Professor Zdenek Kopal is sixty-seven this year even though his scientific activity, enthusiasm and springy step hardly betray the ad- vancement in years. He carne to Manchester as Professor of Astronomy thirty years ago after a very fruitful association of fourteen years with the Harvard Observatory. Much impressed with the young man, Harlow Shapley, who with characteristic insight had recognised in Kopal the qualities that have since made him an outstanding leader in ec1ipsing binary research, had invited him over as a Research Associate. In the subsequent decade Kopal set about the task of introducing analytical rigour in the solution of orbit al elements that hitherto had depended ex- c1usively on the semigraphical procedures introduced by Russell and exploited fully by Shapley. These first efforts stimulated publication of the first of his many books on ec1ipsing variables; the Introductian ta the Study of Ec/ipsing Variables summarized these iterative methods and remains a c1assic in this field. Soon after the appearance of this volume in print, Kopal gave a course on this subject for the graduate students at Harvard. I was one of those who had the opportunity to attend it and learn much on the need of care and precision in the practice of photoelectric photometry and the importance of exploiting such data to the fullest extent with methods of increasing resolving power.

This thesis represents a breakthrough in our understanding of the noise processes in Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs). While the detection of ultraviolet to near-infrared light is useful for a variety of applications from dark matter searches to biological imaging and astronomy, the performance of these detectors often limits the achievable science. The author's work explains the limits on spectral resolution broadening, and uses this knowledge to more than double the world record spectral resolution for an MKID suitable for optical and near-IR astrophysics, with emphasis on developing detectors for exoplanet detection. The techniques developed have implication for phonon control in many different devices, particularly in limiting cosmic ray-induced decoherence in superconducting qubits. In addition, this thesis is highly accessible, with a thorough, pedagogical approach that will benefit generations of students in this area.

General Relativity is a beautiful geometric theory, simple in its mathematical formulation but leading to numerous consequences with striking physical interpretations: gravitational waves, black holes, cosmological models, and so on. This introductory textbook is written for mathematics students interested in physics and physics students interested in exact mathematical formulations (or for anyone with a scientific mind who is curious to know more of the world we live in), recent remarkable experimental and observational results which confirm the theory are clearly described and no specialised physics knowledge is required. The mathematical level of Part A is aimed at undergraduate students and could be the basis for a course on General Relativity. Part B is more advanced, but still does not require sophisticated mathematics. Based on Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat's more advanced text, General Relativity and the Einstein Equations, the aim of this book is to give with precision, but as simply as possible, the foundations and main consequences of General Relativity. The first five chapters from General Relativity and the Einstein Equations have been updated with new sections and chapters on black holes, gravitational waves, singularities, and the Reissner-Nordstroem and interior Schwarzchild solutions. The rigour behind this book will provide readers with the perfect preparation to follow the great mathematical progress in the actual development, as well as the ability to model, the latest astrophysical and cosmological observations. The book presents basic General Relativity and provides a basis for understanding and using the fundamental theory.

The nature and essence of Dark Matter and Dark Energy have become the central issue in modern cosmology over the past years. This extensive volume, an outgrowth of a topical and tutorial summer school, has been set up with the aim of constituting an advanced-level, multi-authored textbook which meets the needs of both postgraduate students and young researchers in the fields of modern cosmology and astrophysics.

Integrating both scientific and philosophical perspectives, this book provides an informed analysis of the challenges of formulating a universal theory of life. Among the issues discussed are crucial differences between definitions and scientific theories and, in the context of examples from the history of science, how successful general theories develop. The central problem discussed is two-fold: first, our understanding of life is still tacitly wedded to an antiquated Aristotelian framework for biology; and second, there are compelling reasons for considering that familiar Earth life, which descends from a last universal common ancestor, is unrepresentative. What is needed are examples of life as we don't know it. Potential sources are evaluated, including artificial life, extraterrestrial life, and a shadow biosphere right here on Earth, and a novel strategy for searching for unfamiliar life in the absence of a definition or general theory is developed. The book is a valuable resource for graduate students and researchers studying the nature, origins, and extent of life in the universe.

