In a series of illuminating lectures, Joseph A. Seiss presents a clear picture of astronomical occurrences and inspirations to be found in the Biblical New Testament and Gospels. A superbly insightful Bible commentary, this book contains seventeen lectures, each of which focuses upon a specific astronomical occurrence in the New Testament. Events which draw specific influence from the constellations of the stars are charted, with each star sign identified as important to separate events depicted in the scriptures of the gospels. The nativity of Jesus Christ, wherein the Star of Bethlehem appears to the three wise men, is perhaps the most obvious incident of the astronomical. However, Seiss demonstrates that the stars above are richly significant and play a role in many of the most famous tales of the Bible. For example, when Seiss recounts the story of St. Peter's fishing, he compares the sign of Pisces, which was already widely known in the Biblical era.

This book approaches geological, geomorphological and topographical mapping from the point in the workflow at which science-ready datasets are available. Though there have been many individual projects on dynamic maps and online GISs, in which coding and data processing are given precedence over cartographic principles, cartography is more than "just" processing and displaying spatial data. However, there are currently no textbooks on this rapidly changing field, and methods tend to be shared informally. Addressing this gap in the literature, the respective chapters outline many topics pertaining to cartography and mapping such as the role and definition of planetary cartography and (vs?) Geographic Information Science; theoretical background and practical methodologies in geological mapping; science-ready versus public-ready products; a goal/procedure-focused practical manual of the most commonly used software in planetary mapping, which includes generic (ArcGIS and its extensions, JMARS) and specific tools (HiView, Cratertools etc.); extracting topographic information from images; thematic mapping: climate; geophysics; surface modeling; change detection; landing site selection; shared maps; dynamic maps on the web; planetary GIS interfaces; crowdsourcing; crater counting techniques; irregular bodies; geological unit symbology; mapping center activities; and web services. All chapters were prepared by authors who have actually produced geological maps or GISs for NASA / the USGS, DLR, ESA or MIIGAIK. Taken together, they offer an excellent resource for all planetary scientists whose research depends on mapping, and for students of astrogeology.

This book presents three major studies covering exomoon and exoplanet detection and characterisation. Firstly, it reports the observations and analysis of the atmosphere of the hot Neptune GJ3470b, one of the lowest-mass planets with a measured atmosphere, using transmission spectroscopy techniques. The result provided improved measurements of Rayleigh scattering in the atmosphere and the first limits on additional planetary companions in the system. The second part discusses modeling a Kepler-like satellite's ability of a to detect exomoons by looking for transit timing variations and transit duration variations, demonstrating how exomoons can unambiguously be identified from such data.Lastly, the book examines the development of a state-of-the-art Galactic microlensing simulator, which has been made publicly available. It was used to compare with the largest published sample of microlensing events from the MOA-II survey.

The zodiac was first clearly defined by the Babylonians some 2500 years ago, but until recently the basis of this original definition remained unknown. This zodiac of the Babylonians, known as the sidereal zodiac because it is specified in direct relation to the stars (Latin sideris, 'starry'), was used for centuries throughout the ancient world, all the way to India, and must be distinguished from the tropical zodiac in widespread use by astrologers in the West today, which was introduced only in the middle of the second century A.D. by the Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. Such was Ptolemy's influence, however, that the tropical zodiac gained prominence and, except for its survival (in a variant form) in India, knowledge of the sidereal zodiac was lost. In this thrilling study of the history of the zodiac, first submitted in 2004 as his Ph.D. thesis, Robert Powell rescues the the sidereal zodiac from the dusts of time, tracing it back to the Babylonians in the sixth/fifth centuries B.C. The implications of this discovery-among them the restitution of the sideral zodiac to its rightful place at the heart of astrology-are immense, they key point being that the signs of the sidereal zodiac, each thirty degrees long, coincide closely with the twelve astronomical constellations of the same name, whereas the signs of the tropical zodiac, since they are defined in relation to the vernal point, now have no direct relationship to the corresponding zodiacal constellations, owing to the precession of the equinoxes.This revolutionary history of the zodiac includes chapters on the Egyptian decans and the Hindu nakshatras, showing how these sidereal divisions, which originated in Egypt and India, are related to the original Babylonian zodiac. It also sheds light on the controversy surrounding the 'zodiac question' (tropical vs. sidereal), illuminating the history of the tropical zodiac-showing that originally it was not a zodiac at all, but a calendar for describing the course of the seasons This book, the fruit of thirty years of research, is intended not only for scholars but for general readers as well, and offers the clearest and most comprehensive study of the history of the zodiac yet published.

