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Presents a success story of modern astrophysics - how the application of known physics to models of stars can, together with the observational data, help us understand what stars are made of, how they live and how they die.

Places emphasis on the results from ground-based, satellites and space missions - detection of molecule H2 and prompt emission lines of OH; discovery of X-rays in comets; observed diversity in chemical composition among comets; the puzzle of the constancy of spin temperature; and, the well-established mineralogy of cometary dust.

Aiming to stimulate interest in solar astronomy, this book provides the practical knowledge to build simple solar telescopes and other equipment for making solar observations. It will help to guide the amateur astronomers in their endeavours, and can also serve as a text for undergraduate and graduate students starting out on solar physics.

The study of presolar meteoritic grains is a new inter-disciplinary field that brings together topics from nuclear physics to astronomy and chemistry. Traditionally, most of the information about the cosmos has been gathered by observing light through telescopes. However, with the recent discovery that some dust grains extracted from primitive meteorites were produced in stellar environments, we now have the opportunity to gather information about stars and our Galaxy from the laboratory analysis of tiny pieces of stardust. Stellar grains represent a unique and fascinating subject of study. Their analysis is a breakthrough in research on stellar nucleosynthesis and the origin of the elements. While a number of specialized reviews exist on the topic, this book is the first work that brings together in a unified and accessible manner the background knowledge necessary for the study of presolar grains together with up-to-date discoveries in the field. The book includes exercise question