The New Solar System - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521645875 ISBN 13: 9780521645874

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1999

Synopsis

As the definitive guide for the armchair astronomer, The New Solar System has established itself as the leading book on planetary science and solar system studies. Incorporating the latest knowledge of the solar system, a distinguished team of researchers, many of them Principal Investigators on NASA missions, explain the solar system with expert ease. The completely-revised text includes the most recent findings on asteroids, comets, the Sun, and our neighboring planets. The book examines the latest research and thinking about the solar system; looks at how the Sun and planets formed; and discusses our search for other planetary systems and the search for life in the solar system. In full-color and heavily-illustrated, the book contains more than 500 photographs, portrayals, and diagrams. An extensive set of tables with the latest characteristics of the planets, their moon and ring systems, comets, asteroids, meteorites, and interplanetary space missions complete the text. New to this edition are descriptions of collisions in the solar system, full scientific results from Galileo's mission to Jupiter and its moons, and the Mars Pathfinder mission. For the curious observer as well as the student of planetary science, this book will be an important library acquisition. J. Kelly Beatty is the senior editor of Sky & Telescope, where for more than twenty years he has reported the latest in planetary science. A renowned science writer, he was among the first journalists to gain access to the Soviet space program. Asteroid 2925 Beatty was named on the occasion of his marriage in 1983. Carolyn Collins Petersen is an award-winning science writer and co-author of Hubble Vision (Cambridge 1995). She has also written planetarium programs seen at hundreds of facilities around the world. Andrew L. Chaikin is a Boston-based science writer. He served as a research geologist at the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies. He is a contributing editor to Popular Science and writes frequently for other publications.

About this title

Book Description:

A decade of stunning discoveries has rewritten the road map of our solar system. Bright comets blazed in the sky while Galileo beamed back astonishing images from Jupiter and Mars Pathfinder sped to the surface of Mars. A comet hit Jupiter, as telescopes discovered swarms of minor planets at the icy limit of the solar system, and new planets beyond orbiting nearby stars. These discoveries have required a completely new edition of The New Solar System, compiled by researchers who participated in many of the recent planetary missions.

About the Author:

A publishing veteran with 25 years of consulting, management and operational experience, Brian O'Leary is founder and principal of Magellan Consulting Partners, whose clients include major media firms as well as smaller and not-for-profit entities with significant publishing and media commitments. The firm's practice areas include operational improvement, revenue development, market analysis and business planning. Work done by the firm most often results in both immediate and mid-term changes in processes, structures and in some cases technologies used to produce client content. For Magellan clients, Mr. O'Leary has also written several business plans to guide start-up and growth opportunities. Prior to starting Magellan Media, Mr. O'Leary served as senior VP and associate publisher with Hammond Inc., an internationally recognized geographic reference publisher. Responsible for editorial content, database development, production and operations, Mr. O'Leary restructured editorial operations to benefit from the firm's prior technology investments. He also substantially increased the pace of the company's new-product development efforts. Before Hammond, Mr. O'Leary directed operations at several of Time Inc.'s weekly magazines and was part of the team that launched Entertainment Weekly. He joined the firm in 1983, after earning an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Mr. O'Leary also holds an A.B. in chemistry from Harvard College.

Laura Beatty worked in the art world in London and New York. This is her first book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0521645875
• ISBN 13: 9780521645874
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 430
• Editor: Beatty J. Kelly, Petersen Carolyn Collins, Chaikin Andrew