Books in Space and planetary science

Erosion, Deposition, and Weathering Across the Solar System

1st Edition
Volume 4
October 1, 2025
Jani Radebaugh + 1 more
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 4 4 3 1 4 0 2 0 4
eBook
9 7 8 0 4 4 3 1 4 0 2 1 1

Erosion, Deposition, and Weathering Across the Solar System, Volume Four summarizes erosional landforms across the Solar System, with an emphasis on the mechanistic processes responsible for these features, including case studies and methods of data and image analysis. Using comparative studies of planetary bodies and various Earth locations as natural laboratories to test models of erosive processes and landscape evolution, the book provides a current review of understanding of the evolution of planetary surfaces for Earth and those of our Solar System.Planetary surfaces images across the Solar System reveal the ubiquity of erosional processes on planets, moons, and other bodies. From branching valley networks on Mars to hydrocarbon rivers on Titan to nitrogen glaciers on Pluto, landforms across the Solar System are conspicuously similar to features that we are familiar with on Earth. This familiarity suggests similar erosional processes are occurring across the Solar System despite drastically different surface conditions and material properties.

The Oscillating Universe

1st Edition
June 1, 2025
Nick Gorkavyi
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 4 4 3 2 7 6 5 4 5
eBook
9 7 8 0 4 4 3 2 7 6 5 5 2

The Oscillating Universe: Einsteinian Cosmology of Black Holes and Gravitational Waves introduces the concept of cyclic cosmology within the framework of General Relativity. This book unravels the mysteries behind the Big Bang, the accelerating expansion of the universe, and the role of gravitational radiation and black holes in shaping our cosmos. With a comprehensive mathematical description of the oscillating universe and variable gravitational mass, readers will grasp the significance of the latest cosmological revolution sparked by the recent discoveries of gravitational waves.Students, professional astronomers, and cosmologists will find this book to be a valuable resource. It offers a popular presentation of the history of modern cosmology, discussions on recent discoveries in the study of the universe, and an introduction to the cutting-edge cyclic cosmology theory. This book provides a unique opportunity to understand the evolving landscape of cosmology and the implications of cyclic cosmology.

Planetary Tectonism across the Solar System

1st Edition
Volume 2
April 25, 2025
Christian Klimczak + 2 more
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 6 0 9 2 3
eBook
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 6 5 3 6 2

Planetary Tectonism across the Solar System, Volume Two in the Comparative Planetology series, addresses key questions surrounding planetary tectonism, such our understanding of the global contraction of Mercury, the formation of giant rift zones on Saturn’s icy moons, or the tesserated terrain on Venus. The book makes connections to Earth, such as how deformation on Mercury is both similar and different, and how to apply theoretical considerations behind plate tectonics on Earth to other planets. The book offers up-to-date, accessible and comprehensive discussions on the major tectonic processes and landforms that shape and drive the evolution of planets, moons and smaller bodies. By placing a singular emphasis on comparing tectonic processes and landforms on all relevant Solar System bodies, with the explicit objective of providing a systems-level understanding of this widespread phenomenon, this book is ideal for anyone studying planetary tectonism.

Presolar Grains in Extra-Terrestrial Materials

1st Edition
March 21, 2025
Sachiko Amari
English
eBook
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 2 1 8 3 1 0

Presolar Grains in Extra-Terrestrial Materials: Probing Stars with Stardust presents the latest research on presolar grains and their stellar sources in a cohesive resource for bringing researchers in cosmochemistry, astrophysics, and astronomy up to speed on the state-of-the-art developments, analysis, and future implications. Beginning with a historical perspective on the study of presolar grains, the book then reviews the properties and features of a variety of presolar grains, including sililcon carbide, graphite, diamonds, oxides, and silicates. It also includes techniques for analyzing presolar grains in the lab, and covers the stars that are considered sources of presolar grains, such as asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, supernovae, novae, and born-again AGB stars. Condensation calculations in various types of stars and minerals observed and/or expected in the stellar atmospheres and presolar grains are also presented.By providing the latest state in the study of of presolar grains and relevant fields of astronomy and astrophysics, Presolar Grains in Extra-Terrestrial Materials serves as an up-to-date summary of data, analysis, and implications of the study of presolar grains and their stellar sources.

Titan After Cassini-Huygens

1st Edition
January 20, 2025
Rosaly M.C. Lopes + 3 more
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 3 2 3 9 9 1 6 1 2
eBook
9 7 8 0 3 2 3 9 9 1 6 2 9

Titan After Cassini-Huygens is the most up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of our knowledge on Titan, including results and insights from the joint NASA/European Space Agency/Italian Space Agency mission Cassini-Huygens and the conclusions drawn by experts following detailed analysis of the mission data. Our knowledge of Titan has increased substantially due to observations from the Cassini-Huygens mission, which ended in 2017. Since then, observations from Earth, as well as laboratory and theoretical studies, have continued to add to our knowledge. These conclusions, combined with the latest ground-based and theoretical research, provide the most recent understanding of the science of Titan, covering the origin and evolution of Titan, its magnetic and plasma environment, surface, interior structure, geology, atmosphere, and the astrobiological potential for the oceans on the moon.The first book of the new COSPAR book series, Titan After Cassini-Huygens, is an integral reference for scientists, researchers, and academics working on Titan or ocean worlds. Part of the COSPAR Book SeriesEdited by Jean-Louis Fellous, former Executive Director of COSPAR (Committee on Space Research; 2008–2019)

