Fans of "Asterix the Gallic" know well that the only fear of people in Brittany is that the sky falls upon their head. So it must have been a shock for them (the fans of Asterix) to learn that a horde of Physicists and Dynamicists (some of them being actually Roman - ils sont fous ces Romains!) invaded the bay of Saint-Brieuc and spend a full week conjuring all the nastiness that the sky has in reserve, revelling in the horrors hidden beyond the blue dome; they talked with delight about "asteroids", "comets" and "meteor streams"; they grinned at the idea of "artificial satellites", these pots and pans of space always ready to fall upon you; some of them said strange things about the Moon, the planets, and evoked the "rings" of Saturn or of some other of their gods. One evening, a Roman from Pisa went as far as cornering some inhabitants in the large hut they used for their witchcraft and filled them with terror by describing the fate of the poor dinosaurs victims of a particularly nasty asteroid (or was it a comet?). You will be surprized to learn that Bretons did not exact a spectacular revenge for these offenses. On the contrary.

Heliophysics is a fast-developing scientific discipline that integrates studies of the Sun's variability, the surrounding heliosphere, and the environment and climate of planets. Over the past few centuries, our understanding of how the Sun drives space weather and climate on the Earth and other planets has advanced at an ever increasing rate. This 2010 volume, the last in this series of three heliophysics texts, focuses on long-term variability from the Sun's decade-long sunspot cycle and considers the evolution of the planetary system over ten billion years from a climatological perspective. Topics covered range from the dynamo action of stars and planets to processes in the Earth's troposphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere and their effects on planetary climate and habitability. Supplemented by online teaching materials, it can be used as a textbook for courses or as a foundational reference for researchers in fields from astrophysics and plasma physics to planetary and climate science.

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.

This volume focuses on isotopic signatures of volatile elements as tracers for evolutionary processes during the formation of the Sun and the planets from an interstellar molecular cloud and, in turn, illuminates how the isotopic compositions of the present-day solar system objects have been established.
The book is an integrated collection of articles by experts in planetary science, solar and plasma physics, astrophysics, mineralogy and chemistry that met for an interdisciplinary workshop at the International Space Science Institute in Bern in January 2002. The authors present analyses of isotope abundance ratios for volatile elements in the sun, planets, satellites, comets, meteorites and interplanetary dust particles, as well as a review of isotopic ratios in star-forming interstellar clouds. This provides insight into the physical and chemical processes in the pre-solar molecular cloud that collapsed to form the Sun and the solar accretion disk. Furthermore, information is presented on dynamical processes and conditions inside this protoplanetary disk, in particular the degree of reprocessing of interstellar solid material, the formation of solids inside the disks, and the formation of terrestrial and giant planets and their satellites. Isotopic fractionation processes discussed in this book include chemical reactions such as ion-molecule and photochemical reactions, nuclear processes inside the sun and in its atmosphere, plasma processes, gravitational escape of gases from planetary atmospheres exposed to the solar wind and solar radiation, thermodynamic processes, a variety of accretion and adsorption processes and mixing of material from the interstellar environment with the material of the evolving solar system.
The volume is intended to provide active researchers in the fields of planetary science and space physics with an up-to-date status report on the topic, and also to serve graduate students with introductory material into the field.

Magnetic energy release plays an important role in a wide variety of cosmic objects such as the Sun, stellar coronae, stellar and galactic accretion disks and pulsars. The observed radio, X-ray and gamma-ray emission often directly results from magnetic flares', implying that these processes are spatially fragmented and of an impulsive nature. A true understanding of these processes requires a combined magnetohydrodynamical and plasma physical approach. Fragmented Energy Release in Sun and Stars: the Interface between MHD and Plasma Physics provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary summary of magnetic energy release in the Sun and stars, in accretion disks, in pulsar magnetospheres and in laboratory plasmas. These proceedings include papers on both theoretical and observational aspects. Fragmented Energy Release in Sun and Stars: the Interface between MHD and Plasma Physics is for researchers in the fields of solar physics, stellar astrophysics and (laboratory) plasma physics and is a useful resource book for graduate level astrophysics courses.

