The Solar System

Description

This text treats our knowledge of the solar system from an astrophysical point of view. Part 1 deals with the formation of the solar system and its interaction with the interplanetary medium. Part 2 presents its various objects: planets and satellites, asteroids, comets, trans-neptunian objects and interplanetary dust. The final sections on extrasolar planetary systems and on the search for life in the Universe round off an introduction to a field that has grown dramatically following the space missions of the last twenty years. Over the last decade many exciting observations have helped to reshape our understanding of the solar system and planetary science. In the third corrected and revised edition of this classic on the astrophysics of our solar system, students and lecturers in astronomy and planetary science as well as planet observers will find a mine of up-to-date information. Front Matter....Pages I-XII General Features of the Solar System....Pages 1-42 The Solar System Within the Universe....Pages 43-57 Methods of Studying the Solar System....Pages 59-77 The Formation of the Solar System....Pages 79-103 The Interaction of Solar-System Bodies with the Interplanetary Medium....Pages 105-182 The Terrestrial Planets and Their Satellites....Pages 183-261 The Asteroids....Pages 263-281 The Giant Planets....Pages 283-347 Titan....Pages 349-362 Bodies Without Atmospheres in the Outer Solar System....Pages 363-398 Comets....Pages 399-432 New Frontiers....Pages 433-441 Interplanetary Dust, Micrometeorites and Meteorites....Pages 443-462 New Planetary Systems....Pages 463-485 The Search for Life in the Universe....Pages 487-495 Back Matter....Pages 497-514