"Why is it dark at night?" might seem a fatuous question at first sight. In reality it is an extremely productive question that has been asked from the very beginning of the modern age, not only by astronomers, for whom it is most appropriate, but also by physicists, philosophers, and even poets. The book you have just opened uses this question as a pretext to relate in the most interesting way the history of human thought from the earliest times to the here and now. The point is that if we want to appreciate the magic power of this ostensibly naive question we need to discover how it fits into the wider context of the natural sciences and learn something of the faltering steps towards an answer. In doing so the author guides us through periods that we regard as the dim and distant past. However, as we start reading these passages we are amazed to discover just how searching were the questions the ancient philosophers asked themselves in spite of their fragmentary knowledge of the universe, and how clairvoyantly they were able to gaze into its mysterious structure. The author goes on to explain very graphically how this increasingly prickly question was tackled by many great men of science. It is bound to come as a surprise that it was not a philosopher, a physicist or an astronomer, but instead the poet Edgar Alan Poe, who hinted at the right answer. I know of no other similar publication that has dealt so graphically or so succinctly with a question which, after four centuries of fumbling and chasing up blind alleys, was only solved in our lifetime. Ji i Grygar, president of Czech Learned Society, honorary Chairman of the Czech Astronomical Society

This well-documented and fascinating book tells how, over the centuries, a series of visionaries, scientists, technologists, and politicians fostered the involvement of Italy in space exploration. The lives of these pioneers was often far from easy, yet they persevered. The fruits of their efforts can today be witnessed in Italy's success within the cutting-edge space sector. Italy's history in space started at the end of the fourteenth century and continued with the development of fireworks. Later, the nineteenth century marked the beginning of research into rockets in a more scientific way. After World War II, rocket technology was advanced with the aid of German scientists, and in the 1960s Luigi Broglio, the father of Italian space exploration, designed the San Marco satellite. In 1979 the first Italian Space Plan was launched, but it was the foundation of the Italian Space Agency in 1988 that kick-started a program of exploration in various fields of cosmic research. The outcome was construction of the Vega launcher and collaboration in the International Space Station. Now the Italian space industry stands ready to play an important role in the Gateway orbital station. All of this history, and more, is explored in this riveting book.

Offers an accessible text and reference (a cosmic-ray manual) for graduate students entering the field and high-energy astrophysicists will find this an accessible cosmic-ray manual Easy to read for the general astronomer, the first part describes the standard model of cosmic rays based on our understanding of modern particle physics. Presents the acceleration scenario in some detail in supernovae explosions as well as in the passage of cosmic rays through the Galaxy. Compares experimental data in the atmosphere as well as underground are compared with theoretical models

This book describes the development and design of a unique combined data and power management infrastructure for small satellites. This new edition became necessary because in the frame of the system's impressive evolution from an academic prototype to one of today's most advanced core avionics, many elements were upgraded to their next technology generation and diverse new components complement the upgraded design. All elements are presented in updated respectively new chapters. This modular infrastructure was selected by the Swiss start-up ClearSpace SA for ESA's first mission ClearSpace-1 to remove space debris. Furthermore it is the baseline for the Thai national satellite development program and is used by an increasing number of universities worldwide for research studies.

Written by a leading expert on comets, this textbook is divided into seven main elements with a view to allowing advanced students to appreciate the interconnections between the different elements. The author opens with a brief introductory segment on the motivation for studying comets and the overall scope of the book. The first chapter describes fundamental aspects most usually addressed by ground-based observation. The author then looks at the basic physical phenomena in four separate chapters addressing the nucleus, the emitted gas, the emitted dust, and the solar wind interaction. Each chapter introduces the basic physics and chemistry but then new specific measurements by Rosetta instruments at comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko are brought in. A concerted effort has been made to distinguish between established fact and conjecture. Deviations and inconsistencies are brought out and their significance explained. Links to previous observations of comets Tempel 1, Wild 2, Hartley 2, Halley and others are made. The author then closes with three smaller chapters on related objects, the loss of comets, and prospects for future exploration. This textbook includes over 275 graphics and figures - most of which are original. Thorough explanations and derivations are included throughout the chapters. The text is therefore designed to support MSc. students and new PhD students in the field wanting to gain a solid overview of the state-of-the-art.