IAU Colloquium 165, Dynamics and Astrometry of Natural and Artificial Celestial Bodies, was held in Poznan, Poland, in July 1996, bringing together over 200 scientists from 27 countries who discussed their work in 179 oral and poster presentations. The present volume contains 83 of the papers presented at the meeting. The meeting brought together specialists from diverse fields who focused on the very close collaboration between dynamics and astrometry, where one discipline contributes to the progress of the other. The oral sessions were organized into general categories pertaining to: solar system dynamics; new observational techniques, catalogues, and astrometry; dynamics and observational problems of artificial satellites and space debris; rotation of solar system objects; reference systems and astronomical standards; new mathematical techniques; and three all-day poster sessions. This volume is divided into seven parts, comprising 83 contributions, a list of participants and an index.

An Irish astronomer and talented mathematician, Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840-1913) was also a prolific writer of popular astronomy. As a young man, Ball conducted observations of nebulae using Lord Rosse's telescope - at the time the largest in the world. His Story of the Heavens displays the same fascination with the beauties and mysteries of the sky, providing a detailed survey of the history and contemporary situation of the solar system, and speculating about the possibility of life on other planets. Originally published in 1885, when Ball was Andrews Professor of Astronomy in the University of Dublin and Royal Astronomer of Ireland, this beautifully illustrated volume covers all eight planets, the Sun, as well as double stars, distant suns, comets, and the Milky Way. Extremely popular in its time, this book remains relevant today for its historical account of astronomy as a science.

When Edwin Dunkin (1821 1898) published this book in 1869, it was received with widespread acclaim by both professional astronomers and the reading public. Dunkin, a distinguished astronomer who published widely in academic journals and later served in the prestigious roles of Deputy Astronomer Royal (1881 1884) and President of the Royal Astronomical Society (1880), is still best known for this work of popular astronomy that has functioned as an indispensable tool for generations of amateurs. Chapter 1 derives from Dunkin's famous 'The Midnight Sky at London' articles, previously published in Leisure Hour, which describe the London midnight sky during each month of the year. Other chapters cover the Southern Hemisphere, the constellations, the properties of fixed stars, the solar system, and meteors and shooting stars. The volume is well illustrated with star maps and engravings. It is a classic work of popular nineteenth-century astronomical writing.

James Ferguson (1710-1776) was a Scottish self-taught astronomer, instrument maker and artist. Of humble background, he became a highly successful lecturer on experimental philosophy and science. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1763, received a royal pension, and is particularly remembered as an inventor and improver of astronomical and other scientific apparatus. These include a new type of orrery, clocks, and his astronomical rotula. His lectures and books were noted for their clear explanations for a general audience, and Astronomy Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles and Made Easy for Those Who Have Not Studied Mathematics (1756) was a bestseller. This autobiographical memoir, expanded by Ebenezer Henderson in 1867, also contains a full description of Ferguson's principal inventions, with many illustrations.

The Conference on the Earth-Moon relationships brought together a number of distinguished scientists from different fields - such as Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Chemistry - but also scholars of Literature and Art, to discuss these relationships, their origins, and their influence on human activities and beliefs.

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.

Collision-or interaction-induced spectroscopy refers to radiative transitions, which are forbidden in free atoms or molecules, but which occur in clusters of interacting atoms or molecules. The most common phenomena are induced absorption, in the infrared region, and induced light scattering, which involves inelastic scattering of visible laser light. The particle interactions giving rise to the necessary induced dipole moments and polarizabilities are modelled at long range by multipole expansions; at short range, electron overlap and exchange mechanisms come into play. Information on atomic and molecular interactions and dynamics in dense media on a picosecond timescale may be drawn from the spectra. Collision-induced absorption in the infrared was discovered at the University of Toronto in 1949 by Crawford, Welsh and Locke who studied liquid O and N. Through the 1950s and 1960s, 2 2 experimental elucidation of the phenomenon, particularly in gases, continued and theoretical underpinnings were established. In the late 1960s, the related phenomenon of collision-induced light scattering was first observed in compressed inert gases. In 1978, an 'Enrico Fermi' Summer School was held at Varenna, Italy, under the directorship of J. Van Kranendonk. The lectures, there, reviewed activity from the previous two decades, during which the approach to the subject had not changed greatly. In 1983, a highly successful NATO Advanced Research Workshop was held at Bonas, France, under the directorship of G. Birnbaum. An important outcome of that meeting was the demonstration of the maturity and sophistication of current experimental and theoretical techniques.

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.

Elias Loomis (1811 1889), Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the University of the City of New York, published the third edition of this key work in 1856, at a time when the discipline of astronomy was making rapid advances. Recent technological progress had led to a phenomenal number of astronomical discoveries: the existence of a new planet, Neptune; a new satellite and ring for Saturn; irregularities in the movement of many planets and stars; thirty-six new asteroids; numerous comets; extensive catalogues of stars; and new and important observations on the sun. Loomis' report is a treasure-trove of information regarding these discoveries and the significance they had at the time. The chapters on the history of American observatories, various astronomical expeditions, public astronomical surveys, and telescope manufacturing in the USA provide access to information not otherwise available. Recent Progress is a key text in the history of astronomy.

