Lonely Planet Kids' Amazing Night Sky Atlas, the follow up to our bestselling Amazing World Atlas, looks upwards to the skies for a fun- and fact-packed guide to astronomy. Featuring a mixture of photography and illustration, this hardcover book explores both the science of stargazing - explaining what can be seen in the night sky in different parts of the world - and the practicalities, with handy tips such as how to use a telescope. It also covers the background and history of astronomy, travelling around the world to discover the different stories cultures have told about the night sky and the influence the Moon, the stars and the movement of the planets have had on their people. Expert insights come from David Hawksett, a science writer, lecturer and researcher who has previously worked as the Science & Technology Consultant at Guinness World Records and written for Sky at Night Magazine. Perfect for learning at home, in the classroom or being given as a gift, Lonely Planet Kids' Amazing Night Sky Atlas will inspire budding astronomers and excite them for a lifetime of looking to the skies. Contents includes: Introduction to the Night Sky History of stargazing How to use a telescope Constellations Seasons in the Sky The Zodiac Patterns in the Sky - a global guide Planets Stars Supernovas Black Holes Nebulas Meteor Showers Eclipses Night sky legends from around the world About Lonely Planet Kids: Lonely Planet Kids - an imprint of the world's leading travel authority Lonely Planet - published its first book in 2011. Over the past 45 years, Lonely Planet has grown a dedicated global community of travellers, many of whom are now sharing a passion for exploration with their children. Lonely Planet Kids educates and encourages young readers at home and in school to learn about the world with engaging books on culture, sociology, geography, nature, history, space and more. We want to inspire the next generation of global citizens and help kids and their parents to approach life in a way that makes every day an adventure. Come explore!

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

A. GENERAL BACKGROUND "The foremost goal of the international community in the area [of private space launch services] should be to induce states to implement effective licensing procedures applicable to commercial ventures for which state responsibility may 1 exist. " 1. PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY In the first decades of the space age, military and state security motivations indicated the direction of national space programs. Now the development of space activities depends essentially upon the possibility of recovering 2 investments. Private sector-driven commercial endeavors in outer space have been increasing exponentially and have experienced a significant quantitative growth over the last years. Spacefarers promote commercial participation of private companies in operations related to outer space, and, thus, the private sector is now increasingly providing satellite telecommunications, remote sensing, global positioning and space launch services directly to its customers. In this context, overall revenues for the worldwide space industry 3 amounted to US$ 82 billion in 2001. In the late 1990's the transponder demand, in particular Ku- band transponders, was consistently on the rise due 4 to the escalated utilization of geostationary satellite transponders. Global positioning systems have been playing an increasingly important role in navigation, and remote sensing systems are mapping and documenting nearly 1 E. A. Frankle & E. J. Steptoe, "Legal Considerations Affecting Commercial Space Launches From International Territory", (1999) 50 IISL at 10. Emphasis added. 2 H. L.

With contributions from leading scientists in the field, and edited by two of the most prominent astronomers of our time, this is a totally authoritative volume on X-ray astronomy that will be essential reading for everyone interested from students to astrophysicists and physicists. All the aspects of this exciting area of study are covered, from astronomical instrumentation to extragalactic X-ray astronomy.

Proceedings of IAU Symposium No. 108 held in Tubingen, West Germany, September 5-8, 1983"

When leaving the Victoria airport the day before our Colloquium, I saw a van of the Dunsmuir Lodge marked with big letters which I read as "Alcohol Colloquium." I do often make such blunders because of the global, casual, and careless way in which I read various ads, and checked myself quickly to read it correctly as "Algol Colloquium." Millions of fellow citizens could easily make the same mistake, and no apology could be expected. Even I read and hear the word alcohol more frequently than Algol, although I must say that Algols have given me more pleasure and fewer headaches over the years; in that, however, I may be a singularity, and possibly a pitiful one at that. Being appointed Chairman of the Scientific Organizing Committee, I may be deemed to be a purer" Algolist" than other investigators, although my range of active interests is much broader; and the same is true about all the 28 invited speakers and all the other participants of the Colloquium. Our interest are strongly diversified, but there are several good reasons that brought us together at this Colloquium.