The development of nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project is one of the most significant scientific events of the twentieth century. This revised and updated 4th edition explores the challenges that faced the scientists and engineers of the Manhattan Project. It gives a clear introduction to fission weapons at the level of an upper-year undergraduate physics student by examining the details of nuclear reactions, their energy release, analytic and numerical models of the fission process, how critical masses can be estimated, how fissile materials are produced, and what factors complicate bomb design. An extensive list of references and a number of exercises for self-study are included. Revisions to this fourth edition include many upgrades and new sections. Improvements are made to, among other things, the analysis of the physics of the fission barrier, the time-dependent simulation of the explosion of a nuclear weapon, and the discussion of tamped bomb cores. New sections cover, for example, composite bomb cores, approximate methods for various of the calculations presented, and the physics of the polonium-beryllium "neutron initiators" used to trigger the bombs. The author delivers in this book an unparalleled, clear and comprehensive treatment of the physics behind the Manhattan project.

High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy has become a powerful tool for astrophysics since the launch of Chandra and XMM-Newton, ten years ago. The grating spectrometers on both instruments still continue to provide excellent data, while imaging calorimeters are being prepared for future missions like Astro-H and IXO. The synergy with other wavelength bands like the UV has been boosted by the addition of COS to HST. X-ray spectroscopy offers unique diagnostics to study almost any object in the Universe. This book contains review papers on highlights and the state-of-the-art of X-ray spectroscopy for a broad range of objects and on the prospects for future studies.

With illustrations and photographsp in full color.

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.

In an expanding world with limited resources, optimization and uncertainty quantification have become a necessity when handling complex systems and processes. This book provides the foundational material necessary for those who wish to embark on advanced research at the limits of computability, collecting together lecture material from leading experts across the topics of optimization, uncertainty quantification and aerospace engineering. The aerospace sector in particular has stringent performance requirements on highly complex systems, for which solutions are expected to be optimal and reliable at the same time. The text covers a wide range of techniques and methods, from polynomial chaos expansions for uncertainty quantification to Bayesian and Imprecise Probability theories, and from Markov chains to surrogate models based on Gaussian processes. The book will serve as a valuable tool for practitioners, researchers and PhD students.

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 highlights the technological and managerial fundamentals and frontier questions of space science. Space science is a new interdisciplinary and comprehensive subject that takes spacecraft as the main tools to study the planet Earth, the solar-terrestrial space, the solar system, and even the whole universe, to answer significant questions covering the formation and evolution of the solar system and the universe, the origin and evolution of life and the structure of the material. The book introduces major scientific questions in various branches of space science and provides related technological and managerial knowledge. It also discusses the necessity of international cooperation and elaborates on the strategic planning of space science in China. The book can be used as a reference book or textbook for scientists, engineers, college students, and the public participating in space science programs.

This book provides in-depth explanations of design theories and methods for remote sensing satellites, as well as their practical applications. There have been significant advances in spacecraft remote sensing technologies over the past decade. As the latest edition of the book "Space Science and Technology Research," it draws on the authors' vast engineering experience in system design for remote sensing satellites and offers a valuable guide for all researchers, engineers and students who are interested in this area. Chiefly focusing on mission requirements analyses and system design, it also highlights a range of system design methods.

This book tells the story of how, over the past century, dedicated observers and pioneering scientists achieved our current understanding of the universe. It was in antiquity that humankind first attempted to explain the universe often with the help of myths and legends. This book, however, focuses on the time when cosmology finally became a true science. As the reader will learn, this was a slow process, extending over a large part of the 20th century and involving many astronomers, cosmologists and theoretical physicists. The book explains how empirical astronomical data (e.g., Leavitt, Slipher and Hubble) were reconciled with Einstein's general relativity; a challenge which finally led Friedmann, De Sitter and Lemaitre, and eventually Einstein himself, to a consistent understanding of the observational results. The reader will realize the extraordinary implications of these achievements and how deeply they changed our vision of the cosmos: From being small, static, immutable and eternal, it became vast and dynamical - originating from (almost) nothing, and yet now, nearly 14 billion years later, undergoing accelerated expansion. But, as always happens, as well as precious knowledge, new mysteries have also been created where previously absolute certainty had reigned.