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Books > Science & Mathematics > Astronomy, space & time
The Witness of the Stars stands as one of the best explanations of
the constellations in the context of Biblical wisdom. This edition
includes all of E. W. Bullinger's original charts and illustrations
of the heavens above. To compose this book, E. W. Bullinger used
his Biblical scholarship alongside research of the origins of the
astronomical constellations. He demonstrates, through a close
reading of the Old and New Testaments, how each of the star signs
relates to the Bible's stories. Gradually, it is revealed how God
makes himself known to us through the Bible's astronomy. The
symbolism of the star signs are shown as important in the Bible.
Their presence in verse relates not simply to their appearances,
such as Libra's scales or Aries as a ram, but also the way in which
Biblical figures behave after looking at the heavens for guidance.
The Book of Job is highlighted by Bullinger for being significantly
influenced by the stars.
This book presents a global and synthetic vision of planetology -
the study of objects in the Solar System. In the past several
decades, planetology has undergone a real revolution, marked in
particular by the discovery of the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune, the
discovery of extrasolar planets, and also by the space exploration
of ever more distant objects. Today, it is at the crossroads of
many disciplines: astronomy, geophysics, geochemistry and biology.
The Solar System 2 studies the outer Solar System: satellites and
rings of giant planets, small bodies and dwarf planets. It also
deals with meteorites and cosmochemistry, as well as the formation
and dynamics of the Solar System. It addresses the question of the
origin of life and extraterrestrial life, and presents all of the
methods in the study of planetology.
The author has the distinction of being the only wife of a European
astronaut who has also worked in the area of human spaceflight. Her
story is told from a unique perspective. Lena De Winne provides a
first-hand account of the ins and outs of the complex astronaut
spaceflight system. This book captures the individual stories of
crewmembers Roman Romanenko, Bob Thirsk, Frank De Winne and their
spouses Julia, Brenda and Lena, as they prepare and embark on a
unique spaceflight mission. Delivered with raw emotional intensity,
it reads like a novel, sharing the aspirations, anguish, surprises
and disappointments of its subjects. Yet it is resolutely
biographical, offering a vivid recollection of events as they
happened. An easy but precise overview of space science and
technology is also provided. Readers will not only become
familiarised with the human space flight program, they will also be
left with an exhilarating sense of having been a part of the
adventure. The book is suffused with an intimacy and honesty that
renders the lives of the crew and their spouses in an unprecedented
light.
A selection of the History, Scientific American, and Quality
Paperback Book Clubs For a very brief moment during the 1960s,
America was moonstruck. Boys dreamt of being an astronaut; girls
dreamed of marrying one. Americans drank Tang, bought "space pens"
that wrote upside down, wore clothes made of space age Mylar, and
took imaginary rockets to the moon from theme parks scattered
around the country. But despite the best efforts of a generation of
scientists, the almost foolhardy heroics of the astronauts, and 35
billion dollars, the moon turned out to be a place of "magnificent
desolation," to use Buzz Aldrin's words: a sterile rock of no
purpose to anyone. In Dark Side of the Moon, Gerard J. DeGroot
reveals how NASA cashed in on the Americans' thirst for heroes in
an age of discontent and became obsessed with putting men in space.
The moon mission was sold as a race which America could not afford
to lose. Landing on the moon, it was argued, would be good for the
economy, for politics, and for the soul. It could even win the Cold
War. The great tragedy is that so much effort and expense was
devoted to a small step that did virtually nothing for mankind.
Drawing on meticulous archival research, DeGroot cuts through the
myths constructed by the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson
administrations and sustained by NASA ever since. He finds a gang
of cynics, demagogues, scheming politicians, and corporations who
amassed enormous power and profits by exploiting the fear of what
the Russians might do in space. Exposing the truth behind one of
the most revered fictions of American history, Dark Side of the
Moon explains why the American space program has been caught in a
state of purposeless wandering ever since Neil Armstrong descended
from Apollo 11 and stepped onto the moon. The effort devoted to the
space program was indeed magnificent and its cultural impact was
profound, but the purpose of the program was as desolate and dry as
lunar dust.
With illustrations and photographsp in full color.
