Draft:Outline of astrophysics

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to astrophysics.

What is astrophysics?
Astrophysics can be described as all of the following:


 * An academic discipline: one with academic departments, curricula and degrees; national and international societies; and specialized journals.
 * A scientific field (a branch of science) – widely recognized category of specialized expertise within science, and typically embodies its own terminology and nomenclature. Such a field will usually be represented by one or more scientific journals, where peer reviewed research is published.
 * A natural science – one that seeks to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world using empirical and scientific methods.
 * A branch or field of space science – scientific discipline that involves space exploration and study natural phenomena and physical bodies occurring in outer space, such as space medicine and astrobiology.
 * A branch of astronomy –
 * A branch of physics –
 * An interdisciplinary field – field of science that overlaps with other sciences

Branches of astrophysics
The subdisciplines of theoretical astrophysics are:
 * Astrobiology – studies the advent and evolution of biological systems in the universe.
 * Compact objects – this subdiscipline studies very dense matter in white dwarfs and neutron stars and their effects on environments including accretion.
 * Computational astrophysics –
 * Exoplanet studies – various planets outside of the Solar System
 * Physical cosmology – origin and evolution of the universe as a whole. The study of cosmology is theoretical astrophysics at its largest scale.
 * Galactic astronomy – deals with the structure and components of our galaxy and of other galaxies.
 * High energy astrophysics – studies phenomena occurring at high energies including active galactic nuclei, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, quasars, and shocks.
 * Interstellar astrophysics – study of the interstellar medium, intergalactic medium and dust.
 * Extragalactic astronomy – study of objects (mainly galaxies) outside our galaxy, including Galaxy formation and evolution.
 * Stellar astronomy – concerned with Star formation, physical properties, main sequence life span, variability, stellar evolution and extinction.
 * Plasma astrophysics – studies properties of plasma in outer space.
 * Relativistic astrophysics – studies effects of special relativity and general relativity in astrophysical contexts including gravitational waves, gravitational lensing and black holes.

History of astrophysics
History of astrophysics
 * Timeline of gravitational physics and relativity
 * History of stellar classification

General astrophysics concepts

 * Astronomical spectroscopy – study of astronomy using the techniques of spectroscopy to measure the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light and radio, which radiates from stars and other celestial objects.
 * Astroparticle physics –
 * Black hole –
 * Cosmic ray –
 * Doppler effect –
 * Gravitational lens –
 * Nucleosynthesis –
 * Plasma physics –
 * Polarization –
 * Quark matter –
 * Interstellar medium –
 * Standard candles –
 * Stellar evolution –
 * Universe –

Organizations in astrophysics

 * Astrophysics Research Institute
 * Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
 * Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

Publications in astrophysics

 * Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
 * Astronomy and Astrophysics
 * Astrophysics and Space Science
 * Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics awards

 * Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics

Persons influential in astrophysics

 * Carl Sagan

Astrophysics scholars

 * Angioletta Coradini
 * Gustav Eberhard
 * J. Marvin Herndon
 * Ofer Lahav
 * Donald Howard Menzel
 * Carl Pennypacker
 * Carl Sagan