The essays in Copernirus and his Successors deal both with the influences on Copernicus, including that of Greek and Arabic thinkers, and with his own life and attitudes. They also examine how he was seen by contemporaries and finally describe his relationship to other scientists, including Galileo, Brahe and Kepler.

This book provides a general introduction to the rapidly developing astrophysical frontier of stellar tidal disruption, but also details original thesis research on the subject. This work has shown that recoiling black holes can disrupt stars far outside a galactic nucleus, errors in the traditional literature have strongly overestimated the maximum luminosity of "deeply plunging" tidal disruptions, the precession of transient accretion disks can encode the spins of supermassive black holes, and much more. This work is based on but differs from the original thesis that was formally defended at Harvard, which received both the Roger Doxsey Award and the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award from the American Astronomical Society.

A physicist and an inventor, Jules Janssen (1824-1907) devoted his life to astronomical research. He spent many years traveling around the world to observe total Solar eclipses, demonstrating that a new era of science had just come thanks to the use of both spectroscopy and photography, and persuading the French Government of the necessity of founding a new observatory near Paris. He became its director in 1875. There, at Meudon, he began routine photographic recordings of the Sun surface and had a big refractor and a big reflector built. Meanwhile, he also succeeded in building an Observatory at the summit of Mont-Blanc. The story of this untiring and stubborn globe-trotter is enriched by extracts of the unpublished correspondence with his wife. One can thus understand why Henriette often complained of the solitude in which she was left by her peripatetic husband: "There are men who leave their wives for mistresses; you do it for journeys!" ... Basking in the glow of his success, Janssen was able to undertake the construction of the great astrophysical observatory of which he had dreamed. It was at Meudon that he had it built.

The large telescope at Meudon has become legendary. When it was conceived, after 1870, astronomy as a whole was limited to visual observation. Knowledge of the sky was limited to what one could see, assisted only by optical means. The large telescopes produced at this time produced larger images, permitting close-up views: the Meudon telescope was able to accomplish this perfectly. At Meudon, which became the Mecca of visual observation, the major planets were examined in a way that no other telescope had previously been able to. The telescope monitored the state of their atmospheres and mapped the appearance of their surfaces. Through the telescope, one could obtain photographs showing the nuclei of comets, revealing their very small size, and by using an eyepiece one could measure the separation of double stars. With a marvellous little instrument, the polarimeter, the nature of clouds in planetary atmospheres has been determined, and the type of surface material identified. Many more results were obtained, while photography, universally adopted, revolutionized other knowledge about the world. The sensitive emulsion, combined with large aperture reflecting telescopes, revealed the deepness and richness of the cosmos. The vast telescope of Meudon, which was the largest refracting telescope in Europe, became a legendary instrument and was symbolic of a new way to practice astronomy. Audouin Dollfus, a renowned astronomer, describes the great years of the Meudon telescope. He gives us the entire story of this instrument, from the birth of the concept that drove Jules Janssen at the end of the nineteenth century, to the idea that French astronomy could provide an outstanding telescope which would approach the limits of technical and industrial resources. The telescope remained unchanged until 2006, when the first steps toward restoration and public reopening were taken.

In tropical latitudes, monsoons trigger regimes of strong seasonal rainfall over the continents. Over the West African region, the rainfall has shown a strong variability from interannual to decadal time scales. The atmospheric response to global sea surface temperatures is the leading cause of rainfall variability in the West African Sahel. This thesis explores changes in the leading ocean forcing of Sahelian rainfall interannual variability. It anaylzes the dynamical mechanisms at work to explain the non-stationary sea surface temperature-forced response of anomalous rainfall. The underlying multidecadal sea surface temperature background is raised as a key factor that favors some interannual teleconnections and inhibits others. Results of this thesis are relevant for improving the seasonal predictability of summer rainfall in the Sahel.

The Moon has been an object of fascination for religions, cultures, and societies the world over since the dawn of humanity.

The Moon is a beautifully illustrated account of our lunar neighbour in all its guises: a guiding light in the night sky, the driver of oceanic tides and natural cycles, the subject of exhaustive scientific study, and an enduring influence in literature, art, and popular culture.

Exploring theories for the Moon’s origins around 4.5 billion years ago, the book charts its influence on the calendar systems and mythologies of early societies, and its role in the invention of the telescope and the science-fiction genre. It tells the incredible story of the Cold War space race and the first Moon landings. Specially commissioned illustrations capture the Moon's phases and motions in vivid detail, while stunning photography and artefacts bring the rich history of lunar observation and exploration to life.

