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Books > Science & Mathematics > Astronomy, space & time > Solar system > General
The book presents the most recent developments of laboratory studies in astrophysics and space research. The individual chapters review laboratory investigations under simulated space conditions, studies for the design of successful space experiments or for supporting the interpretation of astronomical and space mission recorded data. Related theoretical models, numerical simulations and in situ observations demonstrate the necessity of experimental work on the Earth's surface. The expertise of the contributing scientists covers a broad spectrum and is included in general overviews from fundamental science to recent space technology. The book intends to serve as a reference for researchers and graduate students on the most recent activities and results in laboratory astrophysics, and to give reviews of their applications in astronomy, planetology, cosmochemistry, space research and Solar System exploration.
J 2 J. MICHAEL SHl: LL, HARLEY A. THRO: \SOX, JR., A: '>D S. ALAN STER: \3 I University of Colorado, Dept. of Astrophysical. Planetary, &. Atmospheric Sciences 2 University of Wyoming and KASA Headquarters, Code SR 3 Southwest Research Institute, Boulder Office On May 15-17. 1995, three Rocky Motultain research institutions hosted a confererJce to dis cuss the scientific basis, teclmological options, and programmatic implications of a large-scale effort to find and study Earth-like planets outside the Solar System. Our workshop attracted scientists, erJgineers, space agency administrators, and the public media to discuss and debate the most promising teclmological options and opportunities. Major programs and proposals to search for and study exo-planets were preserJted and discussed. In addition, our meeting - incided .with NASA's "roadmap" study for the Exploration of Neighboring Planetary Systems ( "'\PS). Our meeting was the first international confererJce on this subject, affording an op portunity for several members of this study to participate in the debates over new technologies. Our meeting proyed to be timely. Shortly thereafter, in late 199.5 and early 1996, two groups of astronomers annotulced the first discoveries of planetary companions to nearby stars. using high-precision radial velocity measuremerJts to detect the gravitational reflex motion of the star. The first three detections include a Jupiter-mass companion to the solar-like star. 51 Pegasi, and two remarkable objects of mass at least 2. 3 and 6."
The inner magnetosphere plasma is a very unique composition of different plasma particles and waves. It covers a huge energy plasma range with spatial and time variations of many orders of magnitude. In such a situation, the kinetic approach is the key element, and the starting point of the theoretical description of this plasma phenomena which requires a dedicated book to this particular area of research.
Every year Earth is bombarded with about 40,000 tons of extraterrestrial material. This includes microscopic cosmic dust particles shed by comets and asteroids in outer space, meteorites, as well as large comets and asteroids that have led to catastrophic events in the geologic past. Originally considered only a curiosity, extraterrestrial matter found on Earth provides the only samples we have from comets, asteroids and other planets. Only recently mankind has started to actively collect extraterrestrial matter in space (Apollo program, Stardust mission) rather than to wait for its delivery to Earth. Still, most of our knowledge of the origin and evolution of our solar system is based on careful studies of meteorites, cosmic dust, and traces of large impact events in the geologic record such as the mass extinction that terminated the Cretaceous Period and led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. This book summarizes our current knowledge of the properties, origin, orbital evolution and accretion mechanism of extraterrestrial matter accreted on Earth and sheds light on accretion processes and fluxes in the geologic past. The chapters in the first part of the book are arranged in order to follow extraterrestrial matter from its origin in space, its orbital evolution on its way to Earth, its interaction with the Earth magnetosphere and atmosphere to its more or less violent collision with the Earth's surface. In the second part of the book several chapters deal with the present?day flux of cosmic dust and meteorites to Earth. Finally, several chapters deal with the reconstruction of the accretion history of extraterrestrial matter on Earth, starting with the most recent geologic past and ending with the very early, violent accretion period shortly after the formation of Earth, Moon and other solid planets in our solar system.
