The revised second edition of this established dictionary contains over 4,300 up-to-date entries covering all aspects of astronomy. Compiled with the help of over 20 expert contributors under the editorship of renowned author and broadcaster Ian Ridpath, A Dictionary of Astronomy covers everything from space exploration and the equipment involved, to astrophysics, cosmology, and the concept of time. The dictionary also includes biographical entries on eminent astronomers, as well as worldwide coverage of observatories and telescopes. Supplementary material is included in the appendices, such as tables of Apollo lunar landing missions and the constellations, a table of planetary data, and numerous other tables and diagrams complement the entries. The entries have been fully revised and updated for this edition, and new entries have been added to reflect the recent developments within the field of astronomy, including magnetic reconnection, Fornax cluster, luminosity density, and Akatsuki. The content is enhanced by entry-level web links, which are listed and regularly updated on a companion website. A Dictionary of Astronomy is an invaluable reference source for students, professionals, amateur astronomers, and space enthusiasts.

Sensitivity Analysis in Earth Observation Modeling highlights the state-of-the-art in ongoing research investigations and new applications of sensitivity analysis in earth observation modeling. In this framework, original works concerned with the development or exploitation of diverse methods applied to different types of earth observation data or earth observation-based modeling approaches are included. An overview of sensitivity analysis methods and principles is provided first, followed by examples of applications and case studies of different sensitivity/uncertainty analysis implementation methods, covering the full spectrum of sensitivity analysis techniques, including operational products. Finally, the book outlines challenges and future prospects for implementation in earth observation modeling. Information provided in this book is of practical value to readers looking to understand the principles of sensitivity analysis in earth observation modeling, the level of scientific maturity in the field, and where the main limitations or challenges are in terms of improving our ability to implement such approaches in a wide range of applications. Readers will also be informed on the implementation of sensitivity/uncertainty analysis on operational products available at present, on global and continental scales. All of this information is vital in the selection process of the most appropriate sensitivity analysis method to implement.

Planetary Volcanism across the Solar System compares and contrasts the vast array of planetary bodies in the Solar System, including Earth. The wealth of spacecraft data for almost all major solid-surface bodies in the Solar System indicate that volcanism has been a dominant mechanism in shaping the landscapes of these bodies. The book addresses key questions surrounding our understanding of planetary volcanism, such as how to integrate the data into a coherent view of how volcanic activity arises, how this mechanism shapes planets, which volcanic landforms are ubiquitous throughout the Solar System, and which are unique. By placing a singular emphasis on comparing volcanic processes and landforms on all relevant Solar System bodies, and with the explicit objective of providing a systems-level understanding of this widespread phenomenon, users will find an up-to-date, accessible and comprehensive discussion of the major volcanic processes and landforms that shape and drive the evolution of planets, moons and smaller bodies.

Stars on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB stars) play an important role due to their high luminosity and production of heavy elements and cosmic dust. They are prime laboratories for studying situations where different physical and chemical processes work simultaneously, on different time scales. IAU Symposium 343 builds a bridge between research on AGB stars themselves and their applications to the modelling of stellar populations and the chemical evolution of galaxies. Our understanding of these complex stars is given using insights into many aspects of physics and chemistry, while very high-angular resolution observations of AGB stars and their surroundings provide strong constraints on stellar theory and how they lose matter through strong stellar winds. This volume also highlights the difficulties in estimating the importance of AGB stars for various aspects of galaxies. Current developments and challenges of these complex objects are discussed for a broad, interdisciplinary audience of astronomers.

Dunkle Energie - sie ist uberall und durchdringt den Kosmos. Aber was bewirkt sie und woraus besteht sie, und wie koennen wir sie uberhaupt erkennen? Dunkle Materie - unsichtbar und doch mit grossem Einfluss auf machtige Materieansammlungen und riesige Galaxienhaufen. Was koennen wir uber sie erfahren? Auch die dritte Auflage dieses beliebten Werkes nimmt die Leser wieder mit auf eine spannende Reise durch die Dunklen Komponenten des Kosmos und bis an die Grenzen unseres Wissens. Dunkle Materie und Dunkle Energie haben offensichtlich einen gemeinsamen Ursprung, und dieser zwingt sie zu einem Wettstreit, dessen Ausgang fur die Zukunft des Universums von entscheidender Bedeutung ist. Anschaulich und verstandlich erlautern die Autoren was die heutige Physik uber Dunkle Energie und Dunkle Materie sagen kann. Dabei diskutieren sie modernste Erkenntnisse, kritisieren Theorien und zeichnen ein Bild unseres aktuellen Wissensstandes. Neben neuen physikalischen Exkursen enthalt die dritte Auflage dieses Werkes nun auch ausgewahlte, im Lehrbuchstil ausgearbeitete theoretische Einschube, die den interessierten Leser dazu einladen, grundlegende Konzepte der theoretischen Physik mit einfachen mathematischen Mitteln selbst nachzuvollziehen. Somit richtet sich das Buch nicht nur an interessierte Laien, sondern auch an Studierende der Naturwissenschaften, die den erlernten Stoff einmal aus einem anderen Blickwinkel betrachtet kennenlernen moechten. Ein spannendes Buch fur Leser aller Altersstufen und Fachrichtungen und fur alle, die mehr uber unser Universum und dessen Zukunft wissen wollen.

A ground-breaking study of the astronomical culture of sixteenth-century Europe. It examines, in particular, the ways in which members of the nascent international astronomical community shared information, attracted patronage and respect for their work, and conducted their disputes. Particular attention is paid to the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546???1601), known for his observatory Uraniborg on the island of Hven, his operation of a printing press, and his development of a third world-system to rival those of Ptolemy and Copernicus. Adam Mosley examines the ways in which Tycho interacted with a Europe-wide network of scholars, looking not only at how he constructed his reputation through print, but also his use of correspondence and the role that instruments played as vehicles for data and theories. The book will be of interest to historians of science, historians of the book, and historians of early modern culture in general.

