The discovery of extrasolar planets, robotic explorations on Mars and Titan, more precise methods of measurement and other developments have made necessary a revision of An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics (1996). That text has been redesigned as two volumes: this one, which introduces all the important concepts in modern stellar astrophysics, and a companion covering galactic astrophysics and cosmology. Students who have had an introductory calculus-based physics course can use this text, which contains 18 chapters presented in two main sections on the tools of astronomy, and the nature of stars. New chapters brief those who may be unfamiliar on special relativity and quantum physics. In this edition, the editors have switched from cgs to SI units (unit conversions are provided in an appendix) and introduce computational astronomy with computer problems and complete codes. Other appendixes present astronomical and physical constants, solar system data, the constellations, the brightest and nearest stars, stellar data, and the Messier catalog and subsection headings have been added. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)