The present book Essential Spaceflight Dynamics and Magnetospherics describes, in the first instance, some of the key aspects of celestial mechanics and spaceflight dynamics. It begins with classical two and three body problems illustrative of the aesthetic aspects of applying analytical methods of investigation to celestial mechanics. Then, osculating orbital elements are introduced as well as analysis techniques sufficient to evaluate the influence of various disturbing forces on spacecraft. Next a theory of manoeuvres is outlined and the methodology of making interplanetary trajectory corrections. Ideas involving various approaches to orbital element determinations using measured data are also considered. The forces applied to a spacecraft can result in the development of torques that influence attitude motion and the effects of the most important of these are described in terms of equilibrium positions, periodic motions, steady-state and transient motions. Also considered is the problem of attitude control of a spacecraft using active and/or passive methods of orientation and stabilization. In addition, a more advanced treatment of the development of attitude control systems is provided.
A description of the Earth's magnetic and gravitational fields allows clarification of the relationship between natural features of the Earth's environment and the requirements of mission design, orbit construction and approaches to attitude control. A detailed Addendum provides an overview of circumstances on the Sun that render interplanetary space a very hazardous environment for spacecraft and for man in space'. The influence of this environment on spacecraft performance and survival is then presented, together with an outline of some of the mitigating strategies that can be invoked. A feature of the Addendum is the indication it provides of the challenges that the next generation of space experiments will pose to mission designers. It is accompanied by a separate set of references since if refers to ongoing work in space physics rather than to classical material.

The term proto-planetary nebulae (PPNe) in the context of the late stages of stellar evolution was created only slightly more than 20 years ago to express the belief that in the near future these objects will become planetary nebulae (PNe). The first proto-planetary nebulae (called also post-Asymptotic Giant Branch, or shortly post-AGB objects) AFGL 2688 and AFGL 618 were discovered in mid seventies in course of the Air Force Sky Survey. Investigation of this phase of stellar evolution developed very rapidly in 1980's after the IRAS mission when it became clear that proto-planetary nebulae emit a significant part of their energy in the mid-and far-infrared. Hundreds of new candidates have been proposed but the recognition of the real proto-planetary nebulae is not a simple task and needs a substantial effort to exclude cases that represent different evolutionary stages. High resolution spectroscopy of stellar atmospheres is of much importance in this respect. Surprisingly, only a small group of central stars, the so called 21 11m emitters, show chemical signatures of the 3 rd dredge up process. Very recently, a more detailed studies of mid-infrared spectra from the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) allow for a better understanding of chemical composition and evolution of circumstellar material around these stars. A new impetus in the field of proto-planetary nebulae research was started in the 1990's with high spatial resolution imaging in mid-infrared and optical wavelength ranges."

The mono graph contains 8 chapters, and their contents cover all principal aspects of the problem: 1. Introduction and brief his tory ofthe radiation problem and background information ofradiation hazard in the near-Earth and interplanetary space. 2. General description of radiation conditions and main sources of charged partic1es in the Earth's environment and interplanetary space, effects of space environment on spacecraft. 3. Basic information about physical conditions in space and main sources of charged particles in the Earth's environment and interplanetary space, in the context of "Space W eather" monitoring and prediction. 4. Trapped radiation belts of the Earth (ERB): theory of their origin, spatial and temporal dynamics, and experimental and statistical models. 5. Galactic cosmic rays (GCR): variations of energetic, temporal and spatial characteristics, long-term modulation, and anomalous cosmic ray (ACR) component, modeling oftheir dynamics. 6. Production of energetic particles (SEPs) at/ne ar the Sun: available databases, acceleration, propagation, and prediction of individual SEP event, statistical models of solar cosmic rays (SCR). 7. Existing empirical techniques of estimating, prediction and modeling of radiation hazard, methodical approaches and constraints, some questions of changes in the Earth's radiation environment due to changes of the solar activity level. 8. Unresolved problems of radiation hazard prediction and spacecraft protection, radiation experiments on board the spacecraft, estimating of radiation conditions during interplanetary missions. Space does not allow us to explain every time the solar-terrestrial and radiation physics nomencIature used in current English-language literature.