Thomas William Webb (1807 1885) was an Oxford-educated English clergyman whose deep interest in astronomy and accompanying field observations eventually led to the publication of his Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes in 1859. An attempt 'to furnish the possessors of ordinary telescopes with plain directions for their use, and a list of objects for their advantageous employment', the book was popular with amateur stargazers for many decades to follow. Underlying Webb's celestial field guide and directions on telescope use was a deep conviction that the heavens pointed observers 'to the most impressive thoughts of the littleness of man, and of the unspeakable greatness and glory of the Creator'. A classic and well-loved work by a passionate practitioner, the monograph remains an important landmark in the history of astronomy, as well as a tool for use by amateurs and professionals alike.

Six Months in Ascension, first published in 1878, contains an account by Isobel Sarah B. Gill of the 1877 scientific expedition to the island of Ascension, in the South Atlantic, undertaken to measure the distance of the sun from the earth by observing the opposition of the planet Mars. The expedition, funded by the Royal Astronomical Society, was led by Isobel's husband, the astronomer David Gill, with a heliometer and other scientific instruments provided by Lord Lindsay. Isobel accompanied the expedition as her husband's companion. Her account offers personal details and stories omitted from the scientific reports on the expedition written by her husband and colleagues and it contains beautiful descriptions of the island of Ascension. The book offers a rare view of the personal, practical and behind-the-scenes side of a nineteenth-century scientific expedition and provides a fascinating insight into the gender roles of learned Victorian society.

Jeremiah Horrox (1618-1641) was one of the most interesting astronomers Britain has ever produced, and his tragically early death deprived the field of one of its most brilliant talents. In his short life he achieved much, having mastered the current state of astronomy at Cambridge University and going on to make important new calculations about the diameter and position of known planets, moons and stars. In the 1660s and 70s several prominent scientists, including Huygens, Newton and Flamsteed, took an interest in Horrox's discoveries and published his surviving treatises. This memoir of 1859 was part of a Victorian revival of interest in Horrox. It includes translation of his major work, Venus in Sole Visa, a draft of a treatise on the transit of Venus, in which he describes the conjunction of Venus with the sun, which he correctly calculated and observed in 1639.

The Herschels in this biography are Sir William Herschel (1738 1822), his sister Caroline (1750 1848) and Sir John Herschel (1792 1871), William's son. Sir William was an astronomer and telescope-maker who discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. He was appointed 'the King's astronomer' to George III in 1782, and under his patronage built the then largest telescope in the world. Caroline Herschel worked as her brother's assistant for much of his career but was also an accomplished astronomer in her own right, discovering eight comets and producing a catalogue of nebulae. Her nephew Sir John Herschel was also a distinguished astronomer who made many observations of stars in the southern hemisphere. This book by the astronomer and writer Agnes Clerke (1842 1907), published in 1895, provides both an analysis of their work and an assessment of its contribution to later astronomical research.

Much progress has been made in recent years in understanding the complex physics of polarized radiation in the sun and stars. This physics includes vector radiative transfer and spectral line formation in the presence of magnetic fields, scattering theory and coherence effects, partial redistribution and turbulent magnetic fields, numerical techniques and Stokes inversion, as well as concepts for polarimetric imaging with a precision limited only by photon statistics. The present volume gives a comprehensive and up-to-date account of this rapidly evolving field of science.

