An Introduction to the Solar System

Fülszöveg

An I ntrod uction to the Solar system
Philip A. Bland imperial college, UK Neil McBride The open unluersity, Milton Keynes, UK Elaine A. Moore The open university, Milton Keynes, UK Mil<e widdowson The open university, Milton Keynes, UK lan Wright The open unluersity, Milton Keynes, UK
Major leaps In space technology during the past 40 years now allow us to view the splendour and diversity of the solar System in remarkable detail. This textbook presents a fascinating description of the origin of the solar System and the evolution of the planets, and places our own planet Earth within the context ofother, more distant, worlds.
The book starts with a tour of the solar System and a brief overview of its formation. It then examines the composition and Internal struaure ofthe terrestrial planets and describes the majorsurface-shaping processes: planetary volcanism, impart cratering and wind processes. The atmospheres ofthe terrestrial planets are considered in detail, and this leads... Tovább

Fülszöveg

An I ntrod uction to the Solar system
Philip A. Bland imperial college, UK Neil McBride The open unluersity, Milton Keynes, UK Elaine A. Moore The open university, Milton Keynes, UK Mil<e widdowson The open university, Milton Keynes, UK lan Wright The open unluersity, Milton Keynes, UK
Major leaps In space technology during the past 40 years now allow us to view the splendour and diversity of the solar System in remarkable detail. This textbook presents a fascinating description of the origin of the solar System and the evolution of the planets, and places our own planet Earth within the context ofother, more distant, worlds.
The book starts with a tour of the solar System and a brief overview of its formation. It then examines the composition and Internal struaure ofthe terrestrial planets and describes the majorsurface-shaping processes: planetary volcanism, impart cratering and wind processes. The atmospheres ofthe terrestrial planets are considered in detail, and this leads naturally on to a discussion ofthe giant planets and why they are compositionally different from the planets ofthe inner solar System. Minor bodies, including comets, asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects, are described, and the book concludes with an examination of theories for the origin ofthe solar System and the evidence that has come from meteorites.
compiled by a team of experts, this textbook has been designed for introdurtory university courses in planetary science, and is written in an accessible style that avoids complex mathematics, it is suitable forself-study and will appeal to amateur enthusiasts as well as undergraduate students. The book includes many helpful features:
• numerousfull-colourdiagramsand photographs from many space missions
• boxed summaries highlighting particular concepts and techniques
• bulletedquestionsandanswersthroughoutthetext
• over 90 student exercises with full solutions
• glossary of terms
• a supporting website http://publi5hing.cambridge.org/resources/052l 546206 hosting sample pages, selerted illustrations, furtherexercises and solutions and links to other related internet resources.
Advance praise for this textboolc
'An introduction to the Solar System is clearly written, accurate, up-to-date, well produced and a pleasure to read, it is afirst rate produrtion by a team of professionals, clearly designedforteachlnganduptothehigh standards of The Open university. The many questions that are posed throughout the text (with answers at the back) make it an ideal teaching text Asabeginningtext at an undergraduate or advanced high school level, it is hard to fault this book and I suspert that it will be widely used in introdurtory courses.' Professor S. Ross Taylor The Australian National Unluersity
'An introduaion to the Solar System stands out from the majority of introdurtory textbooks in this area due to its excellent coverage ofthe geological and geophysical aspects of planetary science. The glossary of terms provided in the back ofthe book will prove extremely helpful to students, as will the many questions and exercises interspersed throughout the text'
Professor tmke De Pater Unluersity of California, Berte/ey, USA (author ofthe graduate textbook Planetary sciences) Vissza