Download or read book At the Edge of the Universe Latest Results from the Deepest Astronomical Surveys written by José Afonso and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This volume contains the proceedings of an international conference held in October 2006 in Sintra, Portugal, on the recent results from the deepest astronomical observations of the Universe. Focused on the latest observational developments in galaxy and structure formation and evolution, as given by the use of the most powerful telescopes working throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, the conference assembled some of the most active researchers in the field. The ninety-eight contributions included in this volume represent the state-of-the-art of research covering such topics as: the first billion years of galaxy formation, probing the reionization epoch, obscured galaxy populations and their role in galaxy evolution, early AGN activity, the star formation and mass assembly history of the Universe, massive galaxies at high-redshift and the metallicity history of galaxies. A particular emphasis is given to the unification of the different views given by observations at different wavelengths, making the books a valuable reference for researchers and graduate students interested in the exploration of the distant universe." -- publisher's website.

Download or read book Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2005-03-28 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has operated continuously since 1990. During that time, four space shuttle-based service missions were launched, three of which added major observational capabilities. A fifth â€" SM-4 â€" was intended to replace key telescope systems and install two new instruments. The loss of the space shuttle Columbia, however, resulted in a decision by NASA not to pursue the SM-4 mission leading to a likely end of Hubble's useful life in 2007-2008. This situation resulted in an unprecedented outcry from scientists and the public. As a result, NASA began to explore and develop a robotic servicing mission; and Congress directed NASA to request a study from the National Research Council (NRC) of the robotic and shuttle servicing options for extending the life of Hubble. This report presents an assessment of those two options. It provides an examination of the contributions made by Hubble and those likely as the result of a servicing mission, and a comparative analysis of the potential risk of the two options for servicing Hubble. The study concludes that the Shuttle option would be the most effective one for prolonging Hubble's productive life.

Download or read book The Biggest Baddest Coolest Stars written by Donald Gerard Luttermoser and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cool evolved stars are among the brightest point sources in the infrared sky, and contribute significantly to the interstellar dust of galaxies. They are in a short-lived but important stage of stellar evolution, characterized by pulsations, dust formation, and the production of expanding circumstellar shells. This conference highlighted the physics of evolved cool stars in relation to their stage of evolution, atmospheric structure and dynamics, stellar winds, and associated dust formation. The conference was held at the Millennium Centre near the campus of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, in July 2007. It brought together astronomers, both professional and amateur, who are working on different aspects of cool star research. These included dust theorists, numerical modelers, and experts in observations at different wavelengths. The result of the meeting was a more complete picture of these stars, which is summarized in this volume. Several recent developments motivated the need for this conference. Current hydrodynamic models of evolved stars are now able to reproduce the optical/UV spectra of such stars. However, simultaneous modeling of the infrared spectrum has proven difficult. Also, adding dust to such modeling is problematic because of the complicated physics of dust formation, destruction, and emission in these dynamic environments. Furthermore, the exact evolutionary relationship between the various types of cool evolved stars still is uncertain. The perceptive reader will discover a number of provocative research directions embedded in the many fine contributions herein.

Download or read book First Results from Hinode written by Sarah Anna Matthews and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "These proceedings are an overview of the status of the Hinode mission a year after launch with particular emphasis on instrument performance and the scientific results from the first data release. Hinode was designed to study the sun at high spatial and temporal resolution in order to answer the fundamental questions on how its magnetic fields are formed and evolve, and how their interaction with the solar plasma creates the wide variety of active phenomena that are observed on the sun. The papers presented at the conference and published in this volume contain a number of new and significant advances in this area. The conference covered a broad range of topics that included the most pressing open questions in solar physics, such as the emergence and evolution of magnetic fields, their impact on structuring and heating the solar atmosphere, the origins of the solar wind, and explosive energy release on all scales. This book therefor provides a broad picture of the current advances in observational solar physics made by Hinode, raising a number of new questions in several areas. It is suitable for researchers and graduate students interested in solar and stellar physics and in the processes involved in magnetized plasma environments in general."--Publisher's website