This volume contains the reviews and poster papers presented at the workshop Solar Convection and Oscillations and their Relationship: SCORe '96, held in Arhus, Denmark, May 27 - 31, 1996. The aim of this workshop was to bring together experts in the fields of convection and helioseismology, and to stimulate collaborations and joint research. The participation to this workshop was purposely kept limited in order to provide optimal conditions for informal discussions. In autumn of 199,5 the long-awaited GONG network of solar telescopes became fully operational and the first data already show significant improvement over existing datasets on solar oscillations. Furthermore, in December of 1995 the satellite SOHO was launched which, together with GONG, provides a major step forward in both the quantity and the quality of available solar oscillation data. It is with this in mind that we decided to organize the workshop to prepare for the optimal use of this wealth of data, with which to deepen our understanding of solar structure and specifically, of one of the longest-standing problems in solar and stellar modelling: the treatment of convection.
The articles in this volume cover, for the first time, all aspects of planetary magnetism, from the observations made by space missions to their interpretation in terms of the properties of all the planets in the solar system. Studies of dynamo-generated magnetic fields in Mercury, the Earth, the giant planets, as well as in Ganymede, one of Jupiter s moons, are presented. Crustal magnetic field in Mars, the Mon and the Earth are described as well as magnetic fields induced in the solar system bodies. There are several articles dealing with dynamo theory and modelling and applications to the different planets."
Magnetism is one of the basic properties of matter. Mankind has trav elled a long road in discovering and utilizing magnetism, and in this respect the ancient Chinese people have made outstanding contribu tions. In the book 'Lu's Spring and Autumn', written near the end of the Warring States Period, i. e. in the third century B. C. , there is a statement on the "attraction of iron by lodestones". So at that time it was known that magnets can attract ferromagnetic material. At the be ginning ofthe first century A. D. , viz. in the early years ofthe East Hang Dynasty, the famous scholar Wang Chong wrote in his masterpiece 'Len Hen' that the handle of a magnetic dipper pointed to the south. It was thus discovered at the time that magnets can point to the poles of the geomagnetic field. At the beginning of the twelfth century, during the reign of Emperor Hui of the Sung Dynasty, in the two books written by Zhu Yo and Xu Jin, respectively, there are descriptions of the com pass used in navigation. This tells us that the application of compasses was rather widespread at that time. The distinguished scientist Sen Go (1031-1085) discovered the declination of the terrestrial magnetic field. This is four hundred and more years earlier than its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492 during his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Such facts as these manifest the important contributions of ancient China to global civilization.
As in the days following Skylab, solar physics came to the end of an era when the So lar Maximum Mission re-entered the earth's atmosphere in December 1989. The 1980s had been a pioneering decade not only in space- and ground-based studies of the solar atmosphere (Solar Maximum Mission, Hinotori, VLA, Big Bear, Nanc;ay, etc.) but also in solar-terrestrial relations (ISEE, AMPTE), and solar interior neutrino and helioseismol ogy studies. The pace of development in related areas of theory (nuclear, atomic, MHD, beam-plasma) has been equally impressive. All of these raised tantalizing further questions about the structure and dynamics of the Sun as the prototypical and best observed star. This Advanced Study Institute was timed at a pivotal point between that decade and the realisation of Yohkoh, Ulysses, SOHO, GRANAT, Coronas, and new ground-based optical facilities such as LEST and GONG, so as to teach and inspire the up and coming young solar researchers of the 1990s. The topics, lecturers, and students were all chosen with this goal in mind, and the result seems to have been highly successful by all reports."
Based on lectures given at a CNRS summer school in France, this book covers many aspects of stellar environments (both observational and theoretical) and offers a broad overview of the field. More specifically, Part I of the book focuses on the Sun, the properties of the ejected plasma, of the solar wind and on space weather. The second part deals with tides in planetary systems and in binary stellar systems, as well as with interactions in massive binary stars as seen by interferometry. Finally the chapters of Part III discuss the very close environments of young stars; Stellar Winds, Magnetic Fields and Disks; Magnetic field and convection in the cool supergiant Betelgeuse; The formation of circumstellar disks around evolved stars; and an introduction to accretion disks is given. With its broad approach the book will provide graduate students with a good overview of the environments of the Sun and stars.