In this book, the author draws on his broad experience to describe both the theory and the applications of wave propagations. The contents are presented in four parts and the sequence of these parts reflect the development of ionospheric and propagational research in areas such as space research geophysics and communications. The first part of the book presents an outline of the theory of electromagnetic waves propagating in a cold electron plasma. For reference, vector analysis, dyadics and eigenvalues introduced in this part are presented in the appendices. Practical aspects of radio wave propagation are the subject of the second part. The typical conditions in different frequency ranges are discussed and the irregular features of the ionospheric structure such as sound and gravity waves are also considered. Warm plasma and the effects of ions are considered in the third part, which includes a discussion of sound-like waves in electron and ion plasmas. Nonlinear effects and instabilities are described in the fourth part.

It turned out to be really a rare and happy occasion that we know exact1y when and how a new branch of space physics was born, namely, a physics of solar cosmic rays. It happened on February 28 and March 7, 1942 when the fIrst "cosmic ray bursts" were recorded on the Earth, and the Sun was unambiguously identifIed for the fIrst time as the source of high-velocity 10 particles with energies up to > 10 eV. Just due to such a high energy these relativistic particles have been called "solar cosmic rays" (SCR), in distinction from the "true" cosmic rays of galactic origin. Between 1942 and the beginning ofthe space era in 1957 only extremely high energy solar particle events could be occasionally recorded by cosmic ray ground-Ievel detectors and balloon borne sensors. Since then the detection techniques varied considerably and the study of SCR turned into essential part of solar and solar-terrestrial physics.

This book covers the results obtained in the Tera op Workbench project during a four years period from 2004 to 2008. The Tera op Workbench project is a colla- ration betweenthe High PerformanceComputingCenter Stuttgart (HLRS) and NEC Deutschland GmbH (NEC-HPCE) to support users to achieve their research goals using high performance computing. The Tera op Workbench supports users of the HLRS systems to enable and - cilitate leading edge scienti c research. This is achieved by optimizing their codes and improving the process work ow which results from the integration of diff- ent modules into a "hybrid vector system." The assessment and demonstration of industrial relevance is another goal of the cooperation. The Tera op Workbench project consists of numerous individual codes, grouped together by application area and developed and maintained by researchers or c- mercial organizations. Within the project, several of the codes have shown the ab- ity to reach beyond the TFlop/s threshold of sustained performance. This created the possibility for new science and a deeper understanding of the underlying physics. The papers in this book demonstrate the value of the project for different scienti c areas.

The contents of this book are the result of work performed in the past three years to provide some answers to questions raised by several colleagues wo- inginastrophysics. Examiningseveraltransportprocessesinplasmasrelated to dissipative e?ects in phenomena such as cooling ?ows, propagation of sound waves, thermal conduction in the presence of magnetic ?elds, an- lar momentum transfer in accretion disks, among many, one ?nds a rather common pattern. Indeed when values for transport coe?cients are required the overwhelming majority of authors refer to the classical results obtained by L. Spitzer and S. Braginski over forty years ago. Further, it is also often mentioned that under the prescribed working conditions the values of such coe?cients are usually insu?cient to provide agreement with observations. The methodology followed by these authors is based upon Landau's - oneering idea that collisions in plasmas may be substantially accounted for when viewed as a di?usive process. Consequently the ensuing basic kinetic equation is the Fokker-Planck version of Boltzmann's equation as essentially proposed by Landau himself nearly 70 years ago. Curiously enough the magni?cent work of the late R. Balescu in both Classical and Non-Classical transport in plasmas published in 1988 and also based on the Fokker-Planck equation is hardly known in the astrophysical audience. The previous work of Spitzer and Braginski is analyzed with much more rigorous vision in his two books on the subject.

