The authors, leading representatives of Russian space research and industry, show the results and future prospects of astronautics at the start of the third millennium. The focus is on the development of astronautics in Russia in the new historical and economic conditions, but the book also covers the development in the USA, Europe, China, Japan, and India. It spotlights the basic trends in space related issues: necessary restructuring of space industry and spaceports, improvement of carrier rockets, booster units, spacecraft, and component elements. The possibilities of the wide use of space technologies and its numerous applications such as navigation and communication, space manufacturing, space biotechnology, pollution research, etc. are described. The book contains a huge amount of facts described in a way understandable without specialist knowledge and accompanied by many photographs, charts and diagrams, mostly in color. Therefore the book will be interesting both to experts and to lay readers.

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.

• A guide to viewing stars, the moon, planets, meteors, comets, and aurora through binoculars
• Features a foreword by renowned astronomer and writer David Levy
• Includes a complete guide to current binocular brands and models and explains what to look for in each season

Many people assume that amateur stargazers must invest hundreds or even thousands of dollars in equipment before they can enjoy the wonders of the night sky. The truth is, though, that all you need is a simple pair of binoculars. This handy, easy-to-follow guide explains how to observe everything from the moon to meteor showers with binoculars and provides safety tips for viewing eclipses. It also includes separate sections for winter, spring, summer, and fall that give advice on what to look for and how to optimize your viewing. Ideal for budding astronomers of all ages, Binocular Stargazing is the perfect way to see the night sky through new eyes.

What do we know about the origins of the Universe, and more important, how do we know it? In a small, easy-to-read package, this book introduces you to all of the important ideas about the Big Bang and its consequences. Craig Hogan explains what happened in the early days of the universe, why we think it's expanding (and how the expansion can look the same from everyplace at once), different ways the universe could end, and the meaning of such terms as "cosmic inflation," "cosmic background radiation," and "dark matter." For everyone who has always wondered just what the cosmologists are talking about but could never find the basics explained clearly and simply, this is the book to read.

From the Nasa astronaut who spent a record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station - what it's like out there and what it's like now, back here. Enter Scott Kelly's fascinating world and dare to think of your own a little differently.

The veteran of four space flights and the American record holder for most consecutive days spent in space, Scott Kelly has experienced things very few of us ever have and very few of us ever will. Kelly's humanity, compassion, humour, and passion shine as he describes navigating the extreme challenge of long-term spaceflight, both existential and banal. He touches on what's happened to his body, the sadness of being isolated from everyone he loves; the pressures of constant close cohabitation; the catastrophic risks of colliding with space junk, and the still more haunting threat of being absent should tragedy strike at home.

From a natural storyteller, Endurance is one of the finest examples the triumph of the human imagination, the strength of the human will, and the boundless wonder of the galaxy.

Camille Flammarion (1842-1925) began his career at 16 as a human computer under the great mathematician U. J. J. Le Verrier at the Paris Observatory. He soon tired of the drudgery; he was drawn to more romantic vistas, and at 19 wrote a book on an idea that he was to make his own-the habitability of other worlds. There followed a career as France's greatest popularizer of astronomy, with over 60 titles to his credit. An admirer granted him a chateau at Juvisy-sur-l'Orge, and he set up a first-rate observatory dedicated to the study of the planet Mars. Finally, in 1892, he published his masterpiece, La Planete Mars et ses conditions d'habitabilite, a comprehensive summary of three centuries' worth of literature on Mars, much of it based on his own personal research into rare memoirs and archives. As a history of that era, it has never been surpassed, and remains one of a handful of indispensable books on the red planet. Sir Patrick Moore (1923-2012) needs no introduction; his record of popularizing astronomy in Britain in the 20th century equaled Flammarion's in France in the 19th century. Moore pounded out hundreds of books as well as served as presenter of the BBC's TV program "Sky at Night" program for 55 years (a world record). Though Moore always insisted that the Moon was his chef-d'oeuvre, Mars came a close second, and in 1980 he produced a typescript of Flammarion's classic. Unfortunately, even he found the project too daunting for his publish ers and passed the torch of keeping the project alive to a friend, the amateur astronomer and author William Sheehan, in 1993. Widely regarded as a leading historian of the planet Mars, Sheehan has not only meticulously compared and corrected Moore's manuscript against Flammarion's original so as to produce an authoritative text, he has added an important introduction showing the book's significance in the history of Mars studies. Here results a book that remains an invaluable resource and is also a literary tour-de-force, in which the inimitable style of Flammarion has been rendered in the equally unique style of Moore.