This book collates papers presented at two international conferences (held at the Australian National University in 2018 and Birkbeck College London in 2019) exploring the relationships between big history and astrobiology and their wider implications for society. These two relatively new academic disciplines aim to integrate human history with the wider history of the universe and the search for life elsewhere. The book will show that, despite differences in emphasis, big history and astrobiology share much in common, especially their interdisciplinary approaches and the cosmic and evolutionary perspectives that they both engender. Specifically, the book addresses the unified, all-embracing, nature of knowledge, the impact of big history on humanity and the world at large, the possible impact of SETI on astrobiology and big history, the cultural signature of Earth's inhabitants beyond our own planet, and the political implications of a planetary worldview. The principal readership is envisaged to comprise scholars working in the fields of astrobiology, big history and space exploration interested in forging interdisciplinary links between these diverse topics, together with educators, and a wider public, interested in the societal implications of the cosmic and evolutionary perspectives engendered by research in these fields.

Despite a resurgence in popularity, horoscopes are generally considered to be pseudoscience today - but they were once a cutting-edge scientific tool. In this ingenious work of history, data scientist Alexander Boxer examines a treasure trove of esoteric classical sources to expose the deep imaginative framework by which - for millennia - we made sense of our fates. Astrology, he argues, was the ancient world's most ambitious applied mathematics problem, a grand data-analysis enterprise sustained by some of history's most brilliant minds, from Ptolemy to al-Kindi to Kepler. A Scheme of Heaven explores the wonderful subtleties of astrological ideas. Telling the stories of their inventors and most influential exponents, Boxer puts them through their paces using modern data sets - finding that the methods of today's scientists are often uncomfortably close to those of astrology's ancient sages.

Recently, improved observational capabilities have allowed the study of fainter and fainter extra-galactic planetary nebulae in galaxies well beyond the Milky Way. This book result from a workshop held at ESO headquarters in Garching in 2004, the first devoted to Extra-galactic Planetary Nebulae. A wide range of topics is covered, from stellar and nebular astrophysics to galactic dynamics and galaxy clusters, making this a reference of broad astrophysical interest.

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."

The theory of relativity convinced many philosophers that space and time are fundamentally alike, and that they are mere aspects of a more fundamental space-time. In The Nature of Time, Ulrich Meyer argues against this consensus view. Instead of a 'spatial' account of time that treats instants like positions in space, he presents the first comprehensive defense of a 'modal' account that emphasizes the similarities between times and the possible worlds in modal logic. Modal accounts of time are naturally cast in terms of a tense logic that accounts for temporal distinctions in terms of primitive tense operators. Tense logic was originally developed to provide a linguistic theory of verb tense in natural languages, but here Meyer proposes that it can be treated as a metaphysical theory of the nature of time. Contrary to popular belief, such modal accounts of time do not commit us to the view that there is something metaphysically special about the present moment, and they are easily reconciled with the theory of relativity.

This book gathers selected and expanded contributions presented at the 5th Symposium on Space Optical Instruments and Applications, which was held in Beijing, China, on September 5-7, 2018. This conference series is organized by the Sino-Holland Space Optical Instruments Laboratory, a cooperative platform between China and the Netherlands. The symposium focused on key technological problems regarding optical instruments and their applications in a space context. It covered the latest developments, experiments and results on the theory, instrumentation and applications of space optics. The book is split into five main sections: The first covers optical remote sensing system design, the second focuses on advanced optical system design, and the third addresses remote sensor calibration and measurement. Remote sensing data processing and information extraction are then presented, followed by a final section on remote sensing data applications.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction in to the various theories of colour and how they developed over the centuries and millennia. As colour is the perception of light by our brains, the book captures not only the physical phenomena but also psychological and philosophical aspects of colours. It starts with ancient studies of Greek philosophers and their insights into light and mirrors, then reviews the theory of colors in the middle ages in Europe and Middle East. The last big part of the book explains the theories of colours by modern scientists and philosophers, starting with Isaac Newton and ending colour schemes of modern digital pictures.