Download or read book Preserving Astronomy s Photographic Legacy written by Wayne Osborn and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Variable Universe written by Krzysztof Zbigniew Stanek and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A symposium to celebrate the life of Bohdan Paczynski (1940-2007), Lyman Spitzer Jr. Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at Princeton University, took place on 29-30 September 2007. Bohdan Paczynski impacted astronomy and astronomers alike with his innovative ideas, philosophies, and insight to astronomy, science and life in general. This volume has assembled thoughts, memories and scientific accomplishments influenced in one way or another by Bohdan, who was a Giant in his field. Nine friends, colleagues and admirers who have been touched by Paczynski personally, professionally, or both, contributed invited presentations. Topics in this volume include the influence of Bohdan Paczynski in the field of stellar evolution and variable stars, his crucial role in making the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) and the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) possible, and his revolutionary insistence on allowing anyone and everyone access to his stellar evolution code: The Paczynski Code. Also included are Bohdan's contributions to gravitational microlensing and the search for dark matter in the form of MACHOs. Particular emphasis is given to advances and unexpected discoveries from surveys such as MACHO, OGLE, and EROS. The impact Paczynski had on our understanding of gamma-ray bursts is also discussed. Finally, this celebration of Professor Bohdan Paczynski is completed with the addition of personal accounts of his life, brilliance, sense of humor, and inspiration to others. Paczynski's scientific contributions reach across all of astrophysics and bridge the gap between observation and theory. This book is of interest not only to those who knew him, but also to those who know of him and the immeasurable ways he left his mark on the community.

Download or read book Panoramic Views of Galaxy Formation and Evolution written by Tadayuki Kodama and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "These proceedings of the first meeting of the Subaru International Conference Series held in December 2007 in Hayama, Japan, provide unique up-to-date overviews of the history of galaxy formation and the evolution of the universe. Fascinating and comprehensive observational results as well as many important theoretical achievements were presented by more than 150 active researchers from more than 15 countries and regions. The conference started off with results from recent cutting-edge observations of the very high-redshift universe extending into the cosmic reionization era, together with some theoretical interpretations and predictions for the first generation of galaxies. The history of mass distributions and structure formation at later cosmic times, including clusters of galaxies, was discussed extensively in presentations based on various panoramic survey data sets. Our aim was to showcase and understand the intrinsic galaxy-formation bias in the high-redshift universe and also the role of external environmental effects during the hierarchical assembly of galaxies into denser regions. Various populations of distant galaxies at different redshifts, discovered and studies by many different techniques, were introduced along with the physical relationship between these populations. Our discussion were aimed at assembling these pieces of jigsaw puzzles together into a panoramic and yet detailed structures of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Local Group galaxies were also presented and discussed as a complementary approach to the studies of the high-redshift Universe. In total, 19 invited talks, 46 contributed talks, and 87 poster papers combined to build up a picture of the history of galaxies over the cosmic age. This book is suitable for researchers who are interested in both observational and theoretical aspects of galaxy formation and cosmology, and especially for students seeking an overview of knowledge about galaxy formation to date."--Publisher's website

Download or read book Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XVIII written by David A. Bohlender and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 654 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mass Loss from Stars and the Evolution of Stellar Clusters written by Alex de Koter and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the spring of 2006 a four day international workshop was held in Lunteren, The Netherlands, in honor of the formal retirement of Prof. Henny Lamers. These proceedings provide a comprehensive overview of mass loss in massive stars and of the dynamical fate of clusters. The dynamical evolution of clusters is affected by stellar winds, mass loss outbursts and supernova explosions as well as by the loss of stars in dynamical interactions, thus linking the two central themes of the workshop. It is becoming clear that mass loss by radiation pressure on spectral lines is not only at work in normal O, B, and A stars but also in Luminous Blue Variables and Wolf-Rayet stars. The importance of these line-driven winds relative to outbursts in the Luminous Blue Variable phase of evolution is under debate. A central issue in this discussion is the importance of small and possibly large scale structure in stellar winds and its implications for the measured mass loss rates. These proceedings report on progress establishing wind properties, on theoretical predictions of mass loss and wind structure as a function of stellar properties, and on the effects of mass loss on the evolution of massive stars. As a result of dynamical interactions, clusters may dissolve completely over time. Observational studies of cluster dissolution timescales as a function of cluster formation history and cluster and environmental properties, are at the focus of cluster studies in the last decade. A key topic discussed in this book is whether the old globular clusters we observe today were once similar to present-day massive young clusters. The mass function of the two types of clusters is observed to be different. Is this a result of dynamical evoltuion or were the mass functions different at formation? The 12 invited reviews, 18 contributed talks, 48 poster papers, and two discussion sessions combine to provide and in-depth assessment of both observational and theoretical issues. The book is suitable for researchers and graduate students interested in stellar astrophysics and cluster dynamics."--Provided by publisher.

