Kategoria BISAC: Science >> Space Science - Astronomy

A Note from the Author: On August 24, 2006, at the 26th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague, by a majority vote of only the 424 members present, the IAU (an organization of over 10,000 members) passed a resolution defining planet in such a way as to exclude Pluto and established a new class of objects in the solar system to be called "dwarf planets," which was deliberately designed to include Pluto.

With the discovery of Eris (2003 UB313)--an outer solar system object thought to be both slightly larger than Pluto and twice as far...

The Paris Meridian is the name of the line running north-south through the astronomical observatory in Paris. One of the original intentions behind the founding of the Paris Observatory was to determine and measure this line. The French government financed the Paris Academy of Sciences to do so in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. It employed both astronomers - people who study and measure the stars - and geodesists - people who study and measure the Earth. This book is about what they did and why.

This is the first English language presentation of this historical material....

This text on optics and elasticity covers the field in-depth, discusses equations in an easy-to-understand manner, includes a portrait gallery of pioneers in the field, and provides students the tools conduct their own astronomical optics projects.

Molti astrofili ritengono che l'astrofisica sia un argomento difficile, che richiede conoscenze matematiche almeno a livello universitario.

Non e necessariamente cosi. L'approccio quantitativo adottato da Mike Inglis riesce a spiegare tutti gli aspetti dell'astrofisica in termini semplici, evitando i tecnicismi matematici con i quali questa disciplina viene spesso associata.

L'astrofisica e facile! inizia considerando il diagramma H-R e altri strumenti di base dell'astrofisico, poi spazia nell'Universo, trattando del mezzo interstellare, delle nebulose, della nascita, dell'evoluzione...

Examines each of these parameters in crucial depth and makes the argument that life forms we would recognize may be more common in our solar system than many assume.

Considers exotic forms of life that would not have to rely on carbon as the basic chemical element, solar energy as the main energy source, or water as the primary solvent and the question of detecting bio- and geosignatures of such life forms, ranging from earth environments to deep space.

Seeks an operational definition of life and investigate the realm of possibilities that nature offers to...