astronomy concepts in studying planets, stars, galaxies, and cosmology and in understanding and analysing astronomical data. The overall structure of the books was inspired by a course taught as "structured, active, in-class learning" (SAIL) approach. Accordingly, it presents new material in relatively "bite-sized" chunks followed by exercises designed to be done in small groups and with an instructor's guidance, which are more involved and open-ended than typical "end of chapter" homework problems. Since many of the mechanical elements of using the new equations are relegated to the computer (after a suitable introduction to how this is done), this frees the students to spend more time understanding the implications of the equations and gaining conceptual understanding through the exercises.
The text tries to align with best practices in pedagogy based on the SAIL approach as well as making use of literature aimed at teaching physical concepts (e.g., the American Journal of Physics). The first volume focuses on stars and planets, and contains sufficient material for a single-semester course, including background material, in-class exercises / projects, and homework questions. All of the figures showing data or theoretical calculations will be provided with the text as python scripts, allowing students to create some "interactive figures" themselves. Additional interactive figures will be included to illustrate some ideas (notably geometric ones), and some animations (e.g., orbits). In addition, Python code providing utility functions and a model for working the exercises will be included.
Key features:
An emphasis on key physical principles, and the notion of model building and testing in the physical sciences.
A large number of examples and practice problems, including in-depth problems with multiple steps, and open-ended investigations.
An emphasis on combining numerical calculations with analytical reasoning to solve astrophysical problems
Explicit instruction in how to understand and present quantitative information in graphical form, along with inclusion of example scripts for producing plots.
Engagement with actual astronomical data and simulations.