Continuum radio emission and fine structure (in particular millisecond spikes) have recently raised interest as diagnostic tools for the interpretation of energy release and particle acceleration in flares. In the circles of the European solar radio astronomers, loosely organized in CESRA, the idea of a workshop came up intended for active observers of the impulsive phase of flares in radio and associated emissions. The scientific organizing committee included A.D. Benz (chairman), A. Magun, M. Pick, G. Trottet, and P. Zlobec. The workshop was held on May 27-31, 1985 in the castle of Duino near Trieste, Italy. The meeting intended to find a common terminology, to compare radio observations with measurements in other emissions and to confront observations with theoretical concepts. We have achieved a representative summary on the current status of the field and a clear perspective for the next cycle. This volume contains the reviews and a selection of contributions and extended abstracts of papers presented at the workshop. I wish to thank the local organizers, in particular A. Abrami, M. Comari, F. Depolli, L. Fornasari, M. Messerotti (chairman), M. Nonino, and P. Zlobec. Financial support was graciously provided by the Italian Research Council (CNR). Most of all, however, I would like to express my thankfulness to our host, His Highness Prince Raimondo della Torre e Tasso, for his invaluable hospitality. We are deeply sorry to hear of his passing in the meantime. To his memory these proceedings are dedicated.
Beyond the four centuries of sunspot observation and the five decades during which artificial satellites have monitored the Sun that is to say for 99.99999% of the Sun 's existence our knowledge of solar history depends largely on analogy with kindred main sequence stars, on the outcome of various kinds of modelling, and on indirect measures of solar activity. They include the analysis of lunar rocks and meteorites for evidence of solar flares and other components of the solar cosmic-ray (SCR) flux, and the measurement of cosmogenic isotopes in wood, stratified ice and marine sediments to evaluate changes in the galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) flux and thus infer changes in the sheltering magnetic fields of the solar wind. In addition, shifts in the global atmospheric circulation which appear to result from cyclic fluctuations in solar irradiance have left their mark in river sediments and in the isotopic composition of cave deposits. In this volume the results these sources have already produced have been summarised, paying special attention to those that reflect processes in different parts of the Sun 's interior and that display periodicities and trends which may enable us to forecast future large-scale environmental changes.
The purpose of the book is a dual one: to detail the nature and results of Tunguska investigations in the former USSR and present-day CIS, and to destroy two long-standing myths still held in the West. The first concerns alleged "final solutions" that have ostensibly been found in Russia or elsewhere. The second concerns the mistaken belief that there has been little or no progress in understanding the nature of the Tunguska phenomenon. All this is treated by the author in a scholarly and responsible manner. Although the book does present certain unusual findings of Russian and Ukrainian scholars, it is important to stress that this is not a sensational book; it is, rather, a serious exposition of the results of rational investigations into a difficult scientific problem. We are demonstrating the true complexity of the problem that is now entering its second century of existence. Simple meteoritic models cannot explain all the characteristics of this complicated event, and therefore certain so-called "unconventional hypotheses" about the nature of the Tunguska explosion are to be considered as well.
