Kategoria BISAC: Science >> Physics - Astrophysics

To commemorate the momentous 50^th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin s pioneering journey into space on 12^th April 2011, a series of five books to be published annually until 2011 will explore this half century, decade by decade, to discover how humanity s knowledge of flying, working and living in space has changed. Each volume will focus not only upon the individual missions within its decade, but also upon the key challenges facing human space exploration at specific points within those 50 years: from the simple problems of breathing and eating in space to the challenges...

Instead of taking somebody's word for it about the basic size and distance statistics for the solar system, this book shows amateur astronomers how to measure these things for themselves. This is an enriching experience for any amateur astronomer - to understand and personally measure some fundamental astronomical quantities and distances.

A basic knowledge of geometry is required, but it is amazing how simple the geometry can be. Readers are led through the geometry as gently as possible - and in a light-hearted way - presuming that most non-academics will have half-forgotten most...

In the summer of 2000 the German geo-research satellite CHAMP was launched into orbit. Its innovative payload arrangement and the low initial orbit allow CHAMP to simultaneously collect and almost continuously analyse precise data relating to gravity and magnetic fields at low altitude. In addition, CHAMP also measures the neutral atmosphere and ionosphere using GPS techniques. Three years after launch, more than 200 CHAMP investigators and co-investigators from all over the world met at the GeoForschungsZentrum in Potsdam to present and discuss the results derived from the extensive data...

The contributions gathered in this volume provide introductions to current problems in geospace electromagnetic radiation, guides to the associated literature and tutorial reviews of the relevant space physics. Students and scientists working on various aspects of the terrestrial aurora or magnetospheric and near-Earth heliospheric high-frequency waves will find this volume an indispensable companion for their studies.

The Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, now in its fifth edition, is the official reference of the International Astronomical Union. This Addendum gathers some 2,000 newly published names from the period 2003-2005, as well as the latest corrections and amendments to earlier editions. In total, the Dictionary now covers some 12,000 named minor planets, providing authoritative information about the basis for the rich and colorful variety of names.

This book contains the expanded lecture notes of the 32nd Saas-Fee Advanced Course. The three contributions present the central themes in modern research on the cold universe, ranging from cold objects at large distances to the physics of dust in cold clouds.

Astrobiology, a new exciting interdisciplinary research field, seeks to unravel the origin and evolution of life wherever it might exist in the Universe. The current view of the origin of life on Earth is that it is strongly connected to the origin and evolution of our planet and, indeed, of the Universe as a whole.

We are fortunate to be living in an era where centuries of speculation about the two ancient and fundamental problems: the origin of life and its prevalence in the Universe are being replaced by experimental science. The subject of Astrobiology can be approached...

Based on data from an experiment which ran for ten years, this book summarizes the results of the Atmospheric Physics Department of the St. Petersburg University and the Main Geophysical Observatory. The processed data now forms a rich dataset of spectral values of radiative characteristics under different atmospheric conditions. The analysis of this database clearly shows that the solar radiative absorption in a dusty and cloudy atmosphere is significantly higher than assumed to date. Both graduate students of atmospheric sciences as well as scientists and researchers in the field of...

Many times all of us could hear from mass media that an asteroid approached and swept past the Earth. Such an asteroid or comet will inevitably strike the planet some day. This volume considers hazards due to collisions with cosmic objects, particularly in light of recent investigations of impacts by the authors. Each chapter written by an expert contains an overview of an aspect and new findings in the field. The main hazardous effects cratering, shock, aerial and seismic waves, fires, ejection of dust and soot, tsunami are described and numerically estimated. Numerical simulations of...

Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) studies the interaction between the flow of an electrically conducting fluid and magnetic fields. It involves such diverse topics as the evolution and dynamics of astrophysical objects, thermonuclear fusion, metallurgy and semiconductor crystal growth, etc. Although the first ideas in magnetohydrodynamics appeared at the beginning of the last century, the "explosion" in theoretical and experimental studies occurred in the 1950s-60s.

This state-of-the-art book aims at revising the evolution of ideas in various branches of magnetohydrodynamics...

This book presents studies of complexity in the context of nonequilibrium phenomena using theory, modeling, simulations, and experiments, both in the laboratory and in nature.