The now recognized extensive existence of life on earth very shortly after the destructive bombardment of the earth's surface by early solar system debris has stimulated inquiry into possible exogenous sources of prebiotic molecules from space as well as intensified studies of the early earth's atmosphere. The chapters in this book cover the possible sources of prebiotic molecules and avenues by which life could have evolved, starting from the birth and evolution of the solar system. The relevance of the classic experiments by Stanley Miller on the formation of life's building blocks on an early earth is reexamined. The role of chemistry in space is covered by chapters on interstellar dust, and meteorites to which experimental as well as theoretical investigations have been directed. In various chapters the existence of amino acids as well as other prebiotic molecules in meteorites is clearly established and inferred for interstellar dust and comets. Theories of molecular synthesis in the solar nebula are considered. Extensive coverage is given to the physical conditions and to prebiotic systems on the early earth. Possible pathways to life on an early Mars and the possible messages to be obtained by space exploration are discussed. Questions of effects of clays and of chirality on early chemical evolution are discussed. Recent ideas on the RNA world as the precursor to life are reviewed. The open-endedness of the study of life's origins and the need to investigate whether the prebiotic building blocks formed in outer space or on the earth is emphasized. A good deal of the book is suitable to graduate students.

This comprehensive and unique reference work on astro-tomography is based on expanded and suitably edited contributions to the 1st International Workshop on Astro-tomography. The focus is on studying indirect imaging and subsequent reconstruction techniques with applications in all areas of observational astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. Detailed subject and object indexes, together with a list of useful resources on the Internet, will help the reader to use this book in a most efficient way.

This book is aimed at students making the transition from a first course on general relativity to a specialized subfield. It presents a variety of topics under the general headings of gravitational waves in vacuo and in a cosmological setting, equations of motion, and black holes, all having a clear physical relevance and a strong emphasis on space-time geometry. Each chapter could be used as a basis for an early postgraduate project for those who are exploring avenues into research in general relativity and who have already accumulated the required technical knowledge. The presentation of each chapter is research monograph style, rather than text book style, in order to impress on interested students the need to present their research in a clear and concise format. Students with advanced preparation in general relativity theory might find a treasure trove here.

The Physics of the Early Universe is an edited and expanded version of the lectures given at a recent summer school of the same name. Its aim is to present an advanced multi-authored textbook that meets the needs of both postgraduate students and young researchers interested in, or already working on, problems in cosmology and general relativity, with emphasis on the early universe. A particularly strong feature of the present work is the constructive-critical approach to the present mainstream theories, the careful assessment of some alternative approaches, and the overall balance between theoretical and observational considerations. As such, this book will also benefit experienced scientists and nonspecialists from related areas of research.

This book is an outgrowth of the notes made for the semester lectures on 'Problems of Extragalactic Astronomy' given almost annually during two decades at the Ob- servatorio Astronomico of the Universidad de Cordoba. Shorter versions were also given at La Plata, Santiago de Chile, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Paraiba. E. Scalise made a Portuguese language version of the notes and encouraged me to publish them; although my friend J. Kleczek is to be blamed for the idea of this book. Not every subject on Extragalactic Astronomy has been touched in this book: instead I have followed those which interested me during 25 years of professional practice in this part of the world. I acknowledge helpful suggestions from M. Pastoriza and G. Carranza, the com- prehension of Director L. Milone, and the collaboration of the staff of the Observa- tory in Cordoba. R. Tschamler's humor and wit made light the task of producing the English version and M. Pizarro's devotedness produced the edited MS. To both of them I am in deep gratitude. "A book is published out of necessity, otherwise the author would spend his entire life polishing the originals" was the answer given by J. L. Borges to an inquisi- tive journalist. These words explain why this book is so different from the lecture notes, and also from the book I was hoping for. I thank B. McCormac and the D. Reidel Publ. Co. for my salvation from Borges' inferno.