Download or read book Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XVII written by Robert W. Argyle and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 818 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book New Horizons in Astronomy written by Astronomical Society of the Pacific and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "These are the proceedings of the 2007 Frank N. Bash Symposium, held at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, from October 14-16, 2007. The first "BashFest" was held in 2003 in honor of Professor Frank Bash at his retirement. Since then, the symposium has evolved into a bi-annual event featuring exclusively the research of young astronomers and astrophysicists from around the world." "The symposium centered around invited review talks by thirteen postdoctoral researchers covering the vast range of modern astronomical research, from the dynamics of small bodies in the Solar System, to globular clusters in the Milky Way and neighboring galaxies, to theories and observations of galaxy formation in the early Universe, and the instruments being designed for the thirty-meter class telescopes that will be used to study these diverse fields. Poster contributions from undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral researchers rounded out the conference. These posters also covered a wide variety of topics, including abundances in metal-rich and metal-poor stars, galaxy formation and evolution, multi-wavelength observations, and theoretical studies of supernovae and the early Universe." "These proceedings are suitable for young and experienced researchers alike who wish to view a snapshot of a wide range of astronomical topics as seen through the eyes of emerging scientists and framed by their vision of the future of the science of astronomy."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book The Low frequency Radio Universe written by Homi Jehangir Bhabha and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A strong resurgence of interest in low-frequency radio astronomy in the past few decades has led to addressing many of the outstanding and challenging astrophysical and technical problems and issues. The GMRT has been in operation for close to a decade. Early results have been reported from LOFAR. The next generation of telescopes such as the LWA, MWA, MeerKAT, ASKAP and SKA should provide exciting challenges, results, and opportunities. To discuss recent results and astrophysical problems as well as a range of technical issues at low radio frequencies, a conference and workshop was held at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. This event commemorated the birth centenary of Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, who contributed immensely in both the sciences and the arts. There were approximately 130 participants from over a dozen countries. The conference brought together experts with a wide range of interests from major observatories and institutions across the world as well as younger research workers largely from within India. There were over 100 papers presented, including several extensive reviews, on a large variety of topics including low-frequency surveys and cosmology, extragalactic neutral hydrogen and OH, extragalactic radio sources, clusters of galaxies, our Galaxy, pulsars, transients and high-energy sources, Sun and planetary studies, and instrumentation and techniques. The book provides an overview of research at low radio frequencies and should be of interest to a wide spectrum of students and researchers.

Download or read book Frontiers of Astrophysics written by Alan H. Bridle and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the NRAO hosted a science symposium highlighting the most important questions that can be addressed by astronomers. The universe is a unique laboratory yielding historical data on the creation of the universe, the formation of the first stars and galaxies, the production of the elements, the assembly of molecules and the building blocks of life in interstellar space, how and where planets form, and possible changes in fundamental physical constants on cosmological time scales. This "laboratory" contains black holes, neutron stars, and gravitational radiation for studying extreme gravity and extremely dense matter. It is filled with the mysterious dark energy and dark matter that control the expansion and destiny of the universe, and whose nature is a critical unsolved problem for physics. This symposium brought together leading scientists to address the most important questions in these areas, the major contributions to astronomy enabled by NRAO instruments-past, present, and future - and to suggest future directions for research involving radio observations and techniques."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book Cosmology Across Cultures written by José Alberto Rubiño-Martín and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These are the proceedings of "Cosmology Across Cultures: An International Conference on the Impact of the Study of the Universe in Human Thinking" organized by the Spanish Institutes of Astrophysics of the Canaries and Andalucía under the patronage of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC). The conference hosted in the multicultural historical city of Granada more than 80 participants from all the continents. This conference joined specialists of cultural astronomy studies and modern cosmology in a single forum where ideas about the comprehension of the Universe across time, space, and cultures were interchanged, analyzed, revised, and challenged. An experiment, excellently represented by this book, it worked out in a most satisfactory ambience, permitting both modern cosmologists to receive an insight of how people in the past perceived the cosmos and cultural astronomers to understand the great advances of cosmology in the last few decades and consequently the exact and modest position occupied by humankind in an expanding universe dominated by dark matter and dark energy. The volume is chronologically organized, beginning with modern cosmological studies, followed by historical documentation, and ending with information from archaeological remains. Each section of the book can be studied independently, although a general inspection of the complete volume is recommended to get a correct insight of the spirit of the conference. This book is of interest to any scholar or student wishing to understand the evolution of the human comprehension of the universe.