The last chapter of the book features extensive coverage of NASA’s Artemis mission to return astronauts to the lunar landscape in 2026, paving the way for future missions to Mars. The book also includes a guide to observing the Moon, complete with annotated maps and profiles of key physical features such as Tycho Crater and the Sea of Tranquility.

Straddling science, culture, and history across the world, The Moon is a captivating and richly informative celebration.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will provide more than one order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity compared with any existing radio telescope over a wavelength range of several hundred to one, from decametric to microwave wavelengths. It will revolutionize the study of the most abundant element in the Universe, hydrogen, from the epoch of reionisation to the present-day, probing the onset formation period of the very first stars, will closely scan proto-planets and, through the precision timing of pulsars, will detect the distortions of space-time due to gravitational radiation. The SKA is a sensing network spanning 3000 km from its centre and with a collecting area of more than 1 square kilometre, using technologies of the 21st century. The SKA will make the study of a wide range of phenomena initially studied at other wavelengths possible at radio wavelengths, as well as opening a new discovery window on new phenomena at radio wavelengths.
Symposium 7 of the JENAM 2010 aimed at bringing these diverse opportunities to the attention of both theoretical and observational astronomers working at all wavelengths, including the potential for synergies with other facilities. The meeting highlighted the scientific potential of the SKA, discussed scientific priorities and their impact on the design of the SKA, explored the synergies between the SKA and other next-generation astronomical facilities in different wavelength domains such as the ALMA, ELTs, LSST, JWST, GRE, IXO, Gaia and Euclid, and high-energy facilities (Auger), explored the "cyber-infrastructure" that may become available for the distribution and distributed analysis of SKA data."

Nature is characterized by a number of physical laws and fundamental dimensionless couplings. These determine the properties of our physical universe, from the size of atoms, cells and mountains to the ultimate fate of the universe as a whole. Yet it is rather remarkable how little we know about them. The constancy of physical laws is one of the cornerstones of the scientific research method, but for fundamental couplings this is an assumption with no other justification than a historical assumption. There is no 'theory of constants' describing their role in the underlying theories and how they relate to one another or how many of them are truly fundamental. Studying the behaviour of these quantities throughout the history of the universe is an effective way to probe fundamental physics. This explains why the ESA and ESO include varying fundamental constants among their key science drivers for the next generation of facilities. This symposium discussed the state-of-the-art in the field, as well as the key developments anticipated for the coming years.

In the next decade, NASA, by itself and in collaboration with the European Space Agency, is planning a minimum of four separate missions to Mars. Clearly, exciting times are ahead for Mars exploration. This is an insider's look into the amazing projects now being developed here and abroad to visit the legendary red planet. Drawing on his contacts at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the author provides stunning insights into the history of Mars exploration and the difficulties and dangers of traveling there.
After an entertaining survey of the human fascination with Mars over the centuries, the author offers an introduction to the geography, geology, and water processes of the planet. He then briefly describes the many successful missions by NASA and others to that distant world. But failure and frustration also get their due. As the author makes clear, going to Mars is not, and never will be, easy. Later in the book, he describes in detail what each upcoming mission will involve.
In the second half of the book, he offers the reader a glimpse inside the world of Earth-based "Mars analogs," places on Earth where scientists are conducting research in hostile environments that are eerily "Martian." Finally, he constructs a probable scenario of a crewed expedition to Mars, so that readers can see how earlier robotic missions and human Earth simulations will fit together.
All this is punctuated by numerous firsthand interviews with some of the finest Mars explorers of our day, including Stephen Squyres (Mars Exploration Rover), Bruce Murray (former director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory), and Peter Smith (chief of the Mars Phoenix Lander and the upcoming OSIRIS-REx missions). These stellar individuals give us an insider's view of the difficulties and rewards of roaming the red planet.
The author's infectious enthusiasm and firsthand knowledge of the international space industry combine to make a uniquely appealing and accessible book about Mars.

This book focuses on the stellar disk evolution and gas disk turbulence of the most numerous galaxies in the local Universe - the dwarf galaxies. The "outside-in" disk shrinking mode was established for a relatively large sample of dwarf galaxies for the first time, and this is in contrast to the "inside-out" disk growth mode found for spiral galaxies. Double exponential brightness profiles also correspond to double exponential stellar mass profiles for dwarf galaxies, which is again different from most spiral galaxies. The cool gas distribution in dwarf galaxies was probed with the spatial power spectra of hydrogen iodide (HI) gas emission, and provided indirect evidence that inner disks of dwarf galaxies have proportionally more cool gas than outer disks. The finding that no correlation exists between gas power spectral indices and star formation gave important constraints on the relation between turbulence and star formation in dwarf galaxies.