Solar physics in India has a tradition that can be traced to the setting up of the Kodaikanal Observatory in 1899 when the Madras Observatory was relocated to a high altitude site with a view to initiate observations of the sun. This conference on Magnetic Coupling between the Interior and the Atmosphere of the Sun during 2-5 December 2008 was planned to coincide with centenary of the Evershed effect discovery at Kodaikanal in 1909. The aim of this meeting was to bring to a critical focus a comprehensive - derstanding of the important issues pertaining to solar magnetism with particular emphasis on the various MHD processes that operate in the solar atmosphere. The current status of magnetic eld measurements and their implications in the light of recenttheoriesandnumericalmodelingthataddressthe fundamentalscalesandp- cessesinthehighlymagnetizedturbulentplasmawerereviewedduringthismeeting. The meeting was timely for the following reasons: Space observations such as from SOHO and TRACE have provided a wealth of multiwavelength observations onprocessesoccurringinregionsofthe atmosphereextendingfromthe photosphere up to the outer corona. With the launch of Hinode and STEREO in 2006 and of SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) shortly, this conference provided a platform for in-depth discussions on new results from various space missions as well as a comparison with ground-based observing facilities such as the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. Using sophisticated image processing techniques, such telescopes r- tinelygenerateobservationswitharesolutionbetterthan0. 1arcsec,therebyyielding more informative diagnostics for instance of the microstructure of ux tubes.
This book presents basic information on material science (geochemistry, geophysics, geology, mineralogy, etc.), interaction between subsystem consisting earth system (atmosphere, hydrosphere, litho (geo) sphere, biosphere, humans) and in earth-planet system and evolution of earth-planetary system. The nature-humans interactions are described and new view on earth, planets and humans (integration of anthropocentrism and naturecentrism) are presented.
Leading researchers in the area of the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe contributed to Exobiology: Matter, Energy, and Information in the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Universe. This volume provides a review of this interdisciplinary field. In 50 chapters many aspects that contribute to exobiology are reviewed by 90 authors. These include: historical perspective of biological evolution; cultural aspects of exobiology, cosmic, chemical and biological evolution, molecular biology, geochronology, biogeochemistry, biogeology, and planetology. Some of the current missions are discussed. Other subjects in the frontier of exobiology are reviewed, such as the search for planets outside the solar system, and the possible manifestation of intelligence in those new potential environments. The SETI research effort is well represented in this general overview of exobiology. This book is the proceedings of the Fifth Trieste Conference on Chemical Evolution that took place in September 1997. The volume is dedicated to the memory of Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam who suggested the initiation of the Trieste conferences on chemical evolution and the origin of life. Audience: Graduate students and researchers in the many areas of basic, earth, and life sciences that contribute to the study of chemical evolution and the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe.
In this volume of essays, the top experts and major players behind
the United States's recently renewed push to the moon fuel a
growing debate over lunar exploration. The announcement in 2004
that the U.S. would be revamping its moon program inspired both
excitement about the possibilities and concern over cost and safety
issues. This book takes the controversy out of the realm of pure
science and into the mainstream of national debate. Lunar experts
Alan Binder, Andy Chaikin, Yoji Kondo, Courtney Stadd, Frank White,
and many others weigh in on the case for a return, point out the
best way to do it, and speculate on what could be done with this
newly obtained real estate. The essays are accompanied by
illustrations of what life on the moon might look like.
Contributions come from different perspectives and styles, offering
a broad take on the very real possibility that humans will again
walk-- and work, live, and play-- on the lunar landscape. From
telescopes and tourism, to training for Mars, to building a new
branch of humanity and saving the Earth, this compendium makes the
case for sending people back to the moon.
This book represents Volume II of the Proceedings of the UN/ESA/NASA Workshop on the International Heliophysical Year 2007 and Basic Space Science, hosted by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, 18 - 22 June, 2007. It covers two programme topics explored in this and past workshops of this nature: (i) non-extensive statistical mechanics as applicable to astrophysics, addressing q-distribution, fractional reaction and diffusion, and the reaction coefficient, as well as the Mittag-Leffler function and (ii) the TRIPOD concept, developed for astronomical telescope facilities. The companion publication, Volume I of the proceedings of this workshop, is a special issue in the journal Earth, Moon, and Planets, Volume 104, Numbers 1-4, April 2009.
