Earths Astronomy

Today, we take for granted that a telescope allows us to see galaxies millions of light years away. But before its invention, people used nothing more than their naked eye to fathom what took place in the visible sky. So how did four men in the 1500s - of different nationality, age, religion, and class - collaborate to discover that the Earth revolved around the Sun? With this radical discovery that went against the Church, they created our contemporary world. Heaven on Earth is an intimate examination of this scientific family.

We've pinpointed the destination, refined the technology, designed the habitat. Are we forgetting something? A timely reminder that it's not just rocket science, this book explores the all-too-human issues raised by the prospect of settling in outer space. Accordingly, her work highlights the complex ethical challenges that accompany any other-worldly venture—questions about the environment, labor rights, and medical ethics, among others.

Aerospace journalist Joe Pappalardo has witnessed space rocket launches around the world, from the jungle of French Guiana to the coastline of California. In his comprehensive work Spaceport Earth, Pappalardo describes the rise of private companies in the United States and how they are reshaping the way the world is using space for industry and science. Spaceport Earth is a travelogue through modern space history as it is being made.

In The Earth's Imagination, cosmologist Brian Thomas Swimme places the human psyche within the 15 billion-year cosmic process in order to highlight the directions in which human consciousness is evolving today and into the future. With a remarkable ability to make contemporary scientific findings accessible and engaging, Dr. Brian Thomas Swimme relates the history of the universe to the modern human.

Every minute, several huge “snowballs” break up as they approach the Earth and deposit a large cloud of water vapor in Earth’s upper atmosphere. That’s the startling finding that world-renowned physicist Louis A. Frank came to after studying the images from the Dynamics Explorer 1 spacecraft. His conclusion, based on data acquired at the limits of detection, created a storm of controversy among scientists. This is the story that was told in The Big Splash, published in 1990. But, the story does not end there.

In this one-of-a-kind memoir, Jack Clemons - a former lead engineer in support of NASA - takes listeners behind the scenes and into the inner workings of the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs during their most exciting years. Discover the people, the events, and the risks involved in one of the most important parts of space missions: bringing the astronauts back home to Earth. Clemons joined Project Apollo in 1968, a young engineer inspired by science fiction and electrified by John F. Kennedy's challenge to the nation to put a man on the moon.

In this intriguing recording, Professor Emeritus Timothy Ferris—one of the world's most respected science writers—explores man's search for life elsewhere in the universe. Ferris combines new discoveries about the origins of life as we know it on Earth with recent revelations about the sun's planets and their moons. Ferris explains why many scientists are convinced that life is abundant throughout the cosmos, and he considers how one day radio telescopes may be used to connect us to an intergalactic Internet and link us to alien civilizations in the far reaches of the universe.

Mars, the red planet, is ingrained in our culture, from David Bowie's extra-terrestrial spiders to Captain Scarlet to War of the Worlds. It has inspired hundreds of authors, scientists and science-fiction writers - but why? What is it about this particular planet that makes it so intriguing? Ancient mythologies defined Mars as a violent harbinger of war, star-gazers puzzled over its peculiar motion, and astrologers defined human personalities by its position and bizarre dance through the sky.

A stunning collection of award-winning fantasy and science fiction short stories from the New York Times bestselling author of the Between Earth and Sky trilogy—including a new novella set in the world of Trail of Lightning. Rebecca Roanhorse’s first publication, “Welcome to Your Authentic...

Today, Elon Musk's SpaceX is building one human-rated reusable spacecraft every week designed to send 100 colonists to Mars on each voyage. With this brilliant plan, SpaceX aims to colonize the Red Planet. This is not science fiction. These ships are in construction every day at a startling pace in order to make humanity a multiplanetary species, beginning this decade. Departing Earth Forever is the first manual written to and for Martian colonists—and for humankind back on the home planet witnessing this single most historic and momentous event in human history.

On August 21, 2017, more than 10 million Americans will experience an awe-inspiring phenomenon: the first total eclipse of the sun in America in almost 40 years. In Sun Moon Earth, astronomer Tyler Nordgren illustrates how this most seemingly unnatural of natural phenomena was transformed from a fearsome omen to a tourist attraction. From the astrologers of ancient China and Babylon to the high priests of the Maya, Sun Moon Earth takes us around the world to show how different cultures interpreted these dramatic events.

Mind Openers 2.0 is the second installment in a two-part set. It takes a fresh look at relativity, cosmology, and quantum theory by imagining a "sandbox universe," in which space and time are treated as tangible and visualizable phenomena. In addition to providing an intuitive feel for the physics, the model makes a number of acutely unexpected predictions. The author is a geophysicist (M.Sc., Fellow of Geoscientists, Canada) and educator, who specializes in translating scientific material for the non-expert.

From a long-term planning lead for the Mars Exploration Rover Project comes this vivid insider account of some of NASA’s most vital and exciting missions to the Red Planet—a wondrous chronicle of unprecedented scientific discovery and the search for evidence of life on Mars. “There are...

From a leading planetary scientist and an award-winning science writer, a propulsive account of the developments and initiatives that have transformed the dream of space colonization into something that may well be achievable. We are at the cusp of a golden age in space science, as...

LET THE WORLD'S GREATEST SCIENTISTS TAKE YOU TO THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE TODAY. From Astronomy to Viruses, you'll find their narratives full of genius, personal insight and enlightenment. Great Minds of Science, hosted by Paul Hoffman, is a tribute to mankind's ingenuity and boundless curiosity...

This pathbreaking book explores how life can begin, taking us from cosmic clouds of stardust, to volcanoes on Earth, to the modern chemistry laboratory. Seeking to understand life's connection to the stars, David Deamer introduces astrobiology, a new scientific discipline that studies the origin and evolution of life on Earth and relates it to the birth and death of stars, planet formation, interfaces between minerals, water, and atmosphere, and the physics and chemistry of carbon compounds.

Nuestra existencia está amenazada: las glaciaciones, los impactos de asteroides, la capacidad finita de la Tierra e incluso la lejana pero inevitable muerte del Sol son riesgos de tal magnitud que, si no abandonamos la Tierra, deberemos asumir la idea de nuestra extinción. Por eso, para Michio Kaku nuestro destino yace en las estrellas, no por la curiosidad o la pasión aventurera que los humanos llevamos dentro, sino por una simple cuestión de supervivencia.

Big History, the field that studies the entire known past of our universe to give context to human existence, has so far been the domain of historians. Geologist Walter Alvarez - best known for his Impact Theory explaining dinosaur extinction - makes a compelling case for a new, science-first approach to Big History.

An extraterrestrial colony, in some form, may already exist, just awaiting discovery. But the greatest impediment to such an important scientific discovery may not be technological, but political. No scientific endeavor can be launched without a budget, and matters of money are within the arena of politicians. Dr. Ben Bova explores some of the key players and the arguments waged in a debate of both scientific and cultural priorities.

We have long fantasized about finding life on planets other than our own. Yet even as we become aware of the vast expanses beyond our solar system, it remains clear that Earth is exceptional. The question is: Why? In Lucky Planet, astrobiologist David Waltham argues that Earth’s climate stability is what makes it uniquely able to support life, and it is nothing short of luck that made such conditions possible. The four-billion-year stretch of good weather that our planet has experienced is statistically so unlikely that chances are slim that we will ever encounter intelligent extraterrestrial others.