Cosmology: Universe, Physics, Planets, Comets Etc

Rothman's Video Ltd, 1988 <B>It had begun with man's desire to fly -- this need to explore the frontiers of space. NOW, chronicled in this breath-taking, THREE HOUR Video Cassette , is the HISTORY of the SPACE PROGRAM! <P><B> With brilliant narration, rare and fascinating film footage, and an exceptional stero musical score, CONQUEST serves as the definitive work on the achievements of man in OUTER space. Here are TWO Videos that combine to bring you approximately 180 minutes in a full color journey that culminates in the 1984 space shuttle missions. </B><P>. VIDEO Boxed. New Condition. more information

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Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1996 Sixty-five million years ago, a gigantic asteroid collided with Earth. The resulting dust clouds and fire storm blotted out the sunlight, destroying much of the animal, plant, and fish life - most notably, the dinosaurs. What would happen if another giant asteroid found itself on a collision course with Earth? Doomsday Asteroid: Can We Survive? is the most comprehensive current book for general readers to address the threats and potential benefits of asteroids. Space experts Donald W. Cox and James H. Chestek explain the major differences between comets and asteroids and describe what might happen should the Earth suffer a collision with either one of them. Cox and Chestek present a view quite different from that of astronomers: In particular, they cover the Earth defense problem in more detail than any of the other popular works on asteroids and they are critical of the science/astronomical community and its approach to asteroid danger. They also call for establishment of an International Spaceguard Command to oversee planetary safety. Rocky Mountain News ...worth a read...frightening... Booknews The authors, a NASA lecturer and a retired aerospace engineer, look to the possibility of a devastating asteroid collision with Earth as a way to justify massive expenditures on military buildup and the space program in the absence of Earthly enemies. They criticize the science community's approach to the danger, and call for the establishment of an international Spaceguard Command to oversee planetary safety. Let's hope these two dinosaurs and their ilk are the first to go in the next punctuated equilibrium event. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. Synopsis Sixty-five million years ago, a gigantic asteroid collided with Earth. The resulting dust clouds and fire storm blotted out the sunlight, destroying much of the animal, plant, and fish life - most notably, the dinosaurs. What would happen if another giant asteroid found itself on a collision course with Earth? Doomsday Asteroid: Can We Survive? is the most comprehensive current book for general readers to address the threats and potential benefits of asteroids. Space experts Donald W. Cox and James H. Chestek explain the major differences between comets and asteroids and describe what might happen should the Earth suffer a collision with either one of them. Cox and Chestek present a view quite different from that of astronomers: In particular, they cover the Earth defense problem in more detail than any of the other popular works on asteroids and they are critical of the science/astronomical community and its approach to asteroid danger. They also call for establishment of an International Spaceguard Command to oversee planetary safety. Rocky Mountain News ...worth a read...frightening... Hardcover. As New Condition. 6 x 9". more information

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New York: Basic Books, 1998 Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time has sold over 9 million copies worldwide. Now, in everyday language, Stephen Hawking's Universe reveals step-by-step how we can all share his understanding of the cosmos, and our own place within it. Stargazing has never been the same since cosmologists discovered that galaxies are moving away from each other at an extraordinary speed. It was this understanding of the movement of galaxies that allowed scientists to develop a theory of how the universe was created-the Big Bang theory. Working with this theory, Stephen Hawking and other physicists felt challenged to come up with a scientific picture that would tackle the fundamental question: what is the nature of the universe? Stephen Hawking's Universe charts this work and provides simple explanations for phenomena that arouse our curiosity. This work is a voyage of discovery with an astonishing set of conclusions that will enable us to understand how matter can be produced from nothing at all and will provide us with an explanation for the basis of our existence and that of everything around us.. Soft Cover. As New Condition. 7 x 9". more information

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New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishing Group, 1985 <b>Here is the history and lore of HALLEY'S COMET; completely illustrated, equipment and viewing information and the scientific significance. 244 pages w/graphs s well as black & white photographs.<strong> Here is the history and lore of Halley's Comet in a completely illustrated, 244 page volume. Equipment and viewing information. scientific significance and all other aspects are covered. <P> Historical black & white drawings, photographs as well as the space photos of comets are amptly shown. Book jacket has wear 'n tear around edges; the book itself is as new! . </strong>. Hardcover. Very Good Condition/Good w/wear 'n Tear Jacket. 22 cm.. more information

