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The one-volume encylopedia edited by Maran. is a good way to start on the journey towards really detailed understanding of astronomy.
As for me.....
I am going to have to bury my head in some Astrophysics books regarding line formation in nebulae!
It is a long time since I thought about exactly how this emission takes place; I do know the basics, such as how emission lines and absorption lines are formed, and a little about some of the electronic transitions that cause emission and absorption at specific wavelengths, but I don't really have any detailed knowledge of atomic astrophysics.
I am considering buying a copy of "Atomic Astrophysics & Spectroscopy" by Pradhan and Nahar, (2011), Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 0521825369
(this book is heavy going; it requires that the reader have a good few units of physics at the university level, or the equivalent background obtained from personal study of physics and astronomy)
There are a number of good introductory astrophysics textbooks :
for instance "An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics"(2nd edition) by Carroll & Ostlie, and "Astrophysical Concepts"(4th edition) by Martin Harwit, but even basic astrophysics books are hard!!
Unfortunately, these general astrophysics books tend to give only a small amount of detail about the processes going on in HII regions and planetary nebulae and SNRs ; they provide only a broad overview of nebular processes.
Looks like we are going to have to figure out what lines are formed, and where they are formed, and why, at different points within planetary nebulae and SNRS......I don't think any physics heavies are going to answer!
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