Time holds an enduring fascination for humans. Time and Trace
investigates the human experience and awareness of time and time's
impact on a wide range of cultural, psychological, and artistic
phenomena, from reproductive politics and temporal logic to music
and theater, from law to sustainability, from memory to the
Vikings. The volume presents selected essays from the 15th
triennial conference of the International Society for the Study of
Time from the arts (literature, music, theater), history, law,
philosophy, science (psychology, biology), and mathematics. Taken
together, they pursue the trace of time into the past and future,
tracing temporal processes and exploring the traces left by time in
individual experience as well as culture and society. Contributors
are: Michael Crawford, Orit Hilewicz, Rosemary Huisman, John S.
Kafka, Erica W. Magnus, Arkadiusz Misztal, Carlos Montemayor,
Stephanie Nelson, Peter Ohrstrom, Jo Alyson Parker, Thomas Ploug,
Helen Sills, Lasse C. A. Sonne, Raji C. Steineck, and Frederick
Turner.
Until now, important research on the historical records of comets
and meteor showers from China, Japan, and Korea has remained the
exclusive preserve of those with expertise in the relevant
languages. With a compilation like the present volume the authors
hope to ameliorate that situation. Applying the same rigorous
selection criteria and style of presentation as in the previous
catalogue, assembled and translated here are some 1,500 additional
observations of comets and meteor showers from China, Japan, and
Korea spanning nearly three millennia. With the publication of this
volume, most of the important historical records of East Asian
astronomical observations are now accessible in English. The
introductions and appendices provide all the required information
on specialized terminology, recording conventions, and nomenclature
the reader will need to make use of the records. In addition to
being an invaluable resource for professional astronomers, East
Asian astronomical records have materially aided the research of
scholars in fields as diverse as mythology, medieval iconography,
ancient chronology, and the oral history of pre-literate societies.
The book should be of great interest to cultural astronomers, as
well as to those engaged in historical and comparative research.
This book reports on the extraordinary observation of TeV gamma
rays from the Crab Pulsar, the most energetic light ever detected
from this type of object. It presents detailed information on the
painstaking analysis of the unprecedentedly large dataset from the
MAGIC telescopes, and comprehensively discusses the implications of
pulsed TeV gamma rays for state-of-the-art pulsar emission models.
Using these results, the book subsequently explores new testing
methodologies for Lorentz Invariance Violation, in terms of a
wavelength-dependent speed of light. The book also covers an
updated search for Very-High-Energy (VHE), >100 GeV, emissions
from millisecond pulsars using the Large Area Telescope on board
the Fermi satellite, as well as a study on the promising Pulsar
Wind Nebula candidate PSR J0631. The observation of VHE gamma rays
is essential to studying the non-thermal sources of radiation in
our Universe. Rotating neutron stars, also known as pulsars, are an
extreme source class known to emit VHE gamma rays. However, to date
only two pulsars have been detected with emissions above 100 GeV,
and our understanding of their emission mechanism is still lacking.
Astronomical and astrological knowledge circulated in many ways in
the ancient world: in the form of written texts and through oral
communication; by the conscious assimilation of sought-after
knowledge and the unconscious absorption of ideas to which scholars
were exposed. The Circulation of Astronomical Knowledge in the
Ancient World explores the ways in which astronomical knowledge
circulated between different communities of scholars over time and
space, and what was done with that knowledge when it was received.
Examples are discussed from Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Greco-Roman
world, India, and China.
New York Times bestseller Journey into the universe through the
most spectacular sights in astronomy in stereoscopic 3D Welcome to
the Universe in 3D takes you on a grand tour of the observable
universe, guiding you through the most spectacular sights in the
cosmos-in breathtaking 3D. Presenting a rich array of stereoscopic
color images, which can be viewed in 3D using a special stereo
viewer that folds easily out of the cover of the book, this book
reveals your cosmic environment as you have never seen it before.
Astronomy is the story of how humankind's perception of the
two-dimensional dome of the sky evolved into a far deeper
comprehension of an expanding three-dimensional cosmos. This book
invites you to take part in this story by exploring the universe in
depth, as revealed by cutting-edge astronomical research and
observations. You will journey from the Moon through the solar
system, out to exoplanets, distant nebulas, and galaxy clusters,
until you finally reach the cosmic microwave background radiation
(or CMB), the most distant light we can observe. The distances to
these celestial wonders range from 1.3 light-seconds to 13.8
billion light-years. Along the way, the authors explain the
fascinating features of what you are seeing, including how the 3D
images were made using the same technique that early astronomers
devised to measure distances to objects in space. The dramatic 3D
images in this one-of-a-kind book will astonish you, extending your
vision out to the farthest reaches of the universe. You will never
look up into the night sky the same way again.
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