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Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1986 ABOUT THE BOOK National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Universe ANNOTATION Text, photographs, paintings, and maps explore the history of astronomy, the solar system, the universe, and new space discoveries. FROM THE PUBLISHER: Planet by planet, star after star, Our Universe takes you on an adventure that begins before people even knew the Earth was round and ends aboard shuttles and starships. Internationally known artists lift you to space scapes as awesome as they are accurate. You'll see planetary vistas photographed by NASA's most recent flybys. This completely updated atlas brings you 343 paintings, drawings, photgraphs, and maps. You'll find an illustrated time chart of important 20th-century space events, a glossary and index, and a guide to planetariums and space museums in the United States and Canada.. Hard Cover. As New Condition. Oversize. more information

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New York: Gotham Books, 2004 Alexander von Humboldt was the reigning scientific mind of the early nineteenth century, a unique combination of naturalist and adventurer. With his companion Aime Bonpland, Humboldt cut a six-thousand-mile swath across the New World, through what is now Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, and Cuba. Risking his life in treacherous terrain, he conducted the first extensive scientific explorations of the Andes and the Amazon, literally redrawing the map of the Americas and dramatically expanding our knowledge of the natural world. He brought back to Europe more than 60,000 plant specimens and a multitude of exotic New World animals, set an altitude record while climbing the volcano Chimborazo, made revolutionary discoveries regarding volcanoes and the Earth's magnetic field, and introduced millions of Americans and Europeans to the astonishing cultures of the Aztecs and the Incas. At the completion of his epic journey, Humboldt became one of the most celebrated men in the world, feted by Thomas Jefferson in Washington and invited to Napoleon's coronation in Paris. His ideas revolutionized scientific research; laid the groundwork for entire new fields of study, such as climatology, oceanography, and several branches of geography; and his adventures and insights profoundly influenced followers such as Charles Darwin and Louis Agassiz. Today, more places and geographical features are named after Humboldt than any other historical figure, and scientists continue to build on the foundations he established. A tale of rousing adventure and groundbreaking science, Humboldt's Cosmos is a fascinating portrait of a brilliant mind and a bold spirit whose momentous journey of exploration greatly expanded the scope of his world -- and ours. From The Critics Publishers Weekly His name may be vaguely familiar, although you may not know why. But in his time, Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was an explorer and scientist of unparalleled fame, whose work largely inspired Charles Darwin and influenced the course of a number of scientific disciplines ranging from geology to meteorology. Helferich's lush and engaging biographical adventure tale, which covers mainly the years Humboldt spent exploring Latin America (1799-1804), successfully recreates the New World when it was still very novel to European eyes. A Prussian sailing under a Spanish flag, Humboldt and his trusty (but poorly fleshed out) sidekick, Aim Bonpland, carve a path from the Old World through the Canary Islands, to the parts of South America now known as Venezuela, Colombia and Peru; later, he travels to Cuba and Mexico. Through the Amazon and the Andes, the flies and mosquitoes, the crocodiles, piranha and jaguars, Humboldt and a small but changing group of assistants lug all manner of scientific instrumentation, boxes of botanical samples and provisions over thousands of miles, through uncharted territories and back again, discovering in the process the faded glory of the Aztec and Inca civilizations, the unsustainable nature of the slave trade and innumerable new species of plants. Helferich's eye for telling detail does justice to Humboldt's own obsessive culling of observed particulars about the world around him, laying bare in the process many of the foundations of modern scientific method. Agent, Deirdre Mullane. (On sale Apr. 12) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. Library Journal While the name Humboldt evokes the image of a cold ocean current or is associated with a county or a road (it is, in fact, the name of the street on which this reviewer lives), the significance of Prussian scientist Alexander von Humboldt himself and his astounding accomplishments have faded. Helferich, a former editor and publisher, hopes to change that with his heroic narrative, whose title recalls that of Humboldt's five-volume chronicle summarizing his view of the universe and his vision of a single unifying force of nature in which everything is interrelated.. Hardcover. As New Condition. 6-1/2 x 9-1/2". more information