Optics of the Moon

1st Edition
January 16, 2025
Yuriy Shkuratov + 2 more
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 7 9 7 2 7
eBook
9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 7 9 7 3 4

Optics of the Moon offers a modern approach to lunar remote sensing. It presents methods for interpreting optics of surfaces with complicated structures, in particular, the lunar regolith. For example, this book illustrates how phase-ratio techniques can lead to the detection of surface structure anomalies and describes polarimetric studies of the lunar surface and their use. This book addresses many questions related to the surfaces of the Moon, such as why the Moon looks like a ball at a large phase angle and like a disk in full moon, why the lunar surface has slight color variations, and why at large phase angles its polarization degree closely correlates with albedo.Including historical perspectives, case studies, maps, and figures to enhance the understanding of both theory and techniques, Optics of the Moon is a valuable resource for researchers and students in lunar and planetary science and remote sensing.

Magnetohydrodynamic Processes in Solar Plasmas

1st Edition
May 10, 2024
Abhishek Kumar Srivastava + 2 more
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 3 2 3 9 5 6 6 4 2
eBook
9 7 8 0 3 2 3 9 5 6 6 5 9

Magnetohydrodynamic Processes in Solar Plasmas provides a comprehensive theory and practice of basic plasma processes in the Sun and heliosphere. It deals with the basic dynamics of the Sun from its interior up to its outer atmosphere in the framework of Magnetohydrodynamics. Topics covered include essential phenomena in the solar interior such as magnetism, dynamos and helioseismology and in the solar atmosphere such as waves, shocks, instabilities, reconnection and coronal heating. The book provides frontline research aspects of solar plasma processes. In addition, the content is relevant for astrophysical plasmas, laboratory plasmas, fluid dynamics and related basic fields. Magnetohydrodynamic Processes in Solar Plasmas not only focuses on the fundamentals of the processes under consideration but in addition it presents recent research developments. In this manner it forms an essential reference for researchers, academics and advanced students in solar physics, astrophysics and related disciplines.

Astrochemical Modeling

1st Edition
November 23, 2023
Stefano Bovino + 1 more
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 3 2 3 9 1 7 4 6 9
eBook
9 7 8 0 3 2 3 9 7 2 5 7 4

Astrochemical Modelling: Practical Aspects of Microphysics in Numerical Simulations is a comprehensive and detailed guide to dealing with the standard problems that students and researchers face when they need to take into account astrochemistry in their models, including building chemical networks, determining the relevant processes, and understanding the theoretical challenges and the numerical limitations. The book provides chapters covering the theoretical background on the predominant areas of astrochemistry, with each chapter following theoretical background with information on existing databases, step-by-step computational examples with solutions to recurrent problems, and an overview of the different processes and their numerical implementation. Furthermore, a section on case studies provides concrete examples of computational modelling usage for real-world applications and cases where the techniques can be applied is also included.

Ices in the Solar-System

1st Edition
November 20, 2023
Richard Soare + 4 more
English
Paperback
9 7 8 0 3 2 3 9 9 3 2 4 1
eBook
9 7 8 0 3 2 3 9 9 3 2 5 8

Ices in the Solar System: A Volatile-Driven Journey from the Inner Solar System to Its FarReaches explores the origins, evolution and distribution of various ice species throughout thesolar system.Geographically, the book’s focus on ice(s) migrates outwardly from Mercury, the Earth and theMoon, Mars, then Ceres and other volatile-rich small bodies; it carries on with the moons ofJupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, followed by Pluto and other Kuiper Belt/Trans-Neptunian objects.Conceptually and empirically, the book depicts the often-enigmatic narratives of the differentice species (H2O, CO2, CH4, etc.) in the solar system and examines their interaction with a widerange of surface, near-subsurface, interior and atmospheric processes.

Atlas of Earth's Meteor Showers

1st Edition
October 24, 2023
Peter Jenniskens
English
Hardback
9 7 8 0 4 4 3 2 3 5 7 7 1
eBook
9 7 8 0 3 2 3 8 8 4 4 8 8

**2025 PROSE Award Finalist in Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, and Cosmology**The International Astronomical Union formalized the naming of meteor showers in 2006. Each newly discovered shower now is assigned a unique and officially recognized name, number, and 3-letter code. Close to a thousand possible meteor showers have since been reported, over a hundred in the cause of writing this book.Atlas of Earth's Meteor Showers takes stock of all reported detections by going back to the combined video and radar data in hand at the end of 2021, in order to weed out duplicates and false detections. Maps were created that show the direction of motion of meteors (their radiant) during 5-day and 10-day intervals throughout the year. All 500+ showers recognized are briefly described from their radiant, speed, and orbital elements, and the meteoroid mass distribution index was calculated. Physical properties of the meteoroids were derived from their beginning, peak and end height, from their deceleration in Earth's atmosphere, and from spectroscopic information. Candidate parent bodies are mentioned and the age of the stream was calculated from the dispersions in orbital elements and from the meteor magnitude distribution index. A brief history is given of the shower's discovery, of when features were first recognized, and of results from dynamical modeling, all with references to the literature.

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