Ever since some stars were found to pulsate in the early 20th century, stellar pulsation has been a major topic in astronomy and astrophysics. The huge amount of data recently available from observational surveys, new discoveries from space missions and studies of pulsating stars in low-metallicity environments have opened new perspectives and challenges. Nevertheless, progress in finding the holy grail of stellar pulsation – the use of pulsation to study stellar interiors (asteroseismology) – has been slow. The realization that a problem exists with the current stellar opacities is a major setback. CURRENT CHALLENGES IN STELLAR PULSATION describes the search for solutions to these problems over the last few years. It summarizes recent research in all fields of stellar pulsation, providing valuable guidelines to both students and researchers in the field.

The book attempts to explain the main features of celestial mechanics using a new and unique technique. Its emphasis, in terms of applications, is on the Solar System, including its most peculiar properties (such as chaos, resonances, relativistic corrections, etc.). All results are derived in a reasonably transparent manner, so that anyone with a PC and a rudimentary knowledge of mathematics can readily verify them, and even extend them to explore new situations, if desired. The more mathematically oriented reader may also appreciate seeing quaternions as the basic algebraic tool of the new approach. Practicing astronomers may also be happy to learn that the method has eliminated the problem of zero divisors, and does not require using the rather controversial averaging principle. The book is intended for astronomers and mathematicians interested in mechanical motion.