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New York: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, 2000 ABOUT THE BOOK Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond FROM OUR EDITORS Eugene Kranz joined the NASA Space Task Group in 1960 and served as the Assistant Flight Director for Project Mercury, the original manned space missions. At the time of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, he was NASA's flight director. For his work leading the Apollo 13 teams, he received a Presidential Medal of Freedom. His autobiography, as energetic as it is authoritative, belongs in the library of anyone who ever dreamed upward. ANNOTATION A breathtaking, first-hand account of the early days of the NASA space program, through the eyes of the man who held it all together. FROM THE PUBLISHER Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA's Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. He endured the disastrous first years when rockets blew up and the United States seemed to fall further behind the Soviet Union in the space race. He helped to launch Alan Shepard and John Glenn, then assumed the flight director's role in the Gemini program, which he guided to fruition. With his teammates, he accepted the challenge to carry out President John F. Kennedy's commitment to land a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s. Kranz was flight director for both Apollo 11, the mission in which Neil Armstrong fulfilled President Kennedy's pledge, and Apollo 13. He headed the Tiger Team that had to figure out how to bring the three Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth. (In the film Apollo 13, Kranz was played by the actor Ed Harris, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance.) In Failure Is Not an Option, Gene Kranz recounts these thrilling historic events and offers new information about the famous flights. What appeared as nearly flawless missions to the Moon were, in fact, a series of hair-raising near misses. When the space technology failed, as it sometimes did, the controllers' only recourse was to rely on their skills and those of their teammates. Kranz takes us inside Mission Control and introduces us to some of the whiz kids -- still in their twenties, only a few years out of college -- who had to figure it all out as they went along, creating a great and daring enterprise. He reveals behind-the-scenes details to demonstrate the leadership, discipline, trust, and teamwork that made the space program a success. Finally, Kranz reflects on what has happened to the space program and offers his own bold suggestions about what we ought to be doing in space now. This is a fascinating firsthand account written by a veteran mission controller of one of America's greatest achievements. iwith Krantz serving as "lead flight director" and helping to save the trapped astronauts' lives. His account of that barely averted disaster evokes the adrenalized mood of the flight controllers and the technical problems ("gimbal lock," oxygen status, return trajectories) that had to be solved for the astronauts to survive. Outside pages marked "withdrawn". Listed at Twenty Six dollars.. HARDCOVER. Very Good. 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches. Ex-Library. more information

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San Francisco: Chronicle Books LLC, 2001 Space travel has gone from fantasy to reality in just fifty years where will we be fifty years from now? This breathtaking book follows our projections for space exploration in the 1950s to our actual accomplishments today and goes on to predict the spacecraft, commerce, ecology, and manned explorations yet to come in the next 50 years. Lavishly illustrated, with a visionary foreword by Ray Bradbury as well as an adventurous text by NASA's chief historian and an expert on the U.S. space program, Imagining Space will inspire science fiction enthusiasts, pop culture fans, and anyone who has ever looked up at the stars in wonder. Synopsis Not a simple chronology of space exploration, this volume looks at why humans want to go and what they want to do when they get there. Life on Mars, extraterrestrial life, space warfare, and space colonization are among the ideas whose histories are explored. The stories of the people who developed the technology to go to space, their ideas, theories, and inventions are related, with many color illustrations. Launius is a historian and editor; McCurdy teaches public affairs at the American U. in Washington DC. Annotation ® Book News, Inc., Portland, OR Biography Roger D. Launius >NASA's chief historian for more than 10 years, is vice-president of publications of the American Astronomical Society, editor of the magazine Space Times, and author of numerous books on aerospace history. He lives in Maryland. Howard E. McCurdy is professor of public affairs at American University in Washington, D.C., and the author of three previous books on the U.S. space program. He lives in Maryland. Ray Bradbury is the author of more than 30 books, including The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451. Recipient of a National Book Award for his lasting contribution to American literature, he lives in Los Angeles, California.. Hardcover. As New Condition. 10 x 12" OVERSIZE. more information

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Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991 The Big Bang model of the cosmos assumes a uniform, homogeneous universe, yet we now know that galaxies cluster together. This "lumpiness" of matter, along with the peculiar velocities of some galaxies and the superabundance of invisible "dark matter" (detected--but not glimpsed--through gravitational studies) has led many scientists to question the Big Bang and even to pose alternate models. MIT astrophysicist Lightman looks at these developments in a concise, enjoyable introduction to the major problems and controversies at the frontiers of cosmology. <P> He reviews the latest descriptions of the birth of the universe during the first trillionth of a second, scans the new collaboration between particle physics and cosmology, and unravels the search for a GUT (grand unified theory) that would link the fundamental forces of nature. Photos, diagrams, a glossary and biographical sketches of key figures help make this a highly accessible tour of the universe. 170 pages.. Hardcover. As New Condition Inside/Good w/wear 'n Tear Jacket. 6 x 9". more information