K. O. KIEPENHEUER ( Fraunhofer Institut, Freiburg i. Br., Germany) The present symposium, to my knowledge the largest ever held in the field of solar research (170 astronomers from 21 countries) was held in the building of the Hun garian Academy of Sciences in Budapest from September 4 to 8, 1967. It was the 35th symposium organized and sponsored by the International Astronomical Union. The majority of participants were financedfrom national sources. The Organizing Commit tee consisted of K. O. Kiepenheuer (Chairman), L. Davis, L. Dezso (Local Organizer), A.D. Fokker, R. Michard, A.B. Severny, H.J. Smith, Z. Svestka, and H. Tanaka. In order to ensure prompt publication, the manuscripts had to be supplied by the authors 1 month after the meeting. The discussions have been recorded on tape. Their reproduction in this book, however, is based almost completely on the contributors' writing down their comments and questions on the spot. Two special projects have been reported and discussed shortly during the sym posium: The world wide project 'Cooperative Study of Solar Active Regions' (CSSAR) organized by Dr. R. Michard, under the auspices of the IAU, which has put at the disposal of our solar community a precious observing material on Active Regions over a period of 6 months."
Astronomical jets are key astrophysical phenomena observed in gamma-ray bursts, active galactic nuclei or young stars. Research on them has largely occurred within the domains of astronomical observations, astrophysical modeling and numerical simulations, but the recent advent of high energy density facilities has added experimental control to jet studies. Front-line research on jet launching and collimation requires a highly interdisciplinary approach and an elevated level of sophistication. Bridging the gaps between pure magnetohydrodynamics, thermo-chemical evolution, high angular resolution spectro-imaging and laboratory experiments is no small matter. This volume strives to bridge those very gaps. It offers a series of lectures which, taken as whole, act as a thorough reference for the foundations of this discipline. These lectures address the following: * laboratory jets physics from laser and z-pinch plasma experiments, * the magnetohydrodynamic theory of relativistic and non-relativistic stationary jets, * heating mechanisms in magnetohydrodynamic jets, from the solar magnetic reconnection to the molecular shock heating perspectives, * atomic and molecular microphysics of jet shocked material. In addition to the lectures, the book offers, in closing, a presentation of a series of observational diagnostics, thus allowing for the recovery of basic physical quantities from jet emission lines.
Mars, the most habitable of our sister planets, holds a special place in our imaginations and in our space exploration program. Fully half of NASA's planetary exploration effort is now devoted to Mars. Key questions include: Has Mars ever harbored life? Is there life on Mars now? Will humans be able to survive on the Martian surface? Answers to these questions lie in determining the present location of water on Mars and its likely inventory in the past, and in determining the present radiation environment of Mars. The 2001 Mars Odyssey Mission contributes greatly these answers by detecting near-surface water through measurements of neutron flux, from the detection of carbonates, and the quantification of its radiation environment. This book captures the objectives, the design of the mission and the details of the instruments carried to Mars. It should be of interest to every scientist interested in participating in the on-going exploration of Mars from graduate students to senior scientists as it provides the background information essential to interpret the many exciting results now appearing from the mission.
Overview xiii COMETS IN PERSON 1 A Comet Passes 3 COMETS IN GENERAL 2 Anatomy of a Ghost 27 3 Dirty Snowballs and the Nurseries of Leviathans 51 4 The Spectacular Deaths of Comets 61 5 Swords of Damocles 86 6 Observing and Discovering Comets 110 HALLEY AND THE SHORT PERIOD COMETS 7 Halley and Its Periodic Kin 133 8 Through the Ages with Halley's Comet 157 COMETS WILD 9 What Makes a Comet Great? 197 10 The Comets Before 1700 204 11 The Comets from 1700 to 1995 229 vii viii COMET OF THE CENTURY THE LATEST GREATS 12 The Grand Approach of Comet Hale-Bopp 273 13 Hyakutake Lightning 291 14 A Narrative Calendar for Observing Hale-Bopp 305 15 Comet of the Century 328 Appendix A: Periodic Comet Numbers 331 Appendix B: Great Comets in History 335 AppendixC: Closest Comets in History 339 Appendix D: Celestial Coordinates 344 Appendix E: Orbital Elements 346 Appendix F: Comet Brightness Formula and Estimating Brightness 348 AppendixG: How to Report a Comet Discovery 351 AppendixH: Ephemeris for Comet Hale-Bopp 354 Glossary 359 Sources of Information 367 Credits 371 Generaiindex 373 Comet Index 381 PRtl7ACt This book may be loaded with a richness of facts, but what it's about, through and through, is simple and blazing: the way comets, throughout history, and up to the present, have stirred the human spirit.