Since its first publication more than twenty-five years ago, How to Build a Habitable Planet has established a legendary reputation as an accessible yet scientifically impeccable introduction to the origin and evolution of Earth, from the Big Bang through the rise of human civilization. This classic account of how our habitable planet was assembled from the stuff of stars introduced readers to planetary, Earth, and climate science by way of a fascinating narrative. Now this great book has been made even better. Harvard geochemist Charles Langmuir has worked closely with the original author, Wally Broecker, one of the world's leading Earth scientists, to revise and expand the book for a new generation of readers for whom active planetary stewardship is becoming imperative. Interweaving physics, astronomy, chemistry, geology, and biology, this sweeping account tells Earth's complete story, from the synthesis of chemical elements in stars, to the formation of the Solar System, to the evolution of a habitable climate on Earth, to the origin of life and humankind. The book also addresses the search for other habitable worlds in the Milky Way and contemplates whether Earth will remain habitable as our influence on global climate grows. It concludes by considering the ways in which humankind can sustain Earth's habitability and perhaps even participate in further planetary evolution. Like no other book, How to Build a Habitable Planet provides an understanding of Earth in its broadest context, as well as a greater appreciation of its possibly rare ability to sustain life over geologic time. Leading schools that have ordered, recommended for reading, or adopted this book for course use: * Arizona State University * Brooklyn College CUNY * Columbia University * Cornell University * ETH Zurich * Georgia Institute of Technology * Harvard University * Johns Hopkins University * Luther College * Northwestern University * Ohio State University * Oxford Brookes University * Pan American University * Rutgers University * State University of New York at Binghamton * Texas A&M University * Trinity College Dublin * University of Bristol * University of California-Los Angeles * University of Cambridge * University Of Chicago * University of Colorado at Boulder * University of Glasgow * University of Leicester * University of Maine, Farmington * University of Michigan * University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill * University of North Georgia * University of Nottingham * University of Oregon * University of Oxford * University of Portsmouth * University of Southampton * University of Ulster * University of Victoria * University of Wyoming * Western Kentucky University * Yale University

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.

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.

These Proceedings result from the papers and discussions of the U.S.-Japan Seminar "Recent Advances in the Understanding of Solar Flares" held in Tokyo October 5-8, 1982. The meeting was sponsored jointly by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the u.S. National Science Foundation. The principal aim of the meeting was to obtain the most up-to-date physical picture of solar flares by bringing together results from the recent observations by the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) and HINOTORI satellites, together with other satellite data and ground-based data at both optical and radio wavelengths. These data cover the recent maximum of the solar activity cycle. The SMM and HINOTORI introduced a new dimension in flare observations by carrying out the first hard X-ray imaging observations, and the organizers especially felt that an intense discussion of the significance of these results in the context of flare theories would be important. Starting with an introductory presentation of the characteristics of the instruments on board the satellites, the sessions of the first day and the beginning of the second dealt mainly with energy transport in flares and with .the formation process of the hot plasma which is .

Nous sODBlles a. une epoque 011 les programmes spatiaux connaissent, en depit de difficultes passageres, une activite croissante. Leur succes depend de la maitrise d'un grand nombre de technologies qui de ce fait focalisent l'attention de la plupart des acteurs spatiaux. Toutefois, parallelement, cette nouvelle aventure nous touche aussi de plus en plus, nous les humains. D I abord, parce que nous sODBlles les bene ficiaires, sur Ie plan qualite de la vie (sante, telecoDBllunications, etc . . . ) des techniques spatiales mais aussi parce que de plus en plus les humains vont progressivement etendre leur presence dans l'es pace. Pour Ie moment, Ie role des astronautes est essentiellement d I etre des "travailleurs de 1 I espace" plus efficaces que les robots les plus perfectionnes. Mais inevitablement l'aspect proprement humain de ces hODBlles et de ces femmes ressurgi t: d I abord pour eux memes, mais aussi pour nous car, par Ie jeu des processus d I identification, ils emportent avec eux une parcelle d 'humanite et donc de nous-meme. Il n I est donc pas inutile de reflechir a. ces questions et Ie but du present colloque etait de Ie faire de maniere approfondie en faisant appel a. des professionnels, c'est-a. -dire les philosophes et les penseurs des sciences humalnes. "La philosophie a. 1 I epreuve," tel est Ie sous-ti tre de ce colloque. Mais de quelle philosophie s'agit-il ? Ce terme peut renvoyer a."

After several decades spent in astronomical semi-obscurity, the Moon has of late suddenly emerged as an object of considerable interest to students of astronomy as well as of other branches of natural science and technology; and the reasons for this are indeed of historical significance. For the Moon has now been destined to be the first celestial body outside the confines of our own planet to be reconnoitered at a close range by means of spacecraft built and sent out by human hand for this purpose. At the time of writing, not less than ten such spacecraft of American as well as Rus sian origin landed already on different parts of the lunar surface; and some of these provided remarkable records of its detail structure to a spatial resolution increased thousandfold over that attained so far from our ground-based facilities. A renewed interest in our satellite, stemming from this source, on the part of the students of many branches of science and technology has also underlined the need for presenting the gist of our present knowledge in this field in the form that could serve as an introduction to the study of the Moon not only for astronomers, but also for serious students from other branches of science or technology.