Astronomy, space and time

This book takes a close look at our relationship with the sky, the stars, light and darkness. In particular, it examines how light pollution has interfered with the culture of astronomy and our ability to appreciate this essential facet of our natural world.

The sky has always held significance for humanity, in both cultural and scientific terms. And yet we persistently pollute it with (sometimes unnecessary) light in our obsessive desire to chase away the darkness. This effec

This book, written for a general readership, reviews and explains the three-body problem in historical context reaching to latest developments in computational physics and gravitation theory. The three-body problem is one of the oldest problems in science and it is most relevant even in today’s physics and astronomy.

The long history of the problem from Pythagoras to Hawking parallels the evolution of ideas about our physical universe, with a particular emphasis on understanding gravity

The outer Solar System is rich in resources and may be the best region in which to search for life beyond Earth. In fact, it may ultimately be the best place for Earthlings to set up permanent abodes. This book surveys the feasibility of that prospect, covering the fascinating history of exploration that kicks off our adventure into the outer Solar System.

Although other books provide surveys of the outer planets, Carroll approaches it from the perspective of potential future h

NASA’s Mercury astronauts were seven highly skilled professional test pilots. Each of them seemed to possess the strength of character and commitment necessary to overcome apparently insurmountable obstacles as the United States entered into a Cold War space race with the Soviet Union. This was never more evident than on the epic suborbital MR-4 flight of Liberty Bell 7 with astronaut Virgil (‘Gus’) Grissom piloting the spacecraft to a successful splashdown, followed by the premature b

Steve Owens is a freelance science writer and presenter with a passion for astronomy. He has been the recipient of the 'Campaign for Dark Skies' Award for Dark Sky Preservation, and he was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for public science engagement.

This is the story of humankind’s quest over centuries to learn the true nature of the most dominant object in our Solar System: the Sun.

Award-winning science writer Peter Bond describes in detail how our ideas about the Sun have changed over the millennia, starting with the simple observations of classical astronomy and continuing through telescopic observations to the age of nuclear physics. He shows how we discovered the Sun’s basic characteristics – its distance, size, temperature a

Foreword.- Preface to the Second Edition.- Preface to the Third Edition.- Where is Everybody?.- Of Fermi and Paradox.- They are (or were) Here.- They Exist, But we Have Yet to See or Hear From Them.- They Don`t Exist.- Conclusion.- Notes.- References.- Index.

Witzige und unterhaltsame Kritik der heutigen Physik

Spekulative Theorien werden fundiert aufs Korn genommen

Verständliche Darstellung, gerichtet an interessierte Laien und Akademiker zugleich

Autor forscht selbst an verwandten Fragen der Astrophysik

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

This book explains how the Apollo crews learned to work on the lunar surface. Its lively and informative text draws heavily on transcripts and photographs to illustrate points. It puts the reader on the lunar surface with the astronauts, sharing their observations, excitement, and frustrations. The carefully selected photographs show the stark beauty of the lunar surface. There are excerpts from the mission transcripts in which the Apollo astronauts on the lunar surface discuss their progress

This book takes the reader on a journey through the history of extremely ambitious, large and complex space missions that never happened. What were the dreams and expectations of the visionaries behind these plans, and why were they not successful in bringing their projects to reality thus far?
 
As spaceflight development progressed, new technologies and ideas led to pushing the boundaries of engineering and technology though still grounded in real scientific possibilities. Exampl