Discovering the Essential Universe (4th Ed)
by Neil F. Comins
W. H. Freeman | December 2008 | ISBN-10: 1429217979 | PDF | 438 pages | 35.3 mb 
http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Essential-Universe-Neil-Comins/dp/1429217979

Freeman’s briefest, least expensive introductory astronomy text.
Discovering the Essential Universe, Fourth Edition is designed to help students overcome common misconceptions about astronomy. It provides up-to-date explanations of core concepts in a flexible and student-friendly text, supported by an impressive collection of multimedia resources developed by astronomy education researchers.
NEIL F. COMINS teaches at the University of Maine, Orono, USA.

CONTENTS OVERVIEW
Preface
1 - Discovering the Night Sky 1
2 - Gravitation and the Motion of
3 - Light and Telescopes 61
4 - Earth and Moon 109
5 - The Other Planets and Moons 135
6 - Vagabonds of the Solar System 203
7 - The Sun: Our Extraordinary
8 - Characterizing Stars 257
9 - The Lives of Stars from Birth through Middle Age 279
10 - The Deaths of Stars 309
11 - The Galaxies 351
12 - Cosmology 403
13 - Astrobiology 427
Appendices A-1
Glossary G-1
Answers to Computational Questions and Some Chapter Questions ANS-1
Index I-1