Download or read book The Last of the Great Observatories written by George Henry Rieke and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2006-05-11 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spitzer Space Observatory, originally known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), is the last of the four “Great Observatories”, which also include the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Developed over twenty years and dubbed the “Infrared Hubble", Spitzer was launched in the summer of 2003 and has since contributed significantly to our understanding of the universe. George Rieke played a key role in Spitzer and now relates the story of how that observatory was built and launched into space. Telling the story of this single mission within the context of NASA space science over two turbulent decades, he describes how, after a tortuous political trail to approval, Spitzer was started at the peak of NASA’s experiment with streamlining and downsizing its mission development process, termed “faster better cheaper.” Up to its official start and even afterward, Spitzer was significant not merely in terms of its scientific value but because it stood at the center of major changes in space science policy and politics. Through interviews with many of the project participants, Rieke reconstructs the political and managerial process by which space missions are conceived, approved, and developed. He reveals that by the time Spitzer had been completed, a number of mission failures had undermined faith in “faster-better-cheaper” and a more conservative approach was imposed. Rieke examines in detail the premises behind “faster better cheaper,” their strengths and weaknesses, and their ultimate impact within the context of NASA’s continuing search for the best way to build future missions. Rieke’s participant’s perspective takes readers inside Congress and NASA to trace the progress of missions prior to the excitement of the launch, revealing the enormously complex and often disheartening political process that needs to be negotiated. He also shares some of the new observations and discoveries made by Spitzer in just its first year of operation. As the only book devoted to the Spitzer mission, The Last of the Great Observatories is a story at the nexus of politics and science, shedding new light on both spheres as it contemplates the future of mankind’s exploration of the universe.
Download or read book The Gamma Ray Observatory written by and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Evolution of The Milky Way written by F. Matteucci and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2000 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This review of the most up-to-date observational and theoretical information concerning the chemical evolution of the Milky Way compares the abundances derived from field stars and clusters, giving information on the abundances and dynamics of gas.
Download or read book Light from the Void written by Kimberly K. Arcand and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lavish coffee-table book featuring spectacular images from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the most powerful X-Ray telescope ever built Take a journey through the cosmos with Light from the Void, a stunning collection of photographs from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory's two decades of operation. The book showcases rarely-seen celestial phenomena such as black holes, planetary nebulae, galaxy clusters, gravitational waves, stellar birth and death, and more. Accompanying these images of incredible natural phenomena are captions explaining how they occur. The images start close to home and move outward: beginning with images of the Chandra launch, then moving into the solar system, through the nearby universe, and finally to the most distant galaxies Chandra has observed, the book brings readers on a far-out visual voyage.
Download or read book Astronomy with Radioactivities written by Roland Diehl and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-10-02 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces the reader to the field of nuclear astrophysics, i.e. the acquisition and reading of measurements on unstable isotopes in different parts of the universe. The authors explain the role of radioactivities in astrophysics, discuss specific sources of cosmic isotopes and in which special regions they can be observed. More specifically, the authors address stars of different types, stellar explosions which terminate stellar evolutions, and other explosions triggered by mass transfers and instabilities in binary stars. They also address nuclear reactions and transport processes in interstellar space, in the contexts of cosmic rays and of chemical evolution. A special chapter is dedicated to the solar system which even provides material samples. The book also contains a description of key tools which astrophysicists employ in those particular studies and a glossary of key terms in astronomy with radioactivities.
Download or read book THE COMPTON GAMMA RAY OBSERVATORY written by N. Gehrels and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Solar terrestrial Magnetic Activity and Space Environment written by H. Wang and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2002-11-20 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The COSPAR Colloquium on Solar-Terrestrial Magnetic Activity and Space Environment (STMASE) was held in the National Astronomy Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) in Beijing, China in September 10-12, 2001. The meeting was focused on five areas of the solar-terrestrial magnetic activity and space environment studies, including study on solar surface magnetism; solar magnetic activity, dynamical response of the heliosphere; space weather prediction; and space environment exploration and monitoring. A hot topic of space research, CMEs, which are widely believed to be the most important phenomenon of the space environment, is discussed in many papers. Other papers show results of observational and theoretical studies toward better understanding of the complicated image of the magnetic coupling between the Sun and the Earth, although little is still known little its physical background. Space weather prediction, which is very important for a modern society expanding into out-space, is another hot topic of space research. However, a long way is still to go to predict exactly when and where a disaster will happen in the space. In that sense, there is much to do for space environment exploration and monitoring. The manuscripts submitted to this Monograph are divided into the following parts: (1) solar surface magnetism, (2) solar magnetic activity, (3) dynamical response of the heliosphere, (4) space environment exploration and monitoring; and (5) space weather prediction. Papers presented in this meeting but not submitted to this Monograph are listed by title as unpublished papers at the end of this book.
