Every rock has a story tell, and none more so than those which have fallen from the sky: meteorites. Originating in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, these rocky fragments offer clues not just to the earliest origins of the Solar System but also to Earth's very survival into the future. Sky at Night presenter, Dr Tim Gregory takes us on a journey through the very earliest days of our Solar System to the spectacular meteorite falls that produced 'fiery rain' in 1792, to the pre-solar grains (literally stardust) that were blown in from other solar systems and are the oldest solid objects ever discovered on earth. Meteorites reveal a story much bigger than ourselves or our planet. As Tim says, 'it is an epic beyond compare'.

This book presents the latest knowledge of the newly discovered Earth-like exoplanets and reviews improvements in both radio and optical SETI. A key aim is to stimulate fresh discussion on algorithms that will be of high value in this extremely complicated search. Exoplanets resembling Earth could well be able to sustain life and support the evolution of technological civilizations, but to date, all searches for such life forms have proved fruitless. The failings of SETI observations are well recognized, and a new search approach is necessary. In this book, different detection algorithms that exploit state-of-the-art, low-cost, and extremely fast multiprocessors are examined and compared. Novel methods such as the agnostic entropy and high-sensitivity blind signal extraction algorithms should represent a quantum leap forward in SETI. The book is of interest to all researchers in the field and hopefully stimulates significant progress in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

There are several textbooks available on solar astronomy which deal with advanced astrophysical aspects of solar physics, and books which provide very elementary knowledge about the Sun. This book will help to bridge the gap. It aims to stimulate interest in solar astronomy, presenting at one place the basic methods and techniques used in the field, together with the latest findings and the excitement in solar physics. As solar astronomy is becoming very popular among amateur astronomers and laymen, the book provides the practical knowledge to build simple solar telescopes and other equipment for making solar observations. Amateur astronomers have made important contributions to solar astronomy, and this book will help to guide them in their endeavours. The book can also serve as a text for undergraduate and graduate students starting out on solar physics. Using it, graduate students can easily embark on specific topics of research in solar astronomy.

Over the last decade the physics of black holes has been revolutionized by developments that grew out of Jacob Bekenstein's realization that black holes have entropy. Stephen Hawking raised profound issues concerning the loss of information in black hole evaporation and the consistency of quantum mechanics in a world with gravity. For two decades these questions puzzled theoretical physicists and eventually led to a revolution in the way we think about space, time, matter and information. This revolution has culminated in a remarkable principle called "The Holographic Principle", which is now a major focus of attention in gravitational research, quantum field theory and elementary particle physics. Leonard Susskind, one of the co-inventors of the Holographic Principle as well as one of the founders of String theory, develops and explains these concepts.

The scope of this book is two-fold: the first part gives a fully detailed and pedagogical presentation of the Hawking effect and its physical implications, and the second discusses the backreaction problem, especially in connection with exactly solvable semiclassical models that describe analytically the black hole evaporation process. The book aims to establish a link between the general relativistic viewpoint on black hole evaporation and the new CFT-type approaches to the subject. The detailed discussion on backreaction effects is also extremely valuable.

The topics covered in this book include: Theory of Scattering and Scintillation, Distribution of Scattering Material, Intra-day Variability, Pulsars and their Magnetospheric Structure, Polarization of AGN, Interplanetary Scintillation, and Future Highly-Sensitive Radio Telescopes. The introductory papers emphasize the essential properties of diffractive and refractive scattering, how they differ in temporal and frequency structure, and what they reveal about irregularities in the ISM. Pulsars can be examined in a number of different ways as a function of frequency: time variability (both short and long term), DM changes, pulse broadening, angular extent, and Faraday rotation. Intra-day variable sources (IDVs) are another major topic of the book. Although many variable sources clearly exhibit intrinsic changes, IDVs are generally believed to result from scintillation effects. They require source sizes on the ten micro-arcsec scale, the most extreme cases having profound implications for source lifetimes and emission mechanisms. Finally, a dozen contributions describe future large radio telescope projects, especially the Chinese FAST effort to build a 500 m spherical reflector of innovative design.

What is Mars? From the ancients to the present, we have imagined Mars repeatedly and studied it longingly. As scientific knowledge of Mars has changed, so has the cultural imagination of this celestial neighbors. The earth-centered beginnings of astronomy connected the blood-red planet with the God of War. The Copernican Revolution and a later, simple mistranslation from Italian supported fantastic visions of distant Mars as the abode of life variously bizarre, ideal, or malignant. In the work of H. G. Wells and Orson Welles, in books, films, radio, and television, Mars reflected not only eternal hopes and fears but then-current political realities. In recent years, "NASA-fication" has brought Mars home, imagining the Red Planet almost as an eighth continent of Earth, a candidate for exploration and exploitation both in fiction and in fact. Rabkin weaves a chronological tale of many threads, including mythology, astrology, astronomy, literary criticism, and cultural studies. More than 60 brief chapters focus on people, events, or phenomena concerning the eternal object of curiosity, Mars. This rich series of readable, illustrated chapters can be sampled at will for the fun of discovery, read sequentially as a connected history, or enjoyed as a resource for the contemplation. Featuring over 100 illustrations, this unique examination of humanity's most storied companion serves as a resource for the study of ourselves.

For thousands of years, humans have wondered whether we're alone in the cosmos. Now, for the first time, we have the technology to investigate. The question should have an obvious answer: yes or no. But once you try to find life elsewhere, you realize it is not so simple. How do you find it over cosmic distances? What actually is life?

Astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger works from Carl Sagan’s former office at Cornell University, where she built a team of tenacious scientists from many disciplines to find life on faraway worlds, using Earth’s diverse biosphere and its history as a Rosetta Stone. With infectious enthusiasm, she provides an eye-opening insider’s guide to the most unusual exoplanets that have shaken our worldview – planets covered in oceans of lava, lonely wanderers lost in space, and others with more than one sun in their sky – as well as the best contenders for Alien Earths. She also shows how close imagined scifi worlds come to reality.

We live in an incredible new epoch of exploration. As our witty and knowledgeable tour guide, Professor Kaltenegger shows how we discover not merely new continents, like the explorers of old, but whole new worlds circling other stars – and how we could spot life there. Worlds from where aliens may even be gazing back at us. What if we're not alone?

This special issue of Space Science Reviews contains selected papers on electromagnetic man-made and natural environmental interactions. Originally these papers were pre sented at the Fifth International Wrocfaw Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility. Wroclaw (Poland), 17-19 September, 1980, a biennial gathering of scientists and engineers. At that time, the symposium organizers selected a few persons of recognized authority and invited them to organize special sessions. Session organizers were given a free hand in the choice of topics and speakers. As a result, several impressive papers originated and a number of interesting people came to Wroclaw to discuss the recent results of their research. Professor Hiroshi Kikuchi from the Nihon University (J apan) was among them, serving as one of the most effective invited session chairmen/organizers at the symposium. The papers presented here were read at Prof. Kikuchi's session. At the symposium they received considerable attention not only because of the fascinating personalities and temperaments of the authors, but mainly because of the timeliness and soundness of their content. Their topic links both scientific and engineering fields in making attempts to resolve these kinds of specific hybrid problems. The problems discussed appear to be of interest not only to the EMC* community but also to a broader forum of persons interested in the areas of electrical and space science, and engineering in general. This opinion was confirmed during the URSI** symposium in Washington, D. C."

Shows how our cultural misconceptions about the body distort its capacities and lead to personal and social ills.

In September 2011, the GRAIL mission launched two unmanned spacecraft to the Moon, which entered into lunar orbit on December 31, 2011 and January 1, 2012. They orbited the Moon until December 17, 2012, when they impacted the surface near the Moon's north pole. This book contains three review articles co-authored by the GRAIL Science Team and Guest Scientists that describe the reasons for the GRAIL mission, the development of the necessary technology, and the design of the mission to acquire the most precise measurements of the lunar gravity field possible today. The book provides a detailed description of the GRAIL mission's scientific objectives, the instrumentation and its required performance, the complex simulation of the measurement system for determining the gravity field, and the innovative education and public outreach of the mission directed toward middle-school students who could select areas of the Moon for imaging with the onboard MoonKam camera system. This volume is aimed at researchers and graduate students active in solar system science and planetology. Originally published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 178/1, 2013.

The papers in this volume cover a large range of questions concerning the dynamics of objects of the solar system, from theoretical Hamiltonian mechanics to the study of the dynamical behaviour of specific objects, with a strong emphasis on the detection, causes and effects of chaotic behaviour. Several papers describe contributions in two topics which are considered as a major breakthrough in numerical dynamics: symplectic methods of numerical integration of Hamiltonian systems, and methods for spectral analysis of numerically computed orbits leading to refined tools for the detection and evaluation of chaos. The dynamics of the asteroid belt and other small objects, a fast-moving topic with important implications for the origin and evolution of the Solar System, is also extensively covered.

No other planet in our Solar System has fascinated humankind more than Mars. What is it about this dusty, dry world that has captured our imaginations and driven us to explore it? Named after the Roman god of war, Mars is one of the most intensely studied planets in our Solar System. Beginning with our earliest studies of the 'red planet', Patricia Skelton embarks on a journey of discovery, encompassing everything from ancient astronomy to contemporary pop culture. Learn about the space missions that have transformed our understanding of Mars, the rovers that call it home today and the challenges facing us as we aim to send humans there in the future.

Is SETI a genuine scientific research programme? The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has been given fresh impetus in the last years of the 20th century following developments in space science which go beyond speculation. The evidence that many stars are accompanied by planets, the detection of organic material in the circumstellar discs of which planets are created, and claims regarding microfossils on martian meteorites have all led to many new empirical searches. Against the background of these dramatic new developments in science, David Lamb evaluates claims to the contrary, and examines recent attempts to establish contact with other intelligent life forms. He also assesses competing theories on the origin of life on earth, discoveries of former solar planets, proposals for space colonies and the consequent technical and ethical issues. Most importantly he considers the benefits and drawbacks of communication with new life forms - how we should communicate and whether we actually can.

Written in a clear, friendly style, this is a truly revolutionary book about the weirdly beautiful patterns and harmonies woven around Earth by our nearest planetary neighbour, Venus.

The origin of the solar system has been a matter of speculation for many centuries, and since the time of Newton it has been possible to apply scientific principles to the problem. A succession of theories, starting with that of Pierre Laplace in 1796, has gained general acceptance, only to fall from favor due to its contradiction in some basic scientific principle or new heavenly observation. Modern observations by spacecraft of the solar system, the stars, and extra-solar planetary systems continuously provide new information that may be helpful in finding a plausible theory as well as present new constraints for any such theory to satisfy.
The Origin and Evolution of the Solar System begins by describing historical (pre-1950) theories and illustrating why they became unacceptable. The main part of the book critically examines five extant theories, including the current paradigm, the solar nebula theory, to determine how well they fit with accepted scientific principles and observations. This analysis shows that the solar nebula theory satisfies the principles and observational constraints no better than its predecessors. The capture theory put forward by the author fares better and also indicates an initial scenario leading to a causal series of events that explain all the major features of the solar system.

This text expounds in a logical and scientific manner the idea that life did not originate on earth, but was added to it from the comets. When Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe first made this proposal in the 1970s, they had few takers - because the theory flew in the face of established beliefs. This text argues that in recent years, evidence to support this theory has accumulated from many different directions and grown to the point of being compelling. This work should be of value to readers interested in general science, the origin of man and the meaning of life.

Since the earliest times one of the brightest lights in the heavens has been that of Jupiter, mythical king of the gods and the largest planet in the solar system. It was only natural that peoples from the dawn of history would be interested in such a planet and, indeed, Jupiter was one of the first objects to be observed with the telescope. Even today Jupiter captures the public interest like no other planet: a vast gaseous world, home to violent storms (larger than the Earth) that have raged for centuries. Galileo's Planet: Observing Jupiter before Photography presents the history of humankind's quest to understand the giant planet in the era before photography, a time when the only way to observe the universe was with the human eye. The book provides a comprehensive and fascinating account of the people involved in this quest, their observations, and the results of their findings. Many of the planetary features studied in detail by today's space probes were once glimpsed by keen-eyed, amateur astronomers. These Earth-bound explorers made up for their modest instruments and viewing conditions with their patience, perseverance, and passion for the night sky. Their greatest challenge was the fifth planet from the Sun and the search for its imagined surface-a revelation of the "real Jupiter." In the process, these part-time observers redefined the meaning of the word "planet." The book recounts their story from the earliest times right up until the invention of the camera.

The Physics of Solar and Stellar Coronae provides the first comprehensive summary of the physical processes and phenomena occurring in solar and stellar coronae as observed at X-ray and other wavelengths. The book provides an early summary of the spectacular new solar X-ray observations being obtained with the Yohkoh satellite that are dramatically changing our understanding of the dynamics of the solar corona. With the perspective of two years' observations at X-ray and extreme ultraviolet wavelengths by the ROSAT satellite, many authors present new insights into the basic physical processes occurring in the coronae of stars across the Hertzsprung--Russell Diagram including both pre-main sequence and post-main sequence stars. Detailed models for the hot plasmas typically contained in magnetic loops in both stellar and solar coronae are presented to explain X-ray data obtained with the earlier X-ray instruments on Skylab, SMM, Einstein, and EXOSAT. The book includes papers on coronal observations obtained at other wavelengths and papers of the history of Palermo Astronomical Observatory. The Physics of Solar and Stellar Coronae is intended for researchers in the fields of solar physics and stellar astrophysics and will be a useful resource book for graduate level astrophysics courses. (ABSTRACT) This is the first comprehensive summary of the physical processes and phenomena occurring in solar and stellar coronae. Spectacular new solar X-ray observations by the Yohkoh satellite and stellar observations by ROSAT are highlighted, together with theoretical papers and detailed analyses of earlier data from Skylab, SMM, Einstein, and EXOSAT. Included are papers on coronal observations at other wavelengths and on the history of Palermo Astronomical Observatory.