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Blacklick, Ohio, U.S.A.: McGraw-Hill Companies, The, 2000 ABOUT THE BOOK Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir FROM OUR EDITORS This isn't the starship Enterprise. When former U.S. Navy flight surgeon and NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger signed on for a stint on Mir, he wasn't expecting to battle power outages, chemical leaks, and a raging fire.Get the real scoop on what it was like to live on Mir from an American astronaut who logged 50 million miles in 2,000 Earth orbits. FROM THE PUBLISHER On January 12, 1997, Jerry M. Linenger took off aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, en route to an historic rendezvous with the Russian Space Station Mir. One of the few American astronauts to formally partner with Russian cosmonauts, he had been selected to spend five months aboard Mir, participating in a joint initiative to lay the groundwork for a new International Space Station. But when he finally boarded Mir and took his first tour around the dark, ramshackle, incredibly cluttered space station, reminiscent of "six school buses all hooked together," Linenger knew he was in for a rough ride. A hair-raising tale of survival in the forbidding depths of space, OFF THE PLANET tells, for the first time, the complete story of that illstarred mission. SYNOPSIS IT WAS LIKE NOTHING ON EARTH. "An engrossing report that NASA's publicity machine will bemoan." -Booklist "NASA astronaut Linenger spent five months aboard the Russian space station Mir, a spacecraft operating far beyond its design life. His personal account vividly captures the challenges and privation he endured both before and during his flight." -Library Journal On January 12, 1997, Dr. Jerry M. Linenger took off aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, en route to an historic rendezvous with the Russian Space Station Mir. But when he finally boarded Mir and took his first tour around the dark, ramshackle, and decaying space station, reminiscent of "six school buses all hooked together," Linenger knew he was in for a rough ride. Little did he know just how rough it would be, or how many brushes with death he and his Russian colleagues would face over the next 132 days? The first complete and uncensored account of one of the most dangerous missions in the history of manned space travel Off the Planet is Dr. Jerry Linenger's dramatic account of space exploration turned survival mission. Not since Apollo 13 has an American astronaut faced so many catastrophic malfunctions and life-threatening emergencies in one mission-and lived to tell about it. FROM THE CRITICS Publishers Weekly U.S. astronaut Linenger lived on the rickety Russian space station for five months in 1997, enduring a near-fatal fire, malicious rumors, Moscow micromanagement and a near collision with an unmanned, "worthless, garbage-filled cargo-ship" called Progress. Yet Linenger's detailed and informal memoir sounds less frustrated than honestly optimistic. The author gives readers a long run-up to his five months in orbit, describing his time at the Naval Academy, his Space Shuttle experience and his life in Russia's rundown cosmonaut complex, Star City. His experiences aboard the Space Shuttle that brings him to the Mir station give Linenger an opportunity to depict the humorous side of life in orbit: he tells us, for example, how a fellow astronaut called, from space, the radio program Car Talk, and he explains how he washed and shaved (using a "specially formulated NASA shaving cream called `Astro Edge' ") while off-planet. When he arrives at Mir, the space station looks like "six school buses all hooked together"; inside, it's startlingly cluttered. The station's increasingly hazardous state confirms that the Shuttle-Mir collaborations existed less for the sake of science than for the sake of the Russian economy. Linenger's narrative could have used some editing, as when his descriptions give way to comments such as "I.. really enjoy squeezing as many projects into my life as possible." Still, his frank, personable prose shows readers what i. Hardcover. As New/As New Book Jacket. 6 x 9". more information

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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1984 Imagine we are able to transfer ourselves to a planet inside the ANDROMEDA Spiral, a system so remote in space that it looks like nothing more than a dim glow from Earth, what would we and Andromedan see? What better way to find out than to make a journey through space with Patrick Moore fastening ourselves to a light beam! <P><B>We head first for the Moon and visit the nine planets of the SOLAR SYSTEM before starting on our exploration of the Galaxy . Travelling to its center we see other star, some very like our Sun - can they have earth-like planets too? Take the tour with the author, an astronomer and President of the British Astronomical Association. This is a 'used' book with wear around edges; clean & unmarked inside.. Paperback. Very Good Condition. 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches. more information

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Hoboken, NJ, U.S.A.: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 1995 Soft Cover. As New. From Publishers Weekly: In a fresh exploration of intriguing questions in cosmology, Morris ( Dismantling the Universe ) presents new theories for popular understanding. He is expert at the primer-for-adults style that shapes the usual grab bag of questions: Did the Big Bang really happen? What is time? What is the universe made of? All of this has been discussed by popular science writers during the last decade. Morris contends that "scientists now think they will be able to answer" the old "series of metaphysical-sounding questions," based to a large extent on the findings of NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer. If he is right and "we are currently witnessing the beginning of the Golden Age of cosmology," then the publishers of popular science treatments are well ahead of the physicists. . more information