This book is a collection of essays written by the very scientists and engineers who have led, and continue to lead, the scientific quest known as SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Divided into three parts, the first section, 'The Spirit of SETI Past', written by the surviving pioneers of this then emerging discipline, reviews the major projects undertaken during the first 50 years of SETI science and the results of that research.

In the second section, 'The Spirit of SETI Present', the present-day science and technology is discussed in detail, providing the technical background to contemporary SETI instruments, experiments, and analytical techniques, including the processing of the received signals to extract potential alien communications.

In the third and final section, 'The Spirit of SETI Future', the book looks ahead to the possible directions that SETI will take in the next 50 years, addressing such important topics as interstellar message construction, the risks and assumptions of interstellar communications, when we might make contact, what aliens might look like and what is likely to happen in the aftermath of such a contact.

This book is the result of a working group sponsored by ISSI in Bern, which was initially created to study possible ways to calibrate a Far Ultraviolet (FUV) instrument after launch. In most cases, ultraviolet instruments are well calibrated on the ground, but unfortunately, optics and detectors in the FUV are very sensitive to contaminants and it is very challenging to prevent contamination before and during the test and launch sequences of a space mission. Therefore, ground calibrations need to be confirmed after launch and it is necessary to keep track of the temporal evolution of the sensitivity of the instrument during the mission.
The studies presented here cover various fields of FUV spectroscopy, including a catalog of stellar spectra, datasets of Moon Irradiance, observations of comets and measurements of the interplanetary background. Detailed modelling of the interplanetary background is presented as well. This work also includes comparisons of older datasets with current ones. This raises the question of the consistency of the existing datasets. Previous experiments have been calibrated independently and comparison of the datasets may lead to inconsistencies. The authors have tried to check that possibility in the datasets and when relevant suggest a correction factor for the corresponding data."

..".The Multiversal book series is equally unique, providing book-length extensions of the lectures with enough additional depth for those who truly want to explore these fields, while also providing thekind of clarity that is appropriate for interested lay people to grasp the general principles involved." - Lawrence M. Krauss

Cosmic Update Covers: A novel approach to uncover the dark faces of the Standard Model of cosmology.The possibility that Dark Energy and Dark Matter are manifestations of the inhomogeneous geometry of our Universe.On the history of cosmological model building and the general architecture of cosmological modes.Illustrations on the Large Scale Structure of the Universe.A new perspective on the classical static Einstein Cosmos.Global properties of World Models including their Topology.The Arrow of Time in a Universe with a Positive Cosmological Constant.Exploring the consequences of a fundamental Cosmological Constant for our Universe. Exploring why the current observed acceleration of the Universe may not be its final destiny.Demonstrating that nature forbids the existence of a pure Cosmological Constant.Our current understanding of the long term (in time scales that greatly exceed the current age of the Universe) future of the Universe.The long term fate and eventual destruction of the astrophysical objects that populate the universe --including clusters, galaxies, stars, planets, and black holes.

The material is presented in a layperson-friendly language followed by addition technical sections that explain the basic equations and principles. This feature is very attractive to readers who want to learn more about the theories involved beyond the basic description.

"Multiversal Journeys is a trademark of Farzad Nekoogar and Multiversal Journeys, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization.""

How does it happen that billions of stars can cooperate to produce the beautiful spirals that characterize so many galaxies, including ours? This book reviews the history behind the discovery of spiral galaxies and the problems faced when trying to explain the existence of spiral structure within them. In the book, subjects such as galaxy morphology and structure are addressed as well as several models for spiral structure. The evidence in favor or against these models is discussed. The book ends by discussing how spiral structure can be used as a proxy for other properties of spiral galaxies, such as their dark matter content and their central supermassive black hole masses, and why this is important.

Beginning with the famous Olber's paradox, a number of cosmological paradoxes, such as the missing mass, dark energy, and the baryon-to-photon ratio, have been and are today the subject of many scientific controversies. The Big Bang model, anticipated by Lemaitre in 1927 and reformulated twenty years later by Gamow, Alpher and Herman, is one of the most spectacular successes in the entire history of physics. It remains today surrounded by considerable theoretical speculation without sufficient observational support.

This book discusses such paradoxes in depth with physical and logical content and historical perspective, and has not much technical content in order to serve a wide audience.