Discovering the Universe by Neil F. Comins; William Kaufmann - Tenth Edition, 2014 from Macmillan Student Store

Discovering the Universe

Tenth  Edition©2014  Neil F. Comins; William Kaufmann

About

Table of Contents

Preface

Part I Understanding Astronomy
Chapter 1 Discovering the Night Sky
WHAT IF Earths Axis Lay on the Ecliptic?
Chapter 2 Gravitation and the Motion of the Planets 41
Chapter 3 Light and Telescopes
WHAT IF Humans Had Infrared-Sensitive Eyes?
Chapter 4 Atomic Physics and Spectra

Part II Understanding the Solar System
Chapter 5 Formation of the Solar System and Other Planetary Systems
Chapter 6 Earth and the Moon
WHAT IF The Moon Didnt Exist?
Chapter 7 The Other Terrestrial Planets
Chapter 8 The Outer Planets
WHAT IF We Lived on a Metal-Poor Earth?
Chapter 9 Vagabonds of the Solar System
Chapter 10 The Sun: Our Extraordinary Ordinary Star

Part III Understanding the Stars
Chapter 11 Characterizing Stars
Chapter 12 The Lives of Stars from Birth Through Middle Age
WHAT IF Earth Orbited a 1.5-M Sun?
Chapter 13 The Deaths of Stars
WHAT IF A Supernova Exploded Near Earth?
Chapter 14 Black Holes: Matters of Gravity

Part IV Understanding the Universe
Chapter 15 The Milky Way Galaxy
Chapter 16 Galaxies 4
WHAT IF The Solar System Were Located Closer to the Center of the Galaxy?
Chapter 17 Quasars and Other
Chapter 18 Cosmology
Chapter 19 Astrobiology

Appendices

Neil F. Comins

Professor Neil F. Comins is on the faculty of the University of Maine. Born in 1951 in New York City, he grew up in New York and New England. He earned a bachelor's degree in engineering physics at Cornell University, a master's degree in physics at the University of Maryland, and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from University College, Cardiff, Wales, under the guidance of Bernard F. Schutz. Dr. Comins's work for his doctorate, on general relativity, was cited in Subramanyan Chandrasekhar's Nobel laureate speech. He has done theoretical and experimental research in general relativity, optical and radio observational astronomy, computer simulations of galaxy evolution, and science education. He is also the author of five trade books, What if the Moon Didn't Exist?, Heavenly Errors, The Hazards of Space Travel, What if the Earth Had Two Moons?, and The Traveler’s Guide to Space. What if the Moon Didn't Exist? has been made into planetarium shows, been excerpted for television and radio, translated into several languages, and was the theme for the Mitsubishi Pavilion at the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. Dr. Comins has appeared on numerous television and radio shows and gives many public talks. Although he has jumped out of airplanes while in the military, today his activities are a little more sedate: he is a licensed pilot and avid sailor, having once competed against Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

William J. Kaufmann

William J. Kaufman III was author of the first four editions of Universe.  Born in New York City on December 27, 1942, he often visited the magnificent Hayden Planetarium as he was growing up.  Dr. Kaufmann earned his bachelor's degree magna cum laude in physics from Adelphi University in 1963, a master's degree in physics from Rutgers in 1965, and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Indiana University in 1968.  At 27 he became the youngest director of any major planetarium in the United States when he took the helm of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.  During his career he also held positions at San Diego State University, UCLA, Caltech, and the University of Illinois.  Throughout his professional life as a scientist and educator, Dr. Kaufmann worked to bridge the gap between the scientific community and the general public to help the public share in the advances of astronomy.  A prolific author, his many books include Black Holes and Warped Spacetime, Relativity and Cosmology, The Cosmic Frontiers of General Relativity, Exploration of the Solar System, Planets and Moons, Stars and Nebulas, Galaxies and Quasars, and Supercomputing and the Transformation of Science.  Dr. Kaufmann died in 1994.