Astrophysics 101

What is dark matter, and how do stars and planets actually form? This is a condensed course in astrophysics, built to take the key material of a university-level module and make it approachable without losing its substance. Charts, history sections and suggestions for further reading support a question-led structure, moving through spectroscopy, the composition of the sun and the nature of exoplanets, among the field's most important topics. It's a book that answers what it sets out to answer: how we categorise galaxies, what relativity really means, and why dark matter remains one of astronomy's most persistent puzzles.