The spectacular collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in July 1994 was a unique event in the history of astronomy. With a year's advance warning, astronomers and planetary scientists around the world were able to coordinate an observing campaign to track the event in unprecedented detail. A year after the event, a workshop at the Space Telescope Science Institute provided the first opportunity for them to bring together their observations and foster a new understanding of the impact. In this book, the editors present fifteen invited reviews from authors selected as international...

Presents observational and theoretical papers from world experts addressing the important role in astrophysics of massive stars.

This volume, based on a meeting held at the Space Telescope Science Institute, lays the astrophysical groundwork for locating habitable places in the Universe. Written by leading scientists in the field, it covers a range of topics relevant to the search for life in the universe, including extrasolar planet searches and properties; the history of the solar system; star and planet formation; the habitability of planets and search strategies.

Humans have long thought that planetary systems similar to our own should exist around stars other than the Sun, yet the search for planets outside our Solar System has had a dismal history of discoveries that could not be confirmed. However, this all changed in 1995, after which astonishing progress can be seen in this field; we now know of more than 200 extrasolar planets. These findings mark crucial milestones in the search for extraterrestrial life arguably one of the most intriguing endeavors of modern science. These proceedings from the 2005 Space Telescope Science Institute Symposium...

The Local Group of galaxies consists of the Milky Way and all of its neighbors. The proximity of these galaxies allows for detailed studies of the processes that have led to their formation, structures, and evolution. In particular, studies of the Local Group can test predictions of structure formation that are based on dark energy and cold dark matter. This book presents a collection of review papers, written by world experts, on some of the most important aspects of Local Group Astrophysics. It is an invaluable resource for both professional researchers and graduate students in this...

Black holes, once considered to be of purely theoretical interest, play an important role in observational astronomy and a range of astrophysical phenomena. This volume is based on a meeting held at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which explored the many aspects of black hole astrophysics. Written by world experts in areas of stellar-mass, intermediate-mass and supermassive black holes, these review papers provide an up-to-date overview of developments in this field. Topics discussed range from black hole entropy and the fate of information to supermassive black holes at the centers of...

This book acknowledges the importance of identifying the most crucial science to be performed by the superb Hubble Telescope. With this goal in mind, the book presents a review of some of the most important open questions in astronomy. World experts examine topics ranging from extrasolar planets and star formation to supermassive black holes and the reionization of the universe. Special emphasis is placed on what astronomical observations should be carried out during the next few years to enable breakthroughs in our understanding of a complex and dynamic universe. In particular, the reviewers...