Download or read book Hydrogen deficient Stars written by Klaus Werner and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "These are the proceedings of a conference on Hydrogen-Deficient Stars held at the University of Tübingen, Germany, from September 17-21 2007. This conference was the third in a series of international colloquia on this topic. The first one took place in Mysore, India in 1985, and the second one a decade alter, 1995 in Bamberg, Germany. Twelve years later it was considered useful to gather again to discuss the progress and the future directions in this field. At the conference 68 participants from 20 countries presented 25 invited talks, 27 contributed talks, and 16 posters. Hydrogen-deficiency is exhibited by many evolved high-and low-mass stars. Therefore research on hydrogen-deficient stars is quite diverse since such stars are found in almost every region of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. The stellar classes discussed in detail at the conference were: R Coronae Borealis stars, extreme helium stars, Wolf-Rayet central stars of planetary nebulae, PG 1159 stars and related objects, white dwarfs of spectral type DO, DB, and DQ, and helium-rich subdwarf O and B stars. Also highlighted were hydrogen-deficient stars in close binary systems (AM Cvn and ultracompact low-mass X-ray binaries), massive Wolf-Rayet Stars and their relation to Type I supernovae and Gamma-ray bursts. The different classes of objects discussed in this volume are grouped by spectral and pulsational characteristics, by evolutionary scenarios such as late helium flashes and double-degenerate mergers, and by links among the classes."--Publisher's website.

Download or read book Dark Matter and Dark Energy written by Sabino Matarrese and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-02-10 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together reviews from leading international authorities on the developments in the study of dark matter and dark energy, as seen from both their cosmological and particle physics side. Studying the physical and astrophysical properties of the dark components of our Universe is a crucial step towards the ultimate goal of unveiling their nature. The work developed from a doctoral school sponsored by the Italian Society of General Relativity and Gravitation. The book starts with a concise introduction to the standard cosmological model, as well as with a presentation of the theory of linear perturbations around a homogeneous and isotropic background. It covers the particle physics and cosmological aspects of dark matter and (dynamical) dark energy, including a discussion of how modified theories of gravity could provide a possible candidate for dark energy. A detailed presentation is also given of the possible ways of testing the theory in terms of cosmic microwave background, galaxy redshift surveys and weak gravitational lensing observations. Included is a chapter reviewing extensively the direct and indirect methods of detection of the hypothetical dark matter particles. Also included is a self-contained introduction to the techniques and most important results of numerical (e.g. N-body) simulations in cosmology. " This volume will be useful to researchers, PhD and graduate students in Astrophysics, Cosmology Physics and Mathematics, who are interested in cosmology, dark matter and dark energy.

Download or read book New Worlds New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-02-04 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Driven by discoveries, and enabled by leaps in technology and imagination, our understanding of the universe has changed dramatically during the course of the last few decades. The fields of astronomy and astrophysics are making new connections to physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science. Based on a broad and comprehensive survey of scientific opportunities, infrastructure, and organization in a national and international context, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics outlines a plan for ground- and space- based astronomy and astrophysics for the decade of the 2010's. Realizing these scientific opportunities is contingent upon maintaining and strengthening the foundations of the research enterprise including technological development, theory, computation and data handling, laboratory experiments, and human resources. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics proposes enhancing innovative but moderate-cost programs in space and on the ground that will enable the community to respond rapidly and flexibly to new scientific discoveries. The book recommends beginning construction on survey telescopes in space and on the ground to investigate the nature of dark energy, as well as the next generation of large ground-based giant optical telescopes and a new class of space-based gravitational observatory to observe the merging of distant black holes and precisely test theories of gravity. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics recommends a balanced and executable program that will support research surrounding the most profound questions about the cosmos. The discoveries ahead will facilitate the search for habitable planets, shed light on dark energy and dark matter, and aid our understanding of the history of the universe and how the earliest stars and galaxies formed. The book is a useful resource for agencies supporting the field of astronomy and astrophysics, the Congressional committees with jurisdiction over those agencies, the scientific community, and the public.