Unique in its breadth of coverage and level of presentation, this textbook examines the nature of galaxies, extragalactic objects, the large-scale structure of the Universe, and cosmology more closely than general textbooks on astronomy, while still remaining comprehensible for advanced undergraduate students. One or several chapters are devoted to the following: the formation, classification and morphology of galaxies; the interactions between galaxies; the galactic interstellar medium; galactic kinematics; elliptical, spiral, and barred spiral galaxies; extragalactic radio sources, quasars, their line spectra, and other active galactic nuclei; the Universe as a whole.weiterlesen