The Cambridge guide to the solar system
By: Kenneth R. Lang
Edition: 2nd ed.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 475
ISBN-13: 9780521198578
Notes: Includes indexes.
Table of contents: title: Evolving perspectives : a historical prologue. Moving points of light -- Telescopes reveal the hitherto unseen -- What holds the solar system together? -- Physical properties of the Sun -- Terrestrial and giant planets -- What is inside the major planets? -- The new close-up view from space. Flybys, orbiters, probes and landers -- Impact craters -- Volcanism -- Water -- Atmospheres, magnetospheres and the solar wind. Fundamentals -- Atmospheres of the terrestrial planets -- Atmospheres of the giant planets -- Titan, a satellite with a substantial atmosphere -- The planets are inside the expanding Sun -- Magnetized planets and magnetospheres -- Aurora -- Restless Earth : third rock from the Sun. Fundamentals -- Journey to the center of the Earth -- Remodeling the Earth's surface -- The Earth's changing atmosphere -- Space weather -- The Earth's Moon : stepping stone to the planets. Fundamentals -- Eclipses of the Moon and Sun -- The Moon's face -- Apollo expeditions to the Moon -- Inside the Moon -- The lunar surface -- Return to the Moon -- The Moon's history -- Tides and the once and future Moon -- Origin of the Moon -- Mercury : a dense battered world. Fundamentals -- A tiny world in the glare of sunlight -- Space-age investigations of Mercury -- Radar probes of Mercury -- A modified Moon-like surface -- An iron world -- A mysterious magnetic field -- Einstein and Mercury's anomalous orbital motion -- Venus : the veiled planet. Fundamentals -- Bright, beautiful Venus -- Penetrating the clouds of Venus -- Unveiling Venus with radar -- Volcanic plains on Venus -- Highland massifs on Venus -- Tectonics on Venus -- Mars : the red planet. Fundamentals -- Planet Mars -- The space-age odyssey to Mars -- The atmosphere, surface conditions and winds of Mars -- The polar regions of Mars -- Highs and lows on Mars -- Flowing water on Mars long ago -- Mars is an ice planet -- The search for life on Mars -- The mysterious moons of Mars -- Jupiter : a giant primitive planet. Fundamentals -- Stormy weather on Jupiter -- Beneath Jupiter's clouds -- Introduction to the Galilean satellites -- Jupiter's volcanic moon Io -- Jupiter's water moon Europa -- Jupiter's battered moons, Ganymede and Callisto -- Jupiter's mere wisp of a ring -- Saturn : lord of the rings. Fundamentals -- Winds and clouds on Saturn -- Beneath Saturn's clouds -- The remarkable rings of Saturn -- Introduction to Saturn's moons -- Saturn's active water moon Enceladus -- Hidden methane lakes and organic dunes on Saturn's moon Titan -- Alien worlds, distant ring -- Uranus and Neptune. Fundamentals -- Storm clouds on the outer giants -- Interiors and magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune -- Rings of Uranus and Neptune -- The large moons of Uranus and Neptune -- Asteroids and meteorites.  The orbits of asteroids -- Origin of the asteroids -- Viewing asteroids from a distance-- Spacecraft view asteroids close up -- Meteorites -- Colliding worlds. A comet hits Jupiter -- Consumed by the Sun -- Impacts of asteroids with the Earth -- Demise of the dinosaurs -- Assessing the risk of death from above -- Breaking a date with doomsday -- Comets. Unexpected appearance of comets -- The return of comet Halley -- Where do comets come from? -- Anatomy of a comet -- Two comet tails -- Spacecraft glimpse the comet nucleus -- Rotating comet nucleus -- Comet decay and meteor showers -- Beyond Neptune. Pluto : a small frozen world with companions -- Small cold worlds in the outer precincts of the planetary system -- Edge of the solar system -- Brave new worlds. How the solar system came into being -- Newborn stars with planet-forming disks -- The plurality of worlds -- The first discoveries of exoplanets -- Hundreds of new worlds circling nearby stars -- Searching for habitable planets.