Astrobiology is the study of the origin and development of life on this and other planets. What fascinates people about astrobiology is that it seeks answers to long-standing unsolved questions: How quickly did life evolve on Earth and why did life persist here? Is there life elsewhere in the Solar System or beyond? The research of astrobiology has become more crucial than ever in recent decades, as biologists have discovered microbes that live in ever more extreme settings, such as bubbling hot springs, in acid, or deep within rocks. Rooted in strong and rigorous research, astrobiology incorporates the work of microbiologists, geologists, and astronomers. In this Very Short Introduction, David C. Catling introduces the origins of astrobiology and demonstrates its impact on current astronomical research and potential future discoveries. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Questo secondo volume prosegue la breve trattazione sulle catastrofi naturali. E la volta delle catastrofi dell acqua e dell aria, spesso sui giornali quando un uragano o un inondazione colpiscono il nostro pianeta. E anche delle minacce cosmiche, rare ma in grado di annientare la nostra civilta.

Vedremo quegli straordinari eventi di cui conosciamo l esistenza dallo studio degli strati geologici e dei fossili, ma la cui causa e ancora avvolta nel mistero. Si tratta delle estinzioni di massa, episodi in cui la biosfera e cambiata in maniera improvvisa e drammatica a causa di una catastrofe globale.

Tra un aneddoto e una digressione sulle basi scientifiche dei fenomeni e passando attraverso qualche caso di studio, si incuriosisce il lettore su un tema importante e coinvolgente.

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A wonderful supplement to any homeschool curriculum, this book emphasizes the history of civilization from a biblical perspective with terms, definitions, and chapter tests. Students receive an excellent knowledge of people and places in this middle school level book.

This book tells the inside story of Germany's first contributions to space research by experiments with artificial plasma clouds in space. In this autobiography, Gerhard Haerendel, former director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, describes his 60 adventurous years in space research. The narrative of exciting events-covering 40 years of rocket and satellite work-is underpinned with accessible accounts of the actual physical phenomena and processes involved. The reader also learns about how the goals set by a visionary astrophysicist eventually led to one of Germany's first major contributions to space research by the creation of artificial comets in the solar wind. Haerendel's efforts also led to two further satellite programs, one in partnership with Sweden, focusing on the aurora borealis, the other, a national German endeavor, to explore the outer border of the magnetosphere. A further interesting chapter concerns his engagement in the evaluation and restructuring of eastern German Academy institutes after reunification. All readers interested in space research and its history will enjoy sharing the fascinating experiences and dramatic events that accompany the story throughout, even some spectacular failures relating to rocket campaigns.

Providing an up-to-date overview of research in the field of high-mass X-ray binaries, this volume consists of the contributions made at IAU Symposium 346. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it includes reviews on massive star winds and HMXB donors, Be Stars in the X-ray binary context, dynamical versus isolated formation channels of gravitational-wave sources, HMXBs as progenitors of double compact objects, HMXBs in the Early Universe and their impact in cosmology and gravitational wave astrophysics, as well as the summary review 'High Mass X-ray Binaries: Beacons in a Stormy Universe'. This Symposium provides a bridge between the relatively mature field of massive binary astrophysics and the newly emerging field of gravitational wave astronomy, indicating the future development of this growing branch of astrophysics. It is essential reading for graduate students and researchers who are looking to gain a general overview of current research activity on X-ray binaries.

Light our experience of light, our measurement of light, and the notion that light speed is constant can be understood to mark our interface with the cosmos. David A. Grandy's book moves from the scientific to the existential, from Einstein to Merleau-Ponty, from light as a phenomenon to light as that which is constitutive of reality. To measure the speed of light is to measure something about the way we are measured or blended into the cosmos, and that universal blending predetermines our measurement of light speed in favor of a universal or constant value. It's quite a trip, one aimed at scientists who have pondered light speed constancy, philosophers inclined to question the idea that mind and world are distinct, and scientifically or philosophically inclined persons who enjoy stretching themselves in new ways."

This textbook presents an introduction to the use of probability in physics, treating introductory ideas of both statistical physics and of statistical inference, as well the importance of probability in information theory, quantum mechanics, and stochastic processes, in a unified manner. The book also presents a harmonised view of frequentist and Bayesian approaches to inference, emphasising their complementary value. The aim is to steer a middle course between the "cookbook" style and an overly dry mathematical statistics style. The treatment is driven by real physics examples throughout, but developed with a level of mathematical clarity and rigour appropriate to mid-career physics undergraduates. Exercises and solutions are included.

Almost daily all over the world, accounts of UFO sightings, close encounters with ufonauts and even claims of alien abduction are reported. But far from being a recent phenomenon, research shows that inexplicable objects had been seen in Earth's skies for thousands of years. Yet controversy still rages over UFOs. Many people refuse to believe that UFO reports are anything more than hoaxes, hallucinations or merely the results of human error. And until now an objective, historical single volume catalogue of UFO sightings has not previously been available to the general public. Now, at last, readers can make up their own minds about the true nature of the UFO phenomenon. UFO Witness Sightings describes hundreds of UFO reports in chronological order from ancient Egypt to the present day. All the landmark cases are included, such as the 1961 Betty and Barney abduction claim and the Trindade Island photographs. Illustrated with more than 350 colour and black-and-white photographs and artworks, UFO Witness Sightings is written by a UFO expert and will appeal to anyone interested in the world of the unexplained.