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Books > Science & Mathematics > Astronomy, space & time > Space travel & exploration
What does it take to consider a planet potentially habitable? If a
planet is suitable for life, could life be present? Is life on
other planets inevitable? Searching for Habitable Worlds answers
these questions and provides both the general public and astronomy
enthusiasts with a richly illustrated discussion of the most
current knowledge regarding the search for extrasolar planets.
Nearly everyone wants to know if we are alone in the universe. This
book might not have the answers, but shows where we should look.
This book is a fun and accessible book for everyone from middle
schoolers to amateur astronomers of all ages. The use of
non-technical language and abundant illustrations make this a quick
read to inform everyone about the latest movement in the search for
other planets that we might be able to inhabit. After a brief
discussion on why humans are hard-wired to be curious, and to
explore the unknown, the book describes what extrasolar planets
are, how to detect them, and how to pin down potential targets. In
addition, a data-driven list of the best candidates for
habitability is profiled and the next generation of
exoplanet-hunting scientific instruments and probes are identified.
An adventure in scientific discovery Pluto, the farthermost planet
in the solar system, some 3,673 million mites from the Sun, was
discovered by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory in 1930. The
fiftieth anniversary of Pluto's discovery will be celebrated in
1980 and OUT OF THE DARKNESS: THE PLANET PLUTO tells the exciting
scientific story of the twenty-five year search for a planet X
beyond Neptune, and its discovery-the only planet found in the
twentieth century. The planets Mercury, Venus. Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn were all known since antiquity. Then Sir William Herschel
discovered Uranus in 1781, and 65 years later, in 1846, Johann
Calle and Urbain le Verner discovered Neptune. Variations in
orbital perturbations of the planets and theoretical astronomy were
responsible for predicting and discovering the three outermost
planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) and so Pluto's story is also,
to some extent, the story of its planetary neighbors. What kind of
world is Pluto? Much is still a mystery (its
On March 21, 2013, the European Space Agency released a map of the
afterglow of the Big Bang. Taking in 440 sextillion kilometres of
space and 13.8 billion years of time, it is physically impossible
to make a better map: we will never see the early universe in more
detail. On the one hand, such a view is the apotheosis of modern
cosmology, on the other, it threatens to undermine almost
everything we hold cosmologically sacrosanct. The map contains
anomalies that challenge our understanding of the universe. It will
force us to revisit what is known and what is unknown, to construct
a new model of our universe. This is the first book to address what
will be an epoch-defining scientific paradigm shift. Stuart Clark
will ask if Newton's famous laws of gravity need to be rewritten;
if dark matter and dark energy are just celestial phantoms? Can we
ever know what happened before the Big Bang? What's at the bottom
of a black hole? Are there universes beyond our own? Does time
exist? Are the once immutable laws of physics changing?
Cosmology is the study of the origin, size, and evolution of the
entire universe. Every culture has developed a cosmology, whether
it be based on religious, philosophical, or scientific principles.
In this book, the evolution of the scientific understanding of the
Universe in Western tradition is traced from the early Greek
philosophers to the most modern 21st century view. After a brief
introduction to the concept of the scientific method, the first
part of the book describes the way in which detailed observations
of the Universe, first with the naked eye and later with
increasingly complex modern instruments, ultimately led to the
development of the "Big Bang" theory. The second part of the book
traces the evolution of the Big Bang including the very recent
observation that the expansion of the Universe is itself
accelerating with time.
Structure and Evolution of Single Stars: An introduction is
intended for upper-level undergraduates and beginning graduates
with a background in physics. Following a brief overview of the
background observational material, the basic equations describing
the structure and evolution of single stars are derived. The
relevant physical processes, which include the equation of state,
opacity, nuclear reactions and neutrino losses are then reviewed.
Subsequent chapters describe the evolution of low-mass stars from
formation to the final white dwarf phase. The final chapter deals
with the evolution of massive stars.
Alien Skies: A Travelogue of the Universe gives readers the
opportunity to travel through the universe, visiting a series of
celestial destinations carefully chosen to span the extraordinary
limits of space and time that bound our amazing cosmos. The
destinations in Alien Skies reveal the unusual skies seen from
throughout the solar system, nearby stars, nebulae, and star
clusters, and during a series of voyages exploring the structure
and content of our home galaxy. The itinerary includes nearby
'normal' galaxies, exotic active galaxies, as well as galaxy
groups, clusters and cosmic voids. The final destinations of the
journey traverse space and time to view the evolution of galaxies
and cosmic structure, and of the universe as a whole. Alien Skies
provides a broad, factual overview of modern astronomy, while
instilling interest and enthusiasm of how science reveals the
wonders of our universe. This book can serve as the text for
introductory courses aimed at non-science majors or as background
for courses geared to astronomy and astrophysics majors. It is also
suitable for advanced courses at the high school level.
Cosmology is the study of the origin, size, and evolution of the
entire universe. Every culture has developed a cosmology, whether
it be based on religious, philosophical, or scientific principles.
In this book, the evolution of the scientific understanding of the
Universe in Western tradition is traced from the early Greek
philosophers to the most modern 21st century view. After a brief
introduction to the concept of the scientific method, the first
part of the book describes the way in which detailed observations
of the Universe, first with the naked eye and later with
increasingly complex modern instruments, ultimately led to the
development of the "Big Bang" theory. The second part of the book
traces the evolution of the Big Bang including the very recent
observation that the expansion of the Universe is itself
accelerating with time.
The study of dark matter, in both astrophysics and particle
physics, has emerged as one of the most active and exciting topics
of research in recent years. This book reviews the history behind
the discovery of missing mass (or unseen mass) in the Universe, and
ties this into the proposed extensions to the Standard Model of
Particle Physics (such as Supersymmetry), which were being proposed
within the same time frame. This book is written as an introduction
to these problems at the forefront of astrophysics and particle
physics, with the goal of conveying the physics of dark matter to
beginning undergraduate majors in scientific fields. The book goes
onto describe existing and upcoming experiments and techniques,
which will be used to detect dark matter either directly on
indirectly.
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