This book focuses on the recent advances in our understanding of solar convection and activity, and on new methods and results of helioseismic diagnostics. It provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of the field and presents new ideas and approaches.
NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) was launched on August 25, 1997, carrying six high-resolution spectrometers that measure the abundances of the elements, isotopes, and ionic charge states of energetic nuclei in space. Data from these instruments is being used to measure and compare the composition of the solar corona, the nearby interstellar medium, and cosmic-ray sources in the Galaxy, and to study particle acceleration processes in a variety of environments. ACE also includes three instruments that monitor solar wind and energetic particle activity near the inner Lagrangian point, "1.5 million kilometers sunward of Earth, and provide continuous, real-time data to NOAA for use in forecasting space weather. Eleven of the articles in this volume review scientific progress and outline questions that ACE will address in solar, space-plasma, and cosmic-ray physics. Other articles describe the ACE spacecraft, the real-time solar-wind system, and the instruments used to measure energetic particle composition.
Due to its specific chemical and physical properties, water is essential for life on Earth. And it is assumed that this would be the case for extraterrestrial life as well. Therefore it is important to investigate where water can be found in the Universe. Although there are places that are completely dry, places where the last rainfall happened probably several 100 million years ago, surprisingly this substance is quite omnipresent. In the outer solar system the large satellites of Jupiter and Saturn are covered by a thick layer of ice that could be hiding a liquid ocean below. This of course brings up the question of whether the recently detected extrasolar planets could have some water on their surfaces and how we can detect this. Water molecules are also found in interstellar gas and dust clouds. This book begins with an introductory chapter reviewing the physical and chemical properties of water. Then it illuminates the apparent connection between water and life. This is followed by chapters dealing with our current knowledge of water in the solar system, followed by a discussion concerning the potential presence and possible detection of water on exoplanets. The signature of water in interstellar space and stars are reviewed before the origin of water in the Universe is finally discussed. The book ends with an appendix on detection methods, satellite missions and astrophysical concepts touched upon in the main parts of the book. The search for water in the Universe is related to the search for extraterrestrial life and is of fundamental importance for astrophysics, astrobiology and other related topics. This book therefore addresses students and researchers in these fields.
Today many scientists recognize plasma as the key element in understanding new observations in interplanetary and interstellar space, in stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies, and throughout the observable universe. Plasma astrophysics and cosmology, as a unified discipline, cover topics such as the large scale structure and filamentation of the universe; the microwave background; the formation of galaxies and magnetic fields; active galactic nuclei and quasars; the origin and abundance of light elements; star formation and the evolution of solar systems; redshift periodicities and anomalous redshifts; general relativity; electric fields; the acceleration of charged particles to high energies; and cosmic rays. Plasma Astrophysics and Cosmology is an update on the observations made in radio, optical, and high-energy astrophysics, especially over the last decade, and addresses the paradigm changing discoveries made by the planetary probes and satellites, radio telescopes, and the Hubble space telescope. Over twenty contributors, all distinguished plasma scientists, present an entirely new picture of the nature of our plasma universe with articles ranging from the popular level to advanced topics in plasma cosmology. |
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