The smart guide to the solar system
By: by Philip Seldon
Edition: Second edition.
Series: Smarter still with Smart guides; Smart guide series (Norman, Okla.)
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9781937636739
Subjects: Popular works
Other titles: Solar system
Description: Briefly outlines the history of astronomy and space exploration, recounts the origins of our solar system, and summarizes current knowledge about the sun, moon, stars, planets and their relationship to the earth.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 306-312) and index.
Table of contents: title: Part one: Prologue. Our solar system ; From Aristotle to Newton ; From the Age of Enlightenment to the Space Age; title: Part two: Terrestrial bodies. Mercury: speeding around the sun ; Venus: the runaway greenhouse ; Earth: the original Goldilocks planet ; The moon: in Earth's gravity and lighting the night sky ; Mars: the Red Planet beckons; title: Part three: Gas giants. Jupiter: king of the solar system ; Jupiter's Galilean moons: like a mini-solar system ; Jupiter's numerous rings and moons ; Saturn: spectacular lord of the rings ; Saturn's majestic, magnificent rings ; Saturn's Titan: the moon with smog and more smog ; Saturn's Enceladus: moon of many geysers ; Saturn's moons: rivaling Jupiter; title: Part four: Cold and distant. Uranus: the blue-green planet ; Neptune: outer ice giant ; Pluto and Charon: from planet to dwarf planet ; Dwarf planets: Eris, Haumea, Makemake, and Ceres; title: Part five: Eclectic objects. Comets: bright "hairy stars" and their tails ; Faint asteroids, flashing meteors ; Exoplanets: planets beyond our solar system; title: Part six: The sun. Our sun: shining at the center ; Readings and web references.