There are as many different kinds of stars as there are stars themselves. Each an individual, every one unique. In this arresting and lavishly illustrated volume, noted astronomy writer and teacher Jim Kaler choose 100 stars to illustrate the mind-boggling variety of the stars' shapes and sizes, their immense ages, and the vast range of configurations in which they exist.||From AG Draconis to Z Andromedae, this alphabetically arranged volume first lists each star's resident constellation, its class, its apparent brightness as viewed from Earth, its distance from our Sun, and its visual luminosity. Then the real story begins. In choosing his "top 100," Kaler has aimed not just at providing a representative sample of the Universe's extraordinarily diverse population, but at capturing their complexity, their dynamism, and the amazing view they provide into the extraordinary physical forces at play in the Universe.||James B. Kaler is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has held both Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, and has been awarded medals for his work from the University of Liege (Belgium) and the University of Mexico. He is the author of six books and dozens of articles on astronomy, including The Little Book of Stars (Copernicus Books, 2000) and lectures frequently. He also directs and maintains several educational websites, including the highly regarded and award-winning "Stars of the Week" site at the University of Illinois: http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sow.html.||Reviews:||¿Most people know about Sirius, Canopus and Antares, but not everyone will be familiar with EG 129, HZ 21 and Polaris Australis, the dim star close to the south pole of the sky. Enter The Hundred Greatest Stars by James Kaler...Following a very clear general introduction to stellar astronomy, Kaler embarks on an informative tour through his hundred favourite stars, each given a page of text with an appropriate illustration on the facing page¿The really clever aspect of the book is that as well as describing the hundred stars, often bringing out aspects which are unfamiliar, Kaler succeeds in giving an excellent broad survey of recent developments in stellar astronomy. As is to be expected, the text is immensely authoritative¿The illustrations are beautiful...¿|¿New Scientist

Space is spectacular This short, informative and engaging guide to the wonders of the universe will fascinate and inspire readers of all ages There's never been a more exciting time to learn about space. As new rockets are launched and fresh discoveries are made, humanity's urge to explore and understand what's going on out there keeps evolving and expanding. But you don't need to have Einstein-level training to grasp the science and ponder the big questions. This little book covers everything from the Big Bang and the formation of the planets in our solar system, and how to spot them in the night sky, to a timeline of firsts and major events, including the Apollo missions, Elon Musk's SpaceX programme and Tim Peake's Principia mission. Packed with awe-inspiring facts and profiles of key figures, it will take you on an out-of-this-world adventure to the stars and back. Among the many fascinating questions the book will answer are these: How big is the universe and how was it formed? How many meteorites crash into Earth every day? Could humans one day live on Mars? Are we alone in the universe?

New interferometers as the VLTI, the Keck-I and CHARA along with their sophisticated instrumentation have provided new levels of accuracy, spectral resolution and access to various spectral bands from the optical to the thermal infrared. Investigations are now enabled on a wealth of astrophysical sources with unprecedented levels of angular resolution and sensitivity, producing a considerable body of new, exciting scientific results.

Celebrating the completion of the first phase of the VLTI development, the organisors of the ESO workshop "The Power of Optical/IR Interferometry," held in April 2005, saw an opportunity to invite the community to come together to review and discuss not just interferometers, but science with interferometers and its impact on astronomy as a whole. The workshop was also intended to showcase ideas and concepts for the future of interferometry, and in particular for the second generation of VLTI instrumentation.

This volume contains the proceedings of this workshop and serves as reference for astronomers working with optical and infrared interferometry.

Astronomy Across Cultures: A History of Non-Western Astronomy consists of essays dealing with the astronomical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Polynesian, Egyptian and Tibetan astronomy, among others, the book includes essays on Sky Tales and Why We Tell Them and Astronomy and Prehistory, and Astronomy and Astrology. The essays address the connections between science and culture and relate astronomical practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay is well illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.

The Little Book of Planet Earth presents a concise description of the geological evolution of Earth from its formation. Meissner describes in detailed but accessible prose not just the planet's features, but the tools that modern geologists use to explore and track the ever-changing subterranean and surface features of the planet. With a particular gift for expressing how the forces in and around our planet constantly alter the world we live in, the author introduces lay readers to the key topics in modern earth and planetary science: the creation of Earth and its moon (as well as stars and other planets), the role of seismology in analyzing Earth's structure, the formation of mountain ranges and basins, the role of plate tectonics, the significance of Earth's magnetic field, and the complex relationship of our planet's geology to the life forms found there.

Planetary nebulae are the classic subject of astrophysics. The physical pro cesses occurring in this highly ionized gaseous medium, the formation of emis sion lines in clearly specified conditions, the continuous emission extending from the far ultraviolet up to infrared and radio frequencies, the generation of exotic forms of radiation predicted by atomic physics, along with methods for deciphering the observed spectra and detecting physical and kinematic parameters of the radiating medium, etc. - all these problems form the solid foundations of the physical theory of gaseous nebulae. They are an essential part of the arsenal of powerful tools and concepts without which one cannot imagine understanding and interpreting the enormous diversity of processes taking place in the Universe - in gaseous envelopes surrounding the stars of various classes, from cool dwarfs and flare stars up to hot supergiants, as well as in stellar chromospheres and coronae, in atmospheres of unstable and anomalous stars, in circumstellar clouds and gaseous shells born in nova and supernova explosions, in diffuse nebulae and the interstellar medium, in interacting binary systems, in galaxies with emission lines, in quasars, etc. The last thirty years have seen a turning-point in our knowledge concern ing the very nature of planetary nebulae (PNs). The radio emission of PNs was discovered after it was predicted theoretically. On the other hand, the powerful infrared emission discovered both in the continuum and in emission lines was never expected."

In physics, the idea of extra spatial dimensions originates from Nordstom s 5-dimensional vector theory in 1914, followed by Kaluza-Klein theory in 1921, in an effort to unify general relativity and electromagnetism in a 5 dimensional space-time (4 dimensions for space and 1 for time). Kaluza Klein theory didn t generate enough interest with physicist for the next five decades, due to its problems with inconsistencies. With the advent of supergravity theory (the theory that unifies general relativity and supersymmetry theories) in late 1970 s and eventually, string theories (1980s) and M-theory (1990s), the dimensions of space-time increased to 11 (10-space and 1-time dimension).

There are two main features in this book that differentiates it from other books written about extra dimensions: The first feature is the coverage of extra dimensions in time (Two Time physics), which has not been covered in earlier books about extra dimensions. All other books mainly cover extra spatial dimensions. The second feature deals with level of presentation. The material is presented in a non-technical language followed by additional sections (in the form of appendices or footnotes) that explain the basic equations and formulas in the theories. This feature is very attractive to readers who want to find out more about the theories involved beyond the basic description for a layperson. The text is designed for scientifically literate non-specialists who want to know the latest discoveries in theoretical physics in a non-technical language. Readers with basic undergraduate background in modern physics and quantum mechanics can easily understand the technical sections.

Part I starts with an overview of the Standard Model of particles and forces, notions of Einstein s special and general relativity, and the overall view of the universe from the Big Bang to the present epoch, and covers Two-Time physics. 2T-physics has worked correctly at all scales of physics, both macroscopic and microscopic, for which there is experimental data so far. In addition to revealing hidden information even in familiar "everyday" physics, it also makes testable predictions in lesser known physics regimes that could be analyzed at the energy scales of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN or in cosmological observations."

Part II of the book is focused on extra dimensions of space. It covers the following topics: The Popular View of Extra Dimensions, Einstein and the Fourth Dimension, Traditional Extra Dimensions, Einstein's Gravity, The Theory Formerly Known as String, Warped Extra Dimensions, and How Do We Look For Extra Dimensions?"

The reviews presented in this volume cover a huge range of cluster of galaxies topics. Readers will find the book essential reading on subjects such as the physics of the ICM gas, the internal cluster dynamics, and the detection of clusters using different observational techniques. The expert chapter authors also cover the huge advances being made in analytical or numerical modeling of clusters, weak and strong lensing effects, and the large scale structure as traced by clusters.

Jan H. Dort's work Ad: r>iaan Blaauw Meritus Emeritus Harry van der Laan 21 Jan Hendrik Dort and Dutch astronomy H. G. van Bueren 31 Dort's scientific importance on a world-wide scale Bengt Stromgren 39 Gart and international co-operation in astronomy D. H. Sadler 45 Reminiscences of the early nineteen-twenties Peter Van de Kamp 51 The first five years of Jan Dort at Leiden, Bart J. Bok 1924-1929 55 Early galactic structure Per Olof Lindblad 59 Early galactic radio astronomy at Kootwijk C. A. Muller 65 W. N. Christiansen Dort and his large radiotelescope 71 Ten years of discovery with Dort's Synthesis Radio Telescope R. J. Allen and R. D. Ekers 79 Gort's work on comets Maarten Schmidt 111 The evolution of ideas on the Crab Nebula L. WoUjer 117 Gort's work reflected in current studies of galactic CO W. B. Burton 123 On high-energy astrophysics V. L. Ginzburg 129 Dort and extragalactic astronomy Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge 141 Birthday wishes John A. and Janette Wheeler 151 The Earth and the Universe Abraham H. Oort 153 The challenge of Jan Dort J. H. Bannier 157 Jan Dort at the telescope Fjeda Walraven 161 Gart Westerhout Personal recollections 163 Style of research Henk van de Hulst 165 Manuscript Jan H.

Beat the boredom and take time out from screens with this pocket-sized book packed with facts, photos and fantastic spots for hours of fun! Kids will have fun collecting points in the night sky with more than 140 things to find. From stars and constellations to the moon and eclipses, they'll learn all about our galaxy and the sky at night. And once they've scored 1000 points, super-spotters can claim their official i-SPY certificate and badge. With more than 30 i-SPY books to collect, there's something for everyone! For even more fun outdoors check out i-SPY Nature (ISBN 9780008386467).

Four hundred years ago, on 25 September 1608, the lens maker Hans Lipperhey from Middelburg in the Netherlands traveled to The Hague to apply for a patent regarding his invention of the "spyglass." The Commander in Chief of the Dutch armed forces, Prince Maurice of Nassau, was quite impressed. However, since the instrument could be easily copied, Lipperhey was not granted the patent. Nevertheless, within a year Galileo Galilei aimed a telescope that he had built based on the principals of Lipperhey's device on the skies, forever changing the way astronomy was done.

To celebrate the invention of the telescope and the resulting developments, Leiden Observatory, in cooperation with ESTEC, organized an international meeting on "400 Years of Astronomical Telescopes." The meeting took place from 29 September - 2 October 2008 at the ESTEC conference centre. This book presents the highlights of this meeting under the following categories: History of Optical Telescopes, History of Non-Optical Telescopes, Miscellaneous Aspects and Projects, Fundamental Telescope Technologies, Political and Sociological Aspects, Perspectives for Future Telescopes.

The topical reviews have been written by internationally recognized leaders of the field. This book is intended as a first reference to many technical, historical and social aspects concerning astronomical telescopes. It is equally well suited to professional astronomers as to the interested public.

Ever since its infancy, humankind has been seeking answers to some very basic and profound questions. Did the Universe begin? If it did, how old is it, and where did it come from? What is its shape? What is it made of? Fascinating myths and brilliant in- itions attempting to solve such enigmas can be found all through the history of human thought. Every culture has its own legends, itsownworldcreationtales, itsphilosophicalspeculations, itsre- gious beliefs. Modern science, however, cannot content itself with fanciful explanations, no matter how suggestive they are. No- days, our theories about the Universe, built upon rational ded- tion, have to survive the hard test of experiment and observation. Cosmology, the science which studies the origin and evo- tion of the Universe, had to overcome enormous dif?culties before it could achieve the same level of dignity as other physical dis- plines. At ?rst, it had no serious physical model and mathematical tools that could be used to address the complexity of the problems it had to face. Then, it suffered from a chronic lack of experim- tal data, which made it almost impossible to test the theoretical speculations. Given this situation, answering rigorously the many questions on the nature of the Universe seemed nothing more than a delusion. Today, however, things have changed. We live in the golden age of cosmology: an exciting moment, when, for the ?rst time, we are able to scienti?cally understand our Univers

Throughout history people have sought ways in which to map the heavens. From the sources of mathematics and mythology sprang the classic star chart, the finest examples of which are both scientific documents and works of art. In this beautifully illustrated book, Peter Whitfield reveals some of the ways in which the structure of the universe has been conceived, explained and depicted. With examples ranging from the Stone Age to the Space Age - ancient observatories, the angelic visions of Dante, images from the Copernican revolution, the rationalized heavens of Isaac Newton, and modern deep space technology - Whitfield offers a challenging exploration of the tension between rigorous scientific knowledge and the continuing search for cause, certainty and harmony in the universe. This new edition is updated to include a wider range of stunning maps of the skies in full colour, including imagery from the latest voyages of space exploration.

Astronomy on the Personal Computer provides the reader with a thorough introduction to the computation of celestial mechanics, which is of particular significance to astronomical observation. Covering everything from astronomical and computational theory to the construction of rapid and accurate applications programs, this book supplies the necessary knowledge and software solutions for determining and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, minor planets and comets, solar eclipses, stellar occultations by the Moon, phases of the Moon and much more. This completely revised edition makes use of the widely implemented programming language C++, and individual applications may be efficiently realized through the use of a powerful module library. The accompanying CD-ROM contains, in addition to the complete, fully documented and commented source codes, the executable programs for use with the Windows 95/98/NT and Linux operating systems.

The Photographic Atlas of the Stars contains 50, high-quality full color photographs of the entire night sky of the northern and southern hemispheres. Each plate is accompanied by a star map of the identical area, which identifies the main stars of the constituent constellations as well as other interesting astronomical objects. In addition to this detail, Sir Patrick Moore has written a commentary for each plate that highlights the stars and objects of interest to observers equipped with binoculars and that includes detailed tabular information on astronomical objects of the region. The resulting double-page spread provides an invaluable reference for the amateur astronomer, detailing the constellations and other heavenly bodies of interest that are observable with the naked eye, binoculars, or a small telescope.