Download or read book Flash written by Govert Schilling and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-04-18 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The origin and nature of gamma-ray bursts is currently one of the greatest mysteries in astrophysics. These tremendously powerful blasts produce more energy in a fraction of a second than our Sun does in ten billion years. Since their accidental discovery by American spy satellites over thirty years ago, astronomers have striven to understand these enigmatic explosions. It is only recently, thanks to an Italian-Dutch satellite, and powerful telescopes both on the ground and in space, that the mystery is beginning to be unravelled. Astronomers now realise that gamma-ray bursts are probably related to the birth of black holes in extremely distant galaxies. Flash! describes the fast moving field of gamma ray burst research, from the initial detection right up to the most recent discoveries. Based on interviews with leading scientists, this exciting book provides an inside view of the scientific challenges involved in unravelling the mystery of gamma-ray bursts.
Download or read book The Universe in Gamma Rays written by Volker Schönfelder and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-14 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After describing cosmic gamma-ray production and absorption, the instrumentation used in gamma-ray astronomy is explained. The main part of the book deals with astronomical results, including the somewhat surprising result that the gamma-ray sky is continuously changing.
Download or read book NASA s Great Observatories written by and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Thermonuclear Supernovae written by P. Ruiz-Lapuente and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1997 with total page 920 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All theoretical and observational topics relevant to the understanding of the thermonuclear (Type Ia) supernova phenomenon are thoroughly and consistently reviewed by a panel including the foremost experts in the field. The book covers all aspects, ranging from the observations of SNe Ia at all stages and all wavelengths to the 2D and 3D modelling of thermonuclear flames in very dense plasmas. Scenarios for close binary evolution leading to SNe Ia are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on the homogeneity vs. diversity of SNe Ia and on their use as standard candles to measure cosmological parameters. The book reflects the recent and very significant progress made in both the modelling of the explosions and in the observational field.
Download or read book Compton Gamma Ray Observatory written by Neil Gehrels and published by A I P Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 1264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents complete results of the discoveries made by the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. Papers by Carl Fichtel, Gerald Fishman, James Kurfess, and Volker Schonfelder, principal investigators for the four on-board instruments, highlight this work. It contains coverage of supernovae, galactic sources, solar flares, and pulsars, and is intended for students and researchers in astronomy and astrophysics.
Download or read book Cosmic Gamma Ray Sources written by K.S. Cheng and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-11-03 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gamma-ray astronomy has undergone an enormous progress in the last 15 years. The success of satellite experiments like NASA's Comp ton Gamma-Ray Observatory and ESA's INTEGRAL mission, as well as of ground-based instruments have open new views into the high-energy Universe. Different classes of cosmic gamma-ray sources have been now detected at different energies, in addition to young radio pulsars and gamma-ray bursts, the classical ones. The new sources include radio quiet pulsars, microquasars, supernova remnants, starburst galaxies, ra dio galaxies, flat-spectrum radio quasars, and BL Lacertae objects. A large number of unidentified sources strongly suggests that this brief enumeration is far from complete. Gamma-ray bursts are now estab lished as extragalactic sources with tremendous energy output. There is accumulating evidence supporting the idea that massive stars and star forming regions can accelerate charged particles up to relativistic ener gies making them gamma-ray sources. Gamma-ray astronomy has also proved to be a powerful tool for cosmology imposing constraints to the background photon fields that can absorb the gamma-ray flux from dis tant sources. All this has profound implications for our current ideas about how particles are accelerated and transported in both the local and distant U niverse. The evolution of our knowledge on the gamma-ray sky has been so fast that is not easy for the non-specialist scientist and the graduate student to be aware of the full potential of this field or to grasp the fundamentals of a given topic in order to attempt some original contribution.
Download or read book Science With The Cherenkov Telescope Array written by The Cta Consortium and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2018-12-31 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book summarizes the science to be carried out by the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array, a major ground-based gamma-ray observatory that will be constructed over the next six to eight years. The major scientific themes, as well as core program of key science projects, have been developed by the CTA Consortium, a collaboration of scientists from many institutions worldwide.CTA will be the major facility in high-energy and very high-energy photon astronomy over the next decade and beyond. CTA will have capabilities well beyond past and present observatories. Thus, CTA's science program is expected to be rich and broad and will complement other major multiwavelength and multimessenger facilities. This book is intended to be the primary resource for the science case for CTA and it thus will be of great interest to the broader physics and astronomy communities. The electronic version (e-book) is available in open access.
Download or read book Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2002-02-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In preparing the report, Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millenium , the AASC made use of a series of panel reports that address various aspects of ground- and space-based astronomy and astrophysics. These reports provide in-depth technical detail. Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millenium: An Overview summarizes the science goals and recommended initiatives in a short, richly illustrated, non-technical booklet.
Download or read book The Space Shuttle written by David M. Harland and published by . This book was released on 1998-07-14 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents the Space Shuttle as a utilitarian craft, focusing on its origins, operations, and importance to many scientific missions.
Download or read book Compton Gamma ray Observatory written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: