Astronomy Today - Hardcover

Chaisson, Eric J.; McMillan, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0130801003 ISBN 13: 9780130801005

Publisher: Pearson Education (US), 1931

Synopsis

With Astronomy Today, Seventh Edition, trusted authors Eric Chaisson and Steve McMillan communicate their excitement about astronomy and awaken you to the universe around you. The text emphasizes critical thinking and visualization, and it focuses on the process of scientific discovery, making “how we know what we know” an integral part of the text. The revised edition has been thoroughly updated with the latest astronomical discoveries and theories, and it has been streamlined to keep you focused on the essentials and to develop an understanding of the “big picture.”

Alternate Versions

• Astronomy Today, Volume 1: The Solar System, Seventh Edition—Focuses primarily on planetary coverage for a 1-term course. Includes Chapters 1-16, 28.
• Astronomy Today, Volume 2: Stars and Galaxies, Seventh Edition—Focuses primarily on stars and stellar evolution for a 1-term course. Includes Chapters 1-5 and 16-28.

About this title

Review

*The"Process of Science" is integrated into the text narrative. In particular the focus on scientific discovery and scientific method, or "how we know what we know", is now a much more integral part of the text (e.g. p. 6-8, 121-22, 160-65, 596-97, 611-12).*Part-opening essays emphasize the human endeavor aspect of science. Each part opener introduces a discovery and provides a historical context to the chapters that follow (e.g. p. 1, 140, 402, 600). "What role does your textbook play in your course?"*Student perspective--For this revision, the text's development editor read the text from a student perspective, helping the authors identify places they could clarify or simplify an explanation, better define a term, and discuss the process used in making a discovery. The result is a text that is truly accessible and useful resource for all students. *Expanded Glossary--200+ terms added, including definitions of words students may not know, but are not necessarily "scientific" terms (e.g. "flyby" now defined within chapter 6 Mariner 10 discussion on p. 152). "How can you involve your students in class and make large lectures more interactive?"*Lecture Tutorials -- Developed by Jeffrey Adams, Edward Prather, Timothy Slater and the Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education Research (CAPER) team, class-tested lecture tutorials challenge students with thought-provoking questions that spark classroom discussion. Designed for large classes (300+) and scaleable for smaller sections. *Classroom Response Systems enhances the interactivity of a lecture course by asking students questions and providing instant feedback on key concepts from the chapter. "Do you have an observation component in your course?"*Starry Night Pro 4.0.5 provides everything the amateur astronomer or hobbyist needs to explore the heavens. Content Changes: *Thoroughly updated Chapter 5-- Reflects recent discoveries and innovations, such as Telescope Design in Section 5.1 *Introduction to solar system formation added to Chapter 6--Sets the stage for the planetary chapters (p. 144-45). *Reorganized Chapter 22--Expands the historical development of Special and General Relativity. *More contemporary coverage in Chapters 24 and 25--Reorganizes material to emphasize the connection between normal and active galaxies, and expands the discussion of black holes in galactic nuclei. *Updates include new discoveries and data, including: *New material in Chapter 7 on the Ozone Hole and Global Warming. *Expanded coverage in Chapters 6 and 10 of the most recent missions to Mars. *Updates in Chapter 10 on Martian oppositions, gullies, oceans, and ice. *Final update on the Galileo/GEM mission in Chapter 11. *Updated discussion of solar system formation in Chapter 15; expanded coverage of competing theories, planet migration, planetesimal ejection, plutinos, and the angular momentum problem. *Latest results in Chapter 23 on Sgr A* and the Galaxy's central black hole. This chapter also includes a new discussion of the Shapley-Curtis debate giving historical context to the "Measuring the Milky Way" section. *Extensive revision of Chapters 26 and 27 to include the most recent observations of cosmic acceleration and discussion of "dark energy" *Revised discussions of the cosmological constant and the age of the universe; results from the CBI and WMAP experiments suggesting a flat universe. *Updated coverage of Europa, Mars, interstellar organic molecules, extra solar planets, and SETI in Chapter 28.

About the Author

Eric Chaisson holds a Doctorate in Astrophysics from Harvard University, where he spent 10 years on the faculty of Arts and Sciences. For more than two decades thereafter, he served on the senior science staff at the Space Telescope Science Institute and held various professorships at Johns Hopkins and Tufts universities. He is now back at Harvard, where he teaches and conducts research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Eric has written 12 books on astronomy and has published nearly 200 scientific papers in professional journals.

 

Steve McMillan holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University and a Doctorate in Astronomy from Harvard University. He held postdoctoral positions at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University, where he continued his research in theoretical astrophysics, star clusters, and high-performance computing. Steve is currently Distinguished Professor of Physics at Drexel University and a frequent visiting researcher at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study and Leiden University. He has published more than 100 articles and scientific papers in professional journals.

 

Emily L. Rice, College of Staten Island, City University of New York

Emily holds bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy and German from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree and doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics from UCLA. After completing her Ph.D. she held a postdoctoral position at the American Museum of Natural History, where she is still a resident research associate. Emily is currently Assistant Professor at the College of Staten Island and doctoral faculty in physics at the Graduate Center, both part of the City University of New York. In addition to her research on low-mass stars, brown dwarfs, and exoplanets as co-PI of the Brown Dwarfs in New York City (BDNYC) group, she is the co-author of Astronomy Labs: A Concept Oriented Approach and co-founder of the astronomy fashion blog STARtorialist.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pearson Education (US)
• Publication date: 1931
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0130801003
• ISBN 13: 9780130801005
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 688