How the public image of the Soviet cosmonaut was designed and reimagined over timeIn this book, Cathleen Lewis discusses how the public image of the Soviet cosmonaut developed beginning in the 1950s and the ways this icon has been reinterpreted throughout the years and in contemporary Russia. Compiling material and cultural representations of the cosmonaut program, Lewis provides a new perspective on the story of Soviet spaceflight, highlighting how the government has celebrated figures such as Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova through newspapers, radio, parades, monuments, museums, films, and even postage stamps and lapel pins. Lewis's analysis shows that during the Space Race, Nikita Khrushchev mobilized cosmonaut stories and images to symbolize the forward-looking Soviet state and distract from the costs of the Cold War. Public perceptions shifted after the first Soviet spaceflight fatality and failure to reach the Moon, yet cosmonaut imagery was still effective propaganda, evolving through the USSR's collapse in 1991 and seen today in Vladimir Putin's government cooperation for a film on the 1985 rescue of the Salyut 7 space station. Looking closely at the process through which Russians continue to reexamine their past, Lewis argues that the cultural memory of spaceflight remains especially potent among other collective Soviet memories.

This book tells the story of the evolution of the Satellite Center which started from a small Satellite Systems Division in 1967 with a handful of engineers to a vibrant R&D center which is playing the lead role in the Indian Satellite Program. India's space program is unique as it is driven by societal applications. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has centers dedicated to various space applications. The ISRO Satellite Centre, now known as the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), has evolved as lead center for Satellite Technology over five decades and has developed state-of-the-art satellites for applications such as remote sensing, satellite communication and space science. Through the story of URSC, the book describes the challenges of putting together new research and development centers and programs and conveys the importance of leadership and project management skills required to undertake such a task. This book is of interest to researchers, professionals, and administrators involved in the development of new R&D facilities and also to space scientists and space enthusiasts across the world.

The investigation of the Galactic nucleus and its surroundings is necessarily a modem endeavor, for traditional observations made at visual wavelengths have not even begun to penetrate the veil of -30 magnitudes of visual extinction that intercedes. On the other hand, infrared, and especially radio observers find a relatively unobstructed view of the central portion of the Galaxy, so the study of this arena has proceeded apace with the development of these branches of astronomy. Thus, it is no accident that the first IAU sponsored conference to be held on the Galactic center is timed to coincide with the initiation, or the immediate aftennath, of major technical developments at long wavelengths, including infrared array detectors, millimeter-wavelength aperture synthesis, and self-calibration and refmed deconvolution algorithms in aperture synthesis radio astronomy. The center of the Galaxy is also accessible to X and gamma-ray observers, and progress at high energies has been steady, especially as imaging capabilities are being realized at X-ray wavelengths. However, one might expect that the revolution in the high energy domain is still ahead of us, as instruments with larger collecting areas and improved spatial resolution are now being developed. The youth of this subject is evidenced by the relatively small number of meetings that have been devoted to it.

While there are many biographies of JFK and accounts of the early years of US space efforts, this book uses primary source material and interviews with key participants to provide a comprehensive account of how the actions taken by JFK's administration have shaped the course of the US space program over the last 45 years.

This volume contains papers presented at the US/European Celestial Mecha nics Workshop organized by the Astronomical Observatory of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland and held in Poznan, from 3 to 7 July 2000. The purpose of the workshop was to identify future research in celestial mech anics and encourage collaboration among scientists from eastem and westem coun tries. There was a full program of invited and contributed presentations on selected subjects and each day ended with a discussion period on a general subject in celestial mechanics. The discussion topics and the leaders were: Resonances and Chaos-A. Morbidelli; Artificial Satellite Orbits-K. T. Alfriend; Near Earth Ob jects - K. Muinonen; Small Solar System Bodies - I. Williams; and Summary - P. K. Seidelmann. The goal of the discussions was to identify what we did not know and how we might further our knowledge. The size of the meeting and the language differences somewhat limited the real discussion, but, due to the excellence of the different discussion leaders, each of these sessions was very interesting and productive. Celestial Mechanics and Astrometry are both small fields within the general subject of Astronomy. There is also an overlap and relationship between these fields and Astrodynamics. The amount of interaction depends on the interest and efforts of individual scientists."

The perfect gift for anyone with a desire to see the Northern Lights. Discover the incomparable beauty of the Northern Lights with this accessible guide for aspiring astronomers and seasoned night sky observers. Covers the essential equipment needed for observation and photography and full of stunning photographs. Tom Kerss covers the cultural and scientific context for auroras, and offers a comprehensive guide to forecasting and photography, so that readers can fuse their own technical mastery with the infinite creativity of nature. Read about the formation, properties and types of auroras Discover the mythology and history of The Northern Lights Find out about Aurora science from Antiquity to the modern day Learn how to take stunning photographs of the Northern Lights Includes a comprehensive travel and forecasting guide and a glossary of key terms. The Northern Lights will give you a complete understanding of one of the true wonders of the natural world and leave you prepared for the adventure of a lifetime.