This book introduces "Astrostatistics" as a subject in its own right with rewarding examples, including work by the authors with galaxy and Gamma Ray Burst data to engage the reader. This includes a comprehensive blending of Astrophysics and Statistics. The first chapter's coverage of preliminary concepts and terminologies for astronomical phenomenon will appeal to both Statistics and Astrophysics readers as helpful context. Statistics concepts covered in the book provide a methodological framework. A unique feature is the inclusion of different possible sources of astronomical data, as well as software packages for converting the raw data into appropriate forms for data analysis. Readers can then use the appropriate statistical packages for their particular data analysis needs. The ideas of statistical inference discussed in the book help readers determine how to apply statistical tests. The authors cover different applications of statistical techniques already developed or specifically introduced for astronomical problems, including regression techniques, along with their usefulness for data set problems related to size and dimension. Analysis of missing data is an important part of the book because of its significance for work with astronomical data. Both existing and new techniques related to dimension reduction and clustering are illustrated through examples. There is detailed coverage of applications useful for classification, discrimination, data mining and time series analysis. Later chapters explain simulation techniques useful for the development of physical models where it is difficult or impossible to collect data. Finally, coverage of the many R programs for techniques discussed makes this book a fantastic practical reference. Readers may apply what they learn directly to their data sets in addition to the data sets included by the authors.

Based on a Simons Symposium held in 2018, the proceedings in this volume focus on the theoretical, numerical, and observational quest for dark matter in the universe. Present ground-based and satellite searches have so far severely constrained the long-proposed theoretical models for dark matter. Nevertheless, there is continuously growing astrophysical and cosmological evidence for its existence. To address present and future developments in the field, novel ideas, theories, and approaches are called for. The symposium gathered together a new generation of experts pursuing innovative, more complex theories of dark matter than previously considered.This is being done hand in hand with experts in numerical astrophysical simulations and observational techniques-all paramount for deciphering the nature of dark matter. The proceedings volume provides coverage of the most advanced stage of understanding dark matter in various new frameworks. The collection will be useful for graduate students, postdocs, and investigators interested in cutting-edge research on one of the biggest mysteries of our universe.

Novel instruments for high-precision imaging polarimetry have opened new possibilities, not only for diagnostics of magnetic fields, but also for exploring effects in radiative scattering, atomic physics, spectral line formation and radiative transfer. The observational advances have stimulated various theoretical developments, for instance in vector radiative transfer and techniques for inverting polarized line profiles. The present volume gives a comprehensive and up-to-date account of this rapidly evolving and interdisciplinary field of science. It is based on the oral presentations given at the 2nd International Workshop on Solar Polarization held in Bangalore, India, in October 1998.

Analysis of the orbital motion of the Earth, the Moon and other planets and their satellites led to the discovery that all bodies in the Solar System are moving with the first cosmic velocity of their proto parents. The mean orbital velocity of each planet is equal to the first cosmic velocity of the Protosun, the radius of which is equal to the semi-major axis of the planet s orbit. The same applies for the planets satellites. All the small planets, comets, other bodies and the Sun itself follow this law, a finding that has also been proven by astronomical observations. The theoretical solutions based on the Jacobi dynamics explain the process of the system creation and decay, as well as the nature of Kepler s laws.

Angelo Secchi was a key figure in 19th century science. An Italian Jesuit and scientist, he helped lead the transition from astronomy to astrophysics and left a lasting legacy in the field. Secchi’s spectral classification of stars was a milestone that paved the way for modern astronomical research. He was also a founder of modern meteorology and an innovator in the design and development of new instruments and methods across disciplines.This contributed volume collects together reviews from an international group of historians, scientists and scholars representing the multiple disciplines where Secchi made significant contributions during his remarkable career. It analyzes both his famous and lesser known pioneering efforts with equal vigor, providing a well-rounded narrative of his life’s work. Beyond his scientific and technological work, his role as a Jesuit priest in Rome during the turbulent years of the mid 19th century is also described and placed in the context of his scientific and civic activities.

This book views Mercury as a whole in the context of its environment. It illustrates what we know and what we need to know, and why understanding Mercury is so crucial to our understanding of solar system origin and current processes on Earth. The book describes our current state of knowledge for Mercury and interactions between interior, exterior, and space environment which are highly dynamic and thus critical to understanding Mercury as a system.