The workshop on The Very Large Telescope Interferometer: Challenges for the Future, which was part of JENAM 2002 organised by Sociedade Portuguesa de Astronomia, took place at the Departamentos de Matematica Aplicada e Matemclt- ica Pura da Universidade do Porto (FCUP) from the 5th to the 7th of September 2002. The Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) is the major interferometric facility in the world, operated by the European Southern Observatory. It is a unique facility as it is available to the community and has a sensitivity that will bring into reach vast classes of objects in the fields of planet searches, star formation and evolution and extragalatic astrophysics. The VLTI was open to the community on a shared risk basis in March 2002. This workshop was therefore an ideal place to obtain a broad view of optical interferometry and its scientific prospects. The workshop started with a presentation of the basics of interferometry the- ory/practice, then of the VLT, Keck and LBT interferometers. The VLTI instru- ments MIDI and AMBER were introduced to its users as well as specific cal- ibration and modelling tools. The bulk of the workshop addressed astrophysics being currently done with interferometers with very high quality reviews in the fields star formation, imaging, pulsating stars, Mira stars, active stellar shells and extragalactic astronomy. The workshop featured some talks presenting fresh VLTI data using the VINCI commissioning instrument.

The workshop on The Cosmology of Extra Dimensions and Varying Fundamental Constants, which was part of JENAM 2002, was held at the Physics Department of the University of Porto (FCUP) from the 3rd to the 5th of September 2002. It was regularly attended by about 110 participants, of which 65 were officially registered in the VFC workshop, while the others came from the rest of the JENAM workshops. There were also a few science correspondents from the national and international press. During the 3 days of the scientific programme, 8 Invited Reviews and 30 Oral Communications were presented. The speakers came from 11 different European countries, and also from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Japan and the U.S.A. There were also speakers from six Portuguese research institutions, and nine of the speak ers were Ph.D. students. The contributions are presented in these proceedings in chronological order. The workshop brought together string theorists, particle physicists, theoretical and observational cosmologists, relativists and observational astrophysicists. It was generally agreed that this inter-disciplinarity was the greatest strength of the work shop, since it provided people coming into this very recent topic from the various different backgrounds with an opportunity to understand each other's language and thereby gain a more solid understanding of the overall picture."

Presents a modern treatment of the physics of vortex matter, mainly applied to unconventional superconductors and superfluids but with extensions to other areas of physics.

A quantitative measure of the accuracy of the rate coefficients and the excess energies is a desirable goal of this analysis. There are two major sources of uncertainties: The atomic and molecular data and the solar irradiance. The cross sections and branching ratios used in this analysis come from many different sources; many of them without any error indications. For this reason, we must confine ourselves to a qualitative indication of the reliability of the results. Specifically we give a quality scale in Table II for the data of each mother molecule; A indicating the highest quality of atomic and molecular data and F the lowest quality. The letter B typically means that the threshold is uncertain. For most molecules the cross section at threshold is very small and the rate coefficient for these molecules is therefore not influenced by this uncertainty. For atomic species the cross section is usually large near threshold, but for these species the threshold is known quite accurately. The letter B, therefore, indicates that the rate coefficient is most likely quite accurate, but the excess energy is less accurately known. The letter C usually means that the branching ratios are not well known. This means that the total rate coefficient is very good, but the rate coefficients and the excess energies for the individual branches are less accurate.

In these lectures, I have discussed a number of basic concepts that provide the necessary background to the current studies of star formation. A ?rst partwas dedicatedto illustrate the conceptofa protostar, discussing con- tions and propertiesof the collapseof a molecular core. A secondpart deals with circumstellardisks. Disks areimportantnot only to the processofstar formation itself, but also because they are in all probability the site where planets form. The age range of pre-main-sequence stars coincides with the timescales for the formation of very large planetesimals, the building blocks of planets. Studies ofdisk properties in pre-main-sequencestars ofdi?erent age, located in star-forming regions of di?erent properties, may shed light on the characteristics of planet formation processes. ISO observations can provide important (in some cases, unique) inf- mation on the various stages of the star and planet formation. I have illustrated in detail some examples, when, to my knowledge, ISO data had been reduced and analyzed. Many other programs exist, and will certainly contribute to our understanding of star formation in the near future

