Books in Astronomy astrophysics space science

An Introduction to Astrophysical Hydrodynamics

1st Edition
December 2, 2012
Steven N. Shore
English
eBook
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This book is an introduction to astrophysical hydrodynamics for both astronomy and physics students. It provides a comprehensive and unified view of the general problems associated with fluids in a cosmic context, with a discussion of fluid dynamics and plasma physics. It is the only book on hydrodynamics that addresses the astrophysical context. Researchers and students will find this work to be an exceptional reference. Contents include chapters on irrotational and rotational flows, turbulence, magnetohydrodynamics... and instabilities.

Optimal Spacecraft Rotational Maneuvers

1st Edition
Volume 3
December 2, 2012
J.L. Junkins + 1 more
English
eBook
9 7 8 0 4 4 4 6 0 0 3 1 8

This monograph has grown out of the authors' recent work directed toward solving a family of problems which arise in maneuvering modern spacecraft. The work ranges from fundamental developments in analytical dynamics and optimal control to a significant collection of example applications. The primary emphasis herein is upon the most central analytical and numerical methods for determining optimal rotational maneuvers of spacecraft. The authors focus especially upon the large angle nonlinear maneuvers, and also consider large rotational maneuvers of flexible vehicles with simultaneous vibration suppression/arrest. Each chapter includes a list of references.The book provides much new material which will be of great interest to practising professionals and advanced graduate students working in the general areas of spacecraft technology, applied mathematics, optimal control theory, and numerical optimization. Chapter 11 in particular presents new information that will be found widely useful for terminal control and tracking maneuvers.

The Three-Body Problem

1st Edition
December 2, 2012
C. Marchal
English
eBook
9 7 8 0 4 4 4 6 0 0 7 4 5

Recent research on the theory of perturbations, the analytical approach and the quantitative analysis of the three-body problem have reached a high degree of perfection. The use of electronics has aided developments in quantitative analysis and has helped to disclose the extreme complexity of the set of solutions. This accelerated progress has given new orientation and impetus to the qualitative analysis that is so complementary to the quantitative analysis.The book begins with the various formulations of the three-body problem, the main classical results and the important questions and conjectures involved in this subject. The main part of the book describes the remarkable progress achieved in qualitative analysis which has shed new light on the three-body problem. It deals with questions such as escapes, captures, periodic orbits, stability, chaotic motions, Arnold diffusion, etc. The most recent tests of escape have yielded very impressive results and border very close on the true limits of escape, showing the domain of bounded motions to be much smaller than was expected. An entirely new picture of the three-body problem is emerging, and the book reports on this recent progress.The structure of the solutions for the three-body problem lead to a general conjecture governing the picture of solutions for all Hamiltonian problems. The periodic, quasi-periodic and almost-periodic solutions form the basis for the set of solutions and separate the chaotic solutions from the open solutions.

Particle Physics and Cosmology: Dark Matter

1st Edition
Volume 6
December 2, 2012
M. Srednicki
English
eBook
9 7 8 0 4 4 4 5 9 6 0 9 3

At least eighty percent of the mass of the universe consists of some material which, unlike ordinary matter, neither emits nor absorbs light. This book collects key papers related to the discovery of this astonishing fact and its profound implications for astrophysics, cosmology, and the physics of elementary particles. The book focuses on the likely possibility that the dark matter is composed of an as yet undiscovered elementary particle, and examines the boundaries of our present knowledge of the properties such a particle must possess.

Dynamics of Tethered Satellite Systems

1st Edition
October 16, 2012
Vladimir Aslanov + 1 more
English
eBook
9 7 8 0 8 5 7 0 9 6 0 0 5

Aimed at engineering students and professionals working in the field of mechanics of space flight, this book examines space tether systems – one of the most forward-thinking directions of modern astronautics. The main advantage of this technology is the simplicity, profitability and ecological compatibility: space tethers allow the execution of various manoeuvers in orbit without costs of jet fuel due to the use of gravitational and electromagnetic fields of the Earth. This book will acquaint the reader with the modern state of the space tether’s dynamics, with specific attention on the research projects of the nearest decades. This book presents the most effective mathematical models and the methods used for the analysis and prediction of space tether systems’ motion; attention is also given to the influence of the tether on spacecraft’s motion, to emergencies and chaotic modes.

