Product Description
Throughout this century, Soviet scientists had strongly influenced Western research on the origin of the solar system. Now this volume offers a comprehensive overview of Soviet research in planetary cosmogony from the last eight decades. It opens with a selection of the seminal papers of Otto Schmidt, some of which were never published in English. The book also includes a compendium of articles illuminating such topics as the protoplanetary cloud, the formation of the Earth and other terrestrial planets, the origin of the moon, as well as asteriods, comets, and meteorites. ... Read more

Book Description
Every ten years the National Research Council releases a survey of astronomy and astrophysics outlining priorities for the coming decade. The most recent survey, entitled New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics, provides overall priorities and recommendations for the field as a whole based on a broad and comprehensive examination of scientific opportunities, infrastructure, and organization in a national and international context.

Panel Reports--New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics is a collection of reports, each of which addresses a key sub-area of the field, prepared by specialists in that subarea, and each of which played an important role in setting overall priorities for the field. The collection, published in a single volume, includes the reports of the following panels:

• Cosmology and Fundamental Physics
• Galaxies Across Cosmic Time
• The Galactic Neighborhood
• Stars and Stellar Evolution
• Planetary Systems and Star Formation
• Electromagnetic Observations from Space
• Optical and Infrared Astronomy from the Ground
• Particle Astrophysics and Gravitation
• Radio, Millimeter, and Submillimeter Astronomy from the Ground

Product Description
Neutron stars are the collapsed cores of some massive stars. They pack roughly the mass of our Sun into a region the size of a city. Neutron stars are believed to form in supernovae such as the one that formed the Crab Nebula. The stars that eventually become neutron stars are thought to start out with about 15 to 30 times the mass of our sun. It appears that for initial masses much less than 15 solar masses the star becomes a white dwarf, whereas for initial masses a lot higher than 30 solar masses a black hole results instead. It is estimated that there are 108 neutron stars in our galaxy. About 1000 of these have actually been observed by astronomers so far. This new book presents recent and important research results in the field. ... Read more

Product Description
It is generally believed that most of the matter in the universe is dark, i.e. cannot be detected from the light which it emits (or fails to emit). Its presence is inferred indirectly from the motions of astronomical objects, specifically stellar, galactic, and galaxy cluster/supercluster observations. It is also required in order to enable gravity to amplify the small fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background enough to form the large-scale structures that we see in the universe today. For each of the stellar, galactic, and galaxy cluster/supercluster observations the basic principle is that if we measure velocities in some region, then there has to be enough mass there for gravity to stop all the objects flying apart. Dark matter has important consequences for the evolution of the universe and the structure within it. According to general relativity, the universe must conform to one of three possible types: open, flat, or closed. The total amount of mass and energy in the universe determines which of the three possibilities applies to the universe. In the case of an open universe, the total mass and energy density (denoted by the Greek letter U) is less than unity.If the universe is closed, U is greater than unity. For the case where U is exactly equal to one the universe is "flat". This new book details leading-edge research from around the globe. ... Read more

Product Description
This book contains the proceedings from a workshop on planetary sciences sponsored by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the National Academy of Sciences. The proceedings include papers written by American and Soviet scientists, who examine the current theoretical understanding of how the planets were formed and how they evolved to their present state. They assess the type of observations and experiments that are needed to advance understanding of the formation and evolution of the solar system based on the current theoretical framework. ... Read more