It is now a well-established tradition that every four years, at the end of winter, a group of 'celestial mechanicians' from all over the world gather in the Austrian Alps at the invitation of R. Dvorak. This time the colloquium was held at Badhofgastein from March 19 to March 25, 2000 and was devoted to the 'New Developments in the Dynamics of Planetary Systems'. The papers covered a large range of questions of current interest: t- oretical questions (resonances, KAM theory, transport, ... ) and questions about numerical tools (synthetic elements, indicators of chaos, ... ) were particularly well represented; of course planetary theories and Near Earth Objects were also quite popular. Three special lectures were delivered in honor of deceased colleagues whom, to our dismay, we will no longer meet at the 'Austrian Colloquia'. W. Jefferys delivered the Heinrich Eichhorn lecture on 'Statistics for the Twenty-first Century Astrometry', a topic on which Heinrich Eichhorn was a specialist. A. Roy delivered a lecture honoring Victor Szehebely on 'Lifting the Darkness: Science in the Third Millenium', in which in wove anecdotes and remembrances of Victor which moved the audience very much. A. Lemaitre spoke in honor of Michele Moons on 'Mech anism of Capture in External Resonance'. The end of her talk was devoted to a short and moving biography of Michele illustrated by many slides."

The Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy organizes each year in the late winter or early spring an advanced course. The format of the school is always iden tical: three leading lecturers are invited to cover the subject in nine or ten lectures each and to deliver a written version of their lecture notes. Lectures are held in the morning and late afternoon, thus leaving ample time for discussion and skiing. These arrangements prove very convivial and lead to an excellent atmosphere in which to learn exciting new subjects and establish contacts with colleagues. A wide variety of people attend the school, including many young students, mostly from Europe, and some experienced researchers. The 20th Advanced Course of the Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy took place in Les Diablerets from 1 to 6 April 1990. It was devoted to observational and theoretical aspects of active galactic nuclei. The previous advanced courses of the Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy have regularly taken place in Saas-Fee, a small resort in the Swiss Alps, hence the name "Saas-Fee" used to de scribe the courses and lecture notes. In the last three years, however, the course was organized in Leysin and in Les Diablerets, both also situated in the Swiss Alps."

Stellar pulsations provide a complex system in stars. This complexity is studied by analyzing the non-sinusoidal, semi-regular, or irregular light curves. This unique volume summarizes the application of recent theoretical results obtained from stellar pulsation studies. In addition, the latest developments in hydrodynamic simulations are discussed. A historical sketch of the study of beat Cepheids, first known for their variable amplitudes, is given as an introduction to the book. This introduction clearly demonstrates how complicated the study of variable stars can be, and therefore challenges and invites the reader to study the entire book.

Special and General Relativity are concisely developed together with essential aspects of nuclear and particle physics. Problem sets are provided for many chapters, making the book ideal for a course on the physics of white dwarf and neutron star interiors. Norman K. Glendenning is Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Nuclear Science Division, Institute for Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of numerous books.

This volume helps the reader to understand the ways and means of how dynamical phenomena are generated at the Sun, how they travel through the Heliosphere, and how they affect Earth. It provides an integrated account of the three principal chains of events all the way from the Sun to Earth: the normal solar wind, coronal mass ejections, and solar energetic particles.

This set of lectures deals with the transition from nuclear matter to quark matter. The reader will learn not only about the theory of quark-gluon plasmas but also how they are obtained in the laboratory through heavy-ion collisions or where they can be found in astrophysical objects such as compact stars. The book fills a gap between well-known textbook material and the research literature and is thus perfectly suited for postgraduate students who wish to enter this field, for lecturers looking for advanced material for their courses and for scientists in search of a modern source of reference on these topics.

While it seems possible to present a fairly complete uni?ed theory of undistorted polytropes, as attempted in the previous chapter, the theory of distorted polytropes is much more extended and - phisticated, so that I present merely a brief overview of the theories that seem to me most interesting and important. Basically, the methods proposed to study the hydrostatic equilibrium of a distorted self-gravitating mass can be divided into two major groups (Blinnikov 1975): (i) Analytic or semia- lytic methods using a small parameter connected with the distortion of the polytrope. (ii) More or less accurate numerical methods. Lyapunov and later Carleman (see Jardetzky 1958, p. 13) have demonstrated that a sphere is a unique solution to the problem of hydrostatic equilibrium for a ?uid mass at rest in tridimensional space. The problem complicates enormously if the sphere is rotating rigidly or di?erentially in space round an axis, and/or if it is distorted magnetically or tidally. Even for the simplest case of a uniformly rotating ?uid body with constant density not all possible solutions have been found (Zharkov and Trubitsyn 1978, p. 222). The sphere becomes an oblate ?gure, and we have no a priori knowledge of its strati? cation, boundary shape, planes of symmetry, transfer of angular momentum in di?erentially rotating bodies, etc.

Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) studies the interaction between the flow of an electrically conducting fluid and magnetic fields. It involves such diverse topics as the evolution and dynamics of astrophysical objects, thermonuclear fusion, metallurgy and semiconductor crystal growth, etc. Although the first ideas in magnetohydrodynamics appeared at the beginning of the last century, the "explosion" in theoretical and experimental studies occurred in the 1950s-60s.

This state-of-the-art book aims at revising the evolution of ideas in various branches of magnetohydrodynamics (astrophysics, earth and solar dynamos, plasmas, MHD turbulence and liquid metals) and reviews current trends and challenges.

Launched in 2004, "Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics" has established itself in a successful topical conference series addressing the forefront of research in the field. This volume contains the selected and refereed papers of the 2nd conference, held in Debrecen in 2005 and reprinted from "The European Physical Journal A - Hadrons and Nuclei."

The field of Adaptive Optics (AO) for astronomy has matured in recent years, and diffraction-limited image resolution in the near-infrared is now routinely achieved by ground-based 8 to 10m class telescopes. This book presents the proceedings of the ESO Workshop on Science with Adaptive Optics held in the fall of 2003. The book provides an overview on AO instrumentation, data acquisition and reduction strategies, and covers observations of the sun, solar system objects, circumstellar disks, substellar companions, HII regions, starburst environments, late-type stars, the galactic center, active galaxies, and quasars. The contributions present a vivid picture of the multitude of science topics being addressed by AO in observational astronomy.

Readers with any kind of an interest in astronomy will find this work fascinating, detailing as it does the proceedings of the symposium of the same name held in Japan in 2006. The symposium focused on mapping the interstellar media and other components in galactic disks, bulges, halos, and central regions of galaxies. Thanks to recent progress in observations using radio interferometers and optical/infrared telescopes in ground and space, our knowledge on structures of our Galaxy and nearby galaxies has been growing for the last decade.

In this volume, the authors present theoretical explanations for a few basic problems connected with the propagation of extra wide band, short impulses in linear media, and with the propagation of whistlers and megawhistlers in plasmas. In addition, the book provides an overview of ground and space based measurements, digital processing and signal analysis. The theoretical treatment in this volume is original in the sense that, unlike former solutions, the authors present a fundamentally non-monochromatic approach. A key feature of this approach is the application of the Laplace Transformation' and the Method of Inhomogeneous Basic Modes' to solve Maxwell's equations. It is shown that when the obtained theoretical results are applied to digital recordings, the wave analysis process becomes so flexible that it can also be used to investigate other wave propagation problems. These are both terrestrial phenomena (like atmospheric and seismic activity, buried target detection, etc.) and phenomena in space (planetary, interplanetary, plasmaspheric, whistler and megawhistler propagation). The book is aimed at a technical and professional audience working on whistler science and/or wave propagation problems.

This book ushers in a new era of experimental and theoretical investigations into collective processes, structure formation, and self-organization of nuclear matter. It reports the results of experiments wherein for the first time the nuclei constituting our world (those displayed in Mendeleev's table as well as the super-heavy ones) have been artificially created. Pioneering breakthroughs are described, achieved at the Proton-21 Laboratory, Kiev, Ukraine, in a variety of new physical and technological directions.
A detailed description of the main experiments, their analyses, and the interpretation of copious experimental data are given, along with the methodology governing key measurements and the processing algorithms of the data that empirically confirm the occurrence of macroscopic self-organizing processes leading to the nuclear transformations of various materials. The basic concepts underlying the initiation of self-sustaining collective processes that result in the formation of nuclear structures are also examined.

How to realize nucleosynthesis of stable nuclei in the laboratory? Why are metallic meteorites of iron or nickel-iron? Could the iron be nuclear fuel and could an iron star blow up as a supernova? And what could be the energy source of such an explosion? Is it possible to obtain nuclear energy from any terrestrial substance without producing radioactivity? Do super-heavy (Migdal's) nuclei exist, and is it possible to synthesize them in the laboratory? What physical mechanisms could one use to control nuclear transformations and particularly the sign of the overall energy balance involved?
Answers to these and other intriguing questions are to be found in this book."