The articles in this volume are a document of the Galileo mission to Jupiter. The Mission Overview is the first article; the second is a description of the design of the very complex spacecraft trajectory in relation to the scientific objects. Subsequent articles describe the various investigations planned by the scientific groups. These are divided in three groups: the Probe, the Magnetospheric Experiments, and the Remote Sensing and Radio Investigations.

Magnetic energy release plays an important role in a wide variety of cosmic objects such as the Sun, stellar coronae, stellar and galactic accretion disks and pulsars. The observed radio, X-ray and gamma-ray emission often directly results from magnetic flares', implying that these processes are spatially fragmented and of an impulsive nature. A true understanding of these processes requires a combined magnetohydrodynamical and plasma physical approach. Fragmented Energy Release in Sun and Stars: the Interface between MHD and Plasma Physics provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary summary of magnetic energy release in the Sun and stars, in accretion disks, in pulsar magnetospheres and in laboratory plasmas. These proceedings include papers on both theoretical and observational aspects. Fragmented Energy Release in Sun and Stars: the Interface between MHD and Plasma Physics is for researchers in the fields of solar physics, stellar astrophysics and (laboratory) plasma physics and is a useful resource book for graduate level astrophysics courses.

An astonishing exploration of planet formation and the origins of life by one of the world's most innovative planetary geologists. In 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 3 took the first photos of the far side of the moon. Even in their poor resolution, the images stunned scientists: the far side is an enormous mountainous expanse, not the vast lava-plains seen from Earth. Subsequent missions have confirmed this in much greater detail. How could this be, and what might it tell us about our own place in the universe? As it turns out, quite a lot. Fourteen billion years ago, the universe exploded into being, creating galaxies and stars. Planets formed out of the leftover dust and gas that coalesced into larger and larger bodies orbiting around each star. In a sort of heavenly survival of the fittest, planetary bodies smashed into each other until solar systems emerged. Curiously, instead of being relatively similar in terms of composition, the planets in our solar system, and the comets, asteroids, satellites and rings, are bewitchingly distinct. So, too, the halves of our moon. In When the Earth Had Two Moons, esteemed planetary geologist Erik Asphaug takes us on an exhilarating tour through the farthest reaches of time and our galaxy to find out why. Beautifully written and provocatively argued, When the Earth Had Two Moons is not only a mind-blowing astronomical tour but a profound inquiry into the nature of life here-and billions of miles from home.

The XIXth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union was held in New Delhi, India, from November 19 to 28, 1985. It was dedicated to the memory of a former IAU President, Professor M. K. V. Bappu, who tragically passed away on August 19, 1982. On the occasion of the Delhi General Assembly, the IAU Minor Planet Center announced that Minor Planet (asteroid) No. 2596 henceforth will carry the name Vainu Sappu. The full text of the announcement reads: "(2596) VAINU BAPPU = 1979 KN (diameter about 8 kilometers, period 5 years 4 months, mean distance from the Sun around 450 million kilometers) Discovered 1979, May 19, by R. M. West at the European Southern Observatory. Named in memory of Manali f

The luminosity of the sun governs the temperature of the planets. And the solar forcing, or driving, of climate, primarily due to changes insolar radiation, is an idea whose history has not been well documented in a book. Recent satellite measurements have shown that solar radiation varies as a function of wavelength - a concept that for the past two centuries scientists have claimed would be proved. Now, with all of the attention being given to global warming, this topic has again become timely. The book will review the physics of the concept of solar forcing in manageable terms, tracing its history from its beginnings in the early 1800s toits apparent success in the 1920s, to its near demise in the 1950s and its resurrection in recent years. Emphasis will be on solar variation as a driver for climate change, with only a brief discussion of other mechanisms - thus assuring the book a clear focus.

This book is the highly anticipated sequel to the previous volume under the same title, dedicated to presenting a diverse range of timely and valuable contributions on the legal and policy related questions evoked by satellite constellations, including emerging mega-constellations. Given the proliferation of activities in the field of satellite constellations, and the critical roles they play in supporting and enabling communication, navigation, disaster monitoring, Earth observation, security and scientific activities, the insights of legal and policy experts from around the world have been gathered in this second volume to help expand the scientific literature in this precious field. Topics range from legal obstacles and opportunities facilitating small satellite enterprise for emerging space actors, international cooperation in the compatibility and interoperability of navigation systems, the designation of satellite constellations as critical space infrastructure, to an analysis of the paradigm shift which has occurred over the last decade to make the proliferation of small satellite constellations possible, and more.