The book covers intimately all the topics necessary for the development of a robust magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code within the framework of the cell-centered finite volume method (FVM) and its applications in space weather study. First, it presents a brief review of existing MHD models in studying solar corona and the heliosphere. Then it introduces the cell-centered FVM in three-dimensional computational domain. Finally, the book presents some applications of FVM to the MHD codes on spherical coordinates in various research fields of space weather, focusing on the development of the 3D Solar-InterPlanetary space-time Conservation Element and Solution Element (SIP-CESE) MHD model and its applications to space weather studies in various aspects. The book is written for senior undergraduates, graduate students, lecturers, engineers and researchers in solar-terrestrial physics, space weather theory, modeling, and prediction, computational fluid dynamics, and MHD simulations. It helps readers to fully understand and implement a robust and versatile MHD code based on the cell-centered FVM.

The 157th IAU Symposium "The Cosmic Dynamo" was entirely dedicated to dynamo processes, which are fundamental to all cosmic scales. Dynamo theory concerns one of the few truly key questions of recent cosmic physics. A complicated interplay of rotation, magnetism and turbulence determines stellar and galactic activity for almost all the short and medium time scales. Behind these multiform phenomena, the cosmic dynamo works in various guises, all involving inductive and dissipative equilibria in rotating turbulent cosmic plasmas. This book presents an up-to-date survey on investigations and results of dynamo theory and related observations. It is intended for graduate scientists working in the field of cosmical magnetism and its related problems, especially convection, turbulence and, more generally, nonlinear physics.

At this time when astronomers are being surprised by the discovery of objects which emit a fabulously large amount of energy, that is the quasi-stellar radio sources and the quasi-stellar galaxies, and when by the means of space vehicles X rays, gamma rays and cosmic rays are being observed to come from the depths of interstellar space, one may ask why write a book about stars. Stars seem to be almost incidental when one looks at the universe in terms of exceedingly great energies. Nevertheless, stars exist. They are accessible to study and they have not yet revealed all their secrets. This is enough to arouse interest and to cause one to try to find answers to the questions which arise. The early type stars are particularly interesting because they are spendthrift stars pouring out their energy at a great rate. But their brilliance is also their undoing. They must evolve rather quickly, on an astrophysical scale. Thus by studying these stars we are studying a population in change. The implications from the local and from the cosmological viewpoint are important if one wishes to understand the details of stellar evolution and of galactic structure. Perhaps one of the simplest reasons for writing a book about the early type stars is to see if some of the conundrums pre sented by the spectra of these stars can be unravelled when all the available infor mation is brought together."

While the emergence and evolution of solar surface magnetic flux reveals what goes on in the solar interior, the interplay of convection and magnetic field in the photosphere regulates the field dispersal and drives the instabilities which heat the outer solar atmosphere. This book presents a synthesis between observers and theorists, both with regard to the magnetic elements which make up solar magnetic fields (ranging from tiny flux tubes to whole active regions), and to the surface patterns in which these elements display properties of the subsurface dynamo. A major breakthrough comes from numerical simulations. Modelling of flux concentration, flux tube dynamics, penumbral toplogy, umbral fine structure, and so on, turns solar physics into an experimental science. The reviews and research papers in this volume provide an overview of the solar frontier of astrophysical magnetohydrodynamics. The elements and patterns of solar surface magnetism contain much information about the subsurface solar dynamo, as well as on the magnetically-dominated energy budget and structuring of the outer solar atmosphere. The volume treats high-resolution solar polarimetry, the physics of solar magnetic elements, and the information contained in their patterns of emergence on the solar surface in depth, with a balance between theoretical and observational studies.

This Festschrift dedicated to the 60th birth anniversary of Prof. Sandip K. Chakrabarti, a well-known Indian astrophysicist, presents a collection of contributions by about fifty scientists who work on diverse topics in contemporary astrophysics and space science including new and low-cost balloon borne experiments, planetary science, astrochemistry and the origin of life, ionospheric research and earthquake predictions, relativistic astrophysics around black holes, and finally, the observational signatures and radiative properties of compact objects. All the authors are well known scholars in their respective subject and are all PhD students of Prof. Sandip K. Chakrabarti. The book demonstrates a two-dimensional evolution of research areas triggered by Sandip Chakrabarti over the past few decades. The first dimension represents the evolution and diversification of Chakrabarti's own research in which new students were trained. A second dimension arises from the evolution of the research topics pursued by Chakrabarti's fifty odd doctoral students, many of whom have become renowned scientists in their own right, after starting with a certain subject under Chakrabarti and then migrating to completely new subjects with dexterity. The editors have compiled and edited the articles appropriately to some extent to suit the spirit of this Festschrift on the one hand and to keep balance in diverse topics on the other. Thus this volume also provides an overview for whosoever wishes to enter the important subjects of compact objects, astrochemistry, ionospheric science or space exploration in near space. New graduates, PhD scholars, teachers and researchers will benefit from this volume. Moreover it is a record of tremendous success of a school in a range of vast topics.

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.