Orbital Mechanics and Formation Flying

1st Edition
October 4, 2011
P A Capó-Lugo + 1 more
English
Hardback
9 7 8 0 8 5 7 0 9 0 5 4 6
eBook
9 7 8 0 8 5 7 0 9 3 8 7 5

Aimed at students, faculty and professionals in the aerospace field, this book provides practical information on the development, analysis, and control of a single and/or multiple spacecraft in space. This book is divided into two major sections: single and multiple satellite motion. The first section analyses the orbital mechanics, orbital perturbations, and attitude dynamics of a single satellite around the Earth. Using the knowledge of a single satellite motion, the translation of a group of satellites called formation flying or constellation is explained. Formation flying has been one of the main research topics over the last few years and this book explains different control approaches to control the satellite attitude motion and/or to maintain the constellation together. The control schemes are explained in the discrete domain such that it can be easily implemented on the computer on board the satellite. The key objective of this book is to show the reader the practical and the implementation process in the discrete domain.

Lakes on Mars

1st Edition
September 15, 2010
Nathalie A. Cabrol + 1 more
English
Paperback
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eBook
9 7 8 0 0 8 0 9 3 1 6 2 3

On Earth, lakes provide favorable environments for the development of life and its preservation as fossils. They are extremely sensitive to climate fluctuations and to conditions within their watersheds. As such, lakes are unique markers of the impact of environmental changes. Past and current missions have now demonstrated that water once flowed at the surface of Mars early in its history. Evidence of ancient ponding has been uncovered at scales ranging from a few kilometers to possibly that of the Arctic ocean. Whether life existed on Mars is still unknown; upcoming missions may find critical evidence to address this question in ancient lakebeds as clues about Mars’ climate evolution and its habitability potential are still preserved in their sedimentary record. Lakes on Mars is the first review on this subject. It is written by leading planetary scientists who have dedicated their careers to searching and exploring the questions of water, lakes, and oceans on Mars through their involvement in planetary exploration, and the analysis of orbital and ground data beginning with Viking up to the most recent missions. In thirteen chapters, Lakes on Mars critically discusses new data and explores the role that water played in the evolution of the surface of Mars, the past hydrological provinces of the planet, the possibility of heated lake habitats through enhanced geothermal flux associated with volcanic activity and impact cratering. The book also explores alternate hypotheses to explain the geological record. Topographic, morphologic, stratigraphic, and mineralogic evidence are presented that suggest successions of ancient lake environments in Valles Marineris and Hellas. The existence of large lakes and/or small oceans in Elysium and the Northern Plains is supported both by the global distribution of deltaic deposits and by equipotential surfaces that may reflect their past margins. Whether those environments were conducive to life has yet to be demonstrated but from comparison with our planet, their sedimentary deposits may provide the best opportunity to find its record, if any. The final chapters explore the impact of climate variability on declining lake habitats in one of the closest terrestrial analogs to Mars at the Noachian/Hesperian transition, identify the geologic, morphologic and mineralogic signatures of ancient lakes to be searched for on Mars, and present the case for landing the Mars Science Laboratory mission in such an environment.

Watchers of the Stars

3rd Edition
September 30, 2009
Sir Patrick Moore CBE DSc FRAS
English
Paperback
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Hardback
9 7 8 1 9 0 4 2 7 5 3 6 7

This is the third edition by Sir Patrick Moore, one of the great presenters of astronomy in our time. It tells the epic story of the historical development of astronomy which caused a revolutionary change in human outlook, in its impact upon both scientific thinking and religious belief.

String Theory and the Real World: From particle physics to astrophysics

1st Edition
Volume 87
July 29, 2008
C. Bachas + 7 more
English
eBook
9 7 8 0 0 8 0 9 5 1 5 1 5

This book is a collection of lectures given in July 2007 at the Les Houches Summer School on "String Theory and the Real World: From particle physics to astrophysics."

The Ontology of Spacetime II

1st Edition
Volume 4
June 17, 2008
Dennis Dieks
English
Hardback
9 7 8 0 4 4 4 5 3 2 7 5 6
eBook
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The sixteen papers collected in this volume are expanded and revised versions of talks delivered at the Second International Conference on the Ontology of Spacetime, organized by the International Society for the Advanced Study of Spacetime (John Earman, President) at Concordia University (Montreal) from 9 to 11 June 2006. Most chapters are devoted to subjects directly relating to the ontology of spacetime. The book starts with four papers that discuss the ontological status of spacetime and the processes occurring in it from a point of view that is first of all conceptual and philosophical. The focus then slightly shifts in the five papers that follow, to considerations more directly involving technical considerations from relativity theory. After this, Time, Becoming and Change take centre stage in the next five papers. The book ends with two excursions into relatively uncharted territory: a consideration of the status of Kaluza-Klein theory, and an investigation of possible relations between the nature of spacetime and condensed matter physics, respectively.

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