Riassunto
There are many planetary systems other than our own, but it is only through a detailed understanding of the relatively accessible bodies in our solar system that a thorough appreciation of planetary science can be gained. This is particularly pertinent with the recent discovery of extra-solar planets and the desire to understand their formation and the prospect of life on other worlds. Planetary Science: The Science of Planets Around Stars focuses on the structure of planets and the stars they orbit and the interactions between them. The book is written in two parts, making it suitable for students at different levels and approaching planetary science from differing backgrounds. Twelve independent descriptive chapters reveal our solar system and the diverse bodies it contains, including satellites, planetary rings, asteroids, comets, meteorites, and interstellar dust. These chapters are accompanied by 42 detailed topics that discuss specialized subjects in a quantitative manner and will be essential reading for those in higher level courses. Coverage includes mineralogy, stellar formation and evolution, solar system dynamics, atmospheric physics, planetary interiors, thermodynamics, planetary astrophysics, and exobiology. Problems and answers are also included. Planetary Science: The Science of Planets Around Stars presents a complete overview of planetary science for students of physics, astronomy, astrophysics, earth sciences, and geophysics. Assuming no prior knowledge of astrophysics or geophysics, this book is suitable for students studying planetary science for the first time.
Contenuti
The Unity of the Universe
The Sun and Other Stars
The Planets
The Terrestrial Planets
The Major Planets and Pluto
The Moon
Satellites and Rings
Asteroids
Comets
Meteorites
Dust in the Solar System
Theories of the Origin of the Solar System
Special Topics:
Basic Mineralogy, Geochronology-Radioactive Dating, The Virial Theorem, The Jeans Critical Mass, Free-Fall Collapse, The Evolution of Protostars, The Equilibrium of Stars on the Main Sequence, Energy Production in Stars, Evolution of Stars Away from the Main Sequence, The Chandrasekhar Limit, Neutron Stars and Black Holes, Planets Around Other Stars, Solar-system Studies to the beginning of the XVIIth Century, Newton, Kepler's Laws and Solar System Dynamics, The Formation of Commensurate Orbits, The Atmosphere of the Earth, The Physics of Planetary Interiors, The Transfer of Heat, Seismology-the Interior of the Earth, Moments of Inertia, The Gravitational Field of a Distorted Planet, Precession of the Earth's Spin Axis, Intrinsic Planetary Magnetism, Magnetic Interactions Between Planet and Star, Planetary Albedoes, The Physics of Tides, Darwin's Theory of Lunar Origin, The Roche Limit and Satellite Disruption, Tidal Heating of Io, The Ram Pressure of a Gas Stream, The Trojan Asteroids, Heating by Accretion, Perturbation of the Oort Cloud, Radiation Pressure and the Poynting-Robertson Effect, Analyses Associated with the Jeans Tidal Theory, The Viscous-Disk Mechanism for the Transfer of Angular Momentum, Magnetic Braking of the Spinning Sun, The Safronov Theory of Planet Formation, The Eddington Accretion Mechanism, Life on an Hospitable Planet, The Role of Space Vehicles, Planetary Atmospheric Warming, Migration of Planetary Orbits, Interactions in an Embedded Cluster
Appendix
Physical Constants
Solutions to problems
References
Index
Supplementary materials available at www.lpi.usra.edu: Planetary Science World Wide Web Sites
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