The International Conference on the History of Original Ideas and Basic Discoveries, held at the "Ettore Majorana" Centre for Scientific Culture in Erice, Sicily, July 27-August 4, 1994, brought together sixty of the leading scientists including many Nobel Laureates in high energy physics, principal contributors in other fields of physics such as high Tc superconductivity, particle accelerators and detector instrumentation, and thirty-six talented younger physicists selected from candidates throughout the world. The scientific program, including 49 lectures and a discussion session on the "Status and Future Directions in High Energy Physics" was inspired by the conference theme: The key experimental discoveries and theoretical breakthroughs of the last 50 years, in particle physics and related fields, have led us to a powerful description of matter in terms of three quark and three lepton families and four fundamental interactions. The most recent generation of experiments at e+e- and proton-proton colliders, and corresponding advances in theoretical calculations, have given us remarkably precise determinations of the basic parameters of the electroweak and strong interactions. These developments, while showing the striking internal consistency of the Standard Model, have also sharpened our view of the many unanswered questions which remain for the next generation: the origin and pattern of particle masses and families, the unification of the interactions including gravity, and the relation between the laws of physics and the initial conditions of the universe.

The presentations at this NASA-hosted Symposium in honor of Mino Freund will touch upon the fields, to which his prolific mind has made significant contributions. These include low temperature physics, cosmology, and nanotechnology with its wide-ranging applicability to material science, neuroscience, Earth sciences and satellite technology. To learn more about Mino s career you can download the "Tribute" http: //multimedia.seti.org/mino/Tribute.pdf which outlines his journey from (i) low-temperature physics and superconductivity at the ETH Zurich to (ii) building one remarkable milliKelvin refrigerator for the US-Japan IRTS mission at UC Berkeley and ISAS in Japan to (iii) a decade in cosmology, to (iv) being on the micro-bolometer team at NASA Goddard for the HAWC instrument on SOFIA, to (v) developing at AFRL the nanotechnology portfolio for the entire Air Force. This was followed by six years at the NASA Ames Research Center, where Mino formulated his far-ahead ideas about swarms of capable nanosats circling the Earth, which have since started to become a reality. He engaged in a broad range of nanotechnology projects, including novel applications in neuroscience well before he himself was struck by the deadly brain tumor."

This volume is the outgrowth of several international meetings to discuss a vision for the future of solar radio physics: the development of a new radio instrument. From these discussions, the concept for the Frequency Agile Solar Radiotelescope (FASR) was born. Most of the chapters of this book are based oninvitedtalksattheFASRScienceWorkshop, heldinGreenbank, WVinMay 2002, and a special session on Solar and Space Weather Radiophysics held at the 200th American Astronomical Society meeting held in Albuquerque, NM in June 2002. Although many of the chapters deal with topics of interest in planning for FASR, other topics in Solar and Space Weather Radiophysics, such as solar radar and interplanetary scintillation, are covered to round out the discipline. The authors have been asked to write with a tutorial approach, to make the book useful to graduate students and scientists new to radio physics. This book is more than a compilation of FASR science topics. The FASR instrument concept is so revolutionary-by extending capability by an order of magnitude in several dimensions at once (frequency coverage, spatial reso- tion, dynamicrange, timeresolution, polarizationprecision)-thatitchallenges scientiststothinkinnewways. Theauthorsofthefollowingchaptershavebeen taskednotonlywithreviewingthecurrentstateofthe?eld, butalsowithlooking to the future and imagining what is possible. Radio emission is extremely complex because it is generated so readily, and every imaginable plasma parameter affects it. This is both its great strength and its wea

How planets form is one of the long-standing questions in astrophysics. In particular, formation scenarios of planetesimals which are kilometer-sized bodies and a precursor of planets are still unclear and under debate although some promising mechanisms have been proposed. This book highlight disk instabilities that have the potential to explain the origin of planetesimals. Using linear analyses and numerical simulations, it addresses how a disk evolves through the development of instabilities, and also presents a new instability driven by dust coagulation. As a result, the simulation demonstrates a scenario of planetesimal formation: A successive development of multiple instabilities triggers planetesimal formation in resulting dusty rings.