Planetary Science: The Science of Planets Around Stars

There are many planetary systems other than our own, but it is only through a detailed understanding of the relatively accessible bodies in our solar system that a thorough appreciation of planetary science can be gained. This is particularly pertinent with the recent discovery of extra-solar planets and the desire to understand their formation and the prospect of life on other worlds. Planetary Science: The Science of Planets Around Stars focuses on the structure of planets and the stars they orbit and the interactions between them. The book is written in two parts, making it suitable for students at different levels and approaching planetary science from differing backgrounds. Twelve independent descriptive chapters reveal our solar system and the diverse bodies it contains, including satellites, planetary rings, asteroids, comets, meteorites, and interstellar dust. These chapters are accompanied by 42 detailed topics that discuss specialized subjects in a quantitative manner and will be essential reading for those in higher level courses. Coverage includes mineralogy, stellar formation and evolution, solar system dynamics, atmospheric physics, planetary interiors, thermodynamics, planetary astrophysics, and exobiology. Problems and answers are also included. Planetary Science: The Science of Planets Around Stars presents a complete overview of planetary science for students of physics, astronomy, astrophysics, earth sciences, and geophysics. Assuming no prior knowledge of astrophysics or geophysics, this book is suitable for students studying planetary science for the first time.

Table of Contents:
The Unity of the Universe The Sun and Other Stars The Planets The Terrestrial Planets The Major Planets and Pluto The Moon Satellites and Rings Asteroids Comets Meteorites Dust in the Solar System Theories of the Origin of the Solar System Special Topics: Basic Mineralogy, Geochronology-Radioactive Dating, The Virial Theorem, The Jeans Critical Mass, Free-Fall Collapse, The Evolution of Protostars, The Equilibrium of Stars on the Main Sequence, Energy Production in Stars, Evolution of Stars Away from the Main Sequence, The Chandrasekhar Limit, Neutron Stars and Black Holes, Planets Around Other Stars, Solar-system Studies to the beginning of the XVIIth Century, Newton, Kepler's Laws and Solar System Dynamics, The Formation of Commensurate Orbits, The Atmosphere of the Earth, The Physics of Planetary Interiors, The Transfer of Heat, Seismology-the Interior of the Earth, Moments of Inertia, The Gravitational Field of a Distorted Planet, Precession of the Earth's Spin Axis, Intrinsic Planetary Magnetism, Magnetic Interactions Between Planet and Star, Planetary Albedoes, The Physics of Tides, Darwin's Theory of Lunar Origin, The Roche Limit and Satellite Disruption, Tidal Heating of Io, The Ram Pressure of a Gas Stream, The Trojan Asteroids, Heating by Accretion, Perturbation of the Oort Cloud, Radiation Pressure and the Poynting-Robertson Effect, Analyses Associated with the Jeans Tidal Theory, The Viscous-Disk Mechanism for the Transfer of Angular Momentum, Magnetic Braking of the Spinning Sun, The Safronov Theory of Planet Formation, The Eddington Accretion Mechanism, Life on an Hospitable Planet, The Role of Space Vehicles, Planetary Atmospheric Warming, Migration of Planetary Orbits, Interactions in an Embedded Cluster Appendix Physical Constants Solutions to problems References Index Supplementary materials available at www.lpi.usra.edu: Planetary Science World Wide Web Sites

Review :
"This is a strong contender for a text suitable for an undergraduate course in planetary science pitched at exactly the right level for an undergraduate physics or astronomy student At the end of each chapter and topic there are one or two problems, well chosen to illustrate the material and to reinforce the reader's understanding if I were teaching a course on the solar system, I would certainly have this book on my desk and use it frequently." - Jeremy B Tatum in The Observatory" a useful contribution to the literature The figures are clear and there are a few colour plates. The chapters and most of the topics end with one or two questions to which full answers are given - a welcome feature." "Their book elegantly combines physics, mathematics, geophysics and astronomy . . . The second part is refreshingly unusual, concentrating on 41 planetary science topics . . . The mathematical and physical approach is elegant, relevant and at a typical second-year university level. This book encourages understanding and not mere assimilation of data." - David Hughes in New Scientist, March 2003 "The authors take the information we know of our Solar System to form the basis of a generalized planetary science, which can then be applied to any external star system. . . The material would be appealing to students in physics, astronomy, geology or other science majors looking for a comprehensive overview of planetary science. Even though this book is meant to be used as a textbook, the interested individual will find it engaging and instructive. Highly recommended for academic collections." - E-STREAMS, Vol. 5, No. 11 "Overall the book achieves its goal of providing a basic text in planetary science, while providing instructors a fair amount of flexibility in drawing basic