Details

Distant Worlds


Distant Worlds

Milestones in Planetary Exploration

von: Peter Bond

32,09 €

Verlag: Copernicus
Format: PDF
Veröffentl.: 08.01.2010
ISBN/EAN: 9780387683676
Sprache: englisch
Anzahl Seiten: 325

Dieses eBook enthält ein Wasserzeichen.

Beschreibungen

<P>This book recounts the epic saga of how we as human beings have come to understand the Solar System. The story of our exploration of the heavens, Peter Bond reminds us, began thousands of years ago, with the naked-eye observations of the earliest scientists and philosophers. Over the centuries, as our knowledge and understanding inexorably broadened and deepened, we faltered many times, frequently labored under misconceptions, and faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles to understanding. Yet, despite overwhelming obstacles, a combination of determined observers, brilliant thinkers, courageous explorers, scientists and engineers has brought us, particularly over the last five decades, into a second great age of human discovery.</P>
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<P>At our present level of understanding, some fifty years into the Space Age, the sheer volume of images and other data being returned to us from space has only increased our appetite for more and more detailed information about the planets, moons, asteroids, and comets of the Solar System. Taking a much-needed overview of how we now understand these "distant worlds" in our cosmic neighborhood, Bond not only celebrates the extraordinary successes of planetary exploration, but reaffirms an important truth: For seekers of knowledge, there will always be more to explore.</P>
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<P>An astonishing saga of exploration…</P>
<P>In this much-needed overview of "where we stand today," Peter Bond describes the achievements of the astronomers, space scientists, and engineers who have made the exploration of our Solar System possible. A clearly written and compelling account of the Space Age, the book includes:</P>
<P>• Dramatic accounts of the daring, resourcefulness, and ferocious competitive zeal of renowned as well as almost-forgotten space pioneers.</P>
<P>• Clear explanations of the precursors to modern astronomy, including how ancient natural philosophers and observers first took the measure of the heavens.</P>
<P>• More than a hundred informative photographs, maps, simulated scenarios, and technical illustrations--many of them in full color.</P>
<P>• Information-dense appendices on the physical properties of our Solar System, as well as a comprehensive list of 50 years of Solar System missions.</P>
<P>Organized into twelve chapters focused on the objects of our exploration (the individual planets, our Moon, the asteroids and comets), Bond’s text shows how the great human enterprise of space exploration may on occasion have faltered or wandered off the path, but taken as a whole amounts to one of the great triumphs of human civilization.</P>
CHAPTER 1: DISCOVERING DISTANT WORLDS 3 CHAPTER 2: MERCURY: THE IRON PLANET 21 CHAPTER 3: VENUS: THE RUNAWAY GREENHOUSE 45 CHAPTER 4: THE MOON: QUEEN OF THE NIGHT 69 5: MARS: THE RED PLANET CHAPTER 101 CHAPTER 6: ASTEROIDS: VERMIN OF THE SKIES 129 CHAPTER 7: JUPITER: KING OF THE PLANETS 147 CHAPTER 8: SATURN: LIGHTWEIGHT LORD OF THE RINGS 185 CHAPTER 9: URANUS: THE TOPPLED GIANT 217 CHAPTER 10: NEPTUNE: THE LAST GIANT 237 CHAPTER 11: PLUTO: KING OF THE KUIPER BELT 257 CHAPTER 12: COMETS: COSMIC ICEBERGS 269 APPENDICES 1: Lunar and Planetary Missions 285 2: Planetary Data 298 3: Satellite Data 299 4: Planetary Rings 305 5: The Largest Known Kuiper Belt Objects 307 6: Lunar and Planetary Firsts 308 7: Selected Reading List 310 8: Selected Websites 314 INDEX 317 VII Until about 500 years ago, the Earth was believed to lie at Pluto and its recently discovered, larger cousin in the far the center of the Universe, with the Sun and five planets reaches of the Sun's realm. For the first time, human eyes revolving around it. The planets themselves were merely have been able to see towering cliffs, dust devils, erupting points of light that drifted across the stellar constellations.
Discovering Distant Worlds.- Mercury: The Iron Planet.- Venus: The Runaway Greenhouse.- The Moon: Queen of the night.- Mars: The red planet.- Asteroids: Vermin of the skies.- Jupiter: King of the planets.- Saturn: Lightweight lord of the rings.- Uranus: The toppled giant.- Neptune: The last giant.- Pluto: King of the Kuiper Belt.- Comets: Cosmic icebergs.
<P>Peter Bond is a Press Officer for the Royal Astronomical Society and Consultant for the European Space Agency.</P>
<P>Peter Bond provides an overview of key, unmanned missions, chapter by chapter, to planets in the twentieth century. He tells the story of the mission planners and engineers who, working mostly in the background, made these unprecedented achievements in scientific exploration possible. Bond’s perspective provides a much-needed overview, but it also details the very human feelings that animated the intense rivalries between the Soviet Union and the United States, and most recently the difficulties that arose in collaborations between NASA and ESA on the Rosetta and Halley's Comet missions. </P>
<P>Tells the story of the great unmanned space missions of the 20<SUP>th</SUP> century</P>
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<P>Explores the world of mission planners and engineers who worked behind the scenes</P>
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<P>Recounts the Space Race rivalries between the Soviet Union and the United States</P>
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<P>Reveals the difficulties that arose in collaborations between NASA and ESA on the Rosetta and Halley's Comet missions</P>
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<P>Every planet (excepting Pluto) and nearly every other significant body in our solar system has been or soon will be landed on, crashed into, flown by, or otherwise prodded and peered at, mainly by unmanned missions that attract less than their share of public attention. Here, Peter Bond provides an overview of key twentieth century unmanned missions, telling the story of the mission planners and engineers who, working mostly in the background, made these unprecedented achievements in scientific exploration possible. The book illustrates in close detail the human feelings that animated the intense rivalries between the Soviet Union and the United States, and most recently the difficulties that arose in collaborations between NASA and ESA on the Rosetta and Halley's Comet missions.</P>

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