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Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993 Review : Nothing is more badly needed than a solid but accessible book on cosmology, written by an insider who has not lost his or her skepticism, Peeble's new book fills the bill admirably. Listed at One Hundred and Twenty Five dollars! Hard Cover. Very Good Book Jacket. Out-Of-Print book measuring 6-3/4 x 9-3/4"; this is an almost brand new volume. 736 pages in a big 2-1/4" thick volume. : During the last twenty years, dramatic improvements in methods of observing astrophysical phenomena from the ground and in space have added to our knowledge of what the universe is like now and what it was like in the past, going back to the hot big bang. In this overview of today's physical cosmology, P.J.E. Peebles shows how observation has combined with theoretical elements to establish the subject as a mature science, while he also discusses the most notable recent attempts to understand the origin and structure of the universe. .A successor to Peebles's classic volume Physical Cosmology (Princeton, 1971), the book is a comprehensive overview addressed not only to students but also to scientists active in fields outside cosmology. The first chapter of the work presents the elements of physical cosmology, including the history of the discovery of the expanding universe. The second, on the cosmological tests that measure the geometry of spacetime, discusses general relativity theory as the basis for the tests, and then surveys the broad variety of ways the tests can be applied with the new generations of telescopes and detectors. The third chapter deals with the origin of galaxies and the large-scale structure of the universe, and reviews ideas about how the evolution of the universe might be traced back to very early epochs when structure originated. Each section of these chapters begins with an introduction that can be understood with no special knowledge beyond undergraduate physics, and then progresses to more specialized topics. .About the author: P.J.E. Peebles is Albert Einstein Professor of Science at Princeton University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society. Book cover has slight tear on back of spine; inside is as new!. Hardcover. As New Condition. out of Print. more information

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Houston, Texas, U.S.A.: NaSA, 1983 422 page document July, 1983 from the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Publicatioln 67, Planetary Materials Branch. As the title indicates, this is a compilation of information on the samples of soil returned by the Apollo and Luna missions, and serves as a database for the material properties of lunar soils. <P><B> It is a resource for present and fuiture sample investigators in selecting soil samples for detailed study, or investigators conduicting syntheses studies, and for scientist and engineers designing manufacturing porocesses utilizing lunar soil.. The scope of this handbook is restricted to all non-core samples of soil returned by the APOLLO missions. <P> Features Bibliography for each sample; , black & white drawings, major elements, trace elements, -- All pages intact (stapled), clean and unmarked, shelf wear.</B><P>. Soft Cover 3-hole Punched. Very Good Condition. 10 x 12" Oversize. out of Print. more information

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New York: Distributed by Random House, 1981 A guide to the heavens, updated through 1995, now includes a pop-up sky presenting the entire celestial field, and the famous Star Finder Wheel. . Paperback. Very Good Condition. 8 x 7 x 0.4 inches. more information

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New York: Free PRess, 1997 "For our generation and many that will follow, Mars is the New World," writes Zubrin. This book went to press serendipitously, just as NASA was making its startling if heavily-qualified announcement that simple life may have once existed on the fourth rock from the sun. Zubrin doesn't spend an enormous amount of time arguing why Mars exploration is desirable -- we all want astronauts to go there, don't we? -- but rather devotes the bulk of this book explaining how it can happen on a sensible, bare-bones budget of $20-30 billion and a "travel light and live off the land" philosophy. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Publishers Weekly Human settlement on Mars need not await the development of gigantic interplanetary spaceships, anti-matter propulsion systems or orbiting space bases, assert the authors of this exciting, visionary report. Instead, the "Mars Direct" plan?developed in 1990 by astronautical engineer Zubrin, and presented to NASA, where it has won supporters?calls for sending a crew and their artificial habitat directly to Mars via the upper stage of the same booster rocket that lifted them to Earth orbit. Then the crew will live off the land, growing greenhouse crops, tapping subsurface groundwater, manufacturing useful materials, constructing plastic domes and brick structures the size of shopping malls. Geothermal power would be tapped from hot regions near once-active volcanoes. Zubrin, senior engineer at Martin Marietta, and Wagner, a former editor of Ad Astra, weaken their case by arguing that a nascent human civilization on Mars will revive Earth's frontier spirit and American democracy, saving Western civilization from technological stagnation. Nevertheless, their detailed blueprint makes a fast-track mission to Mars?with an estimated price tag of $20-$30 billion?seem remarkably doable. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.. Paperback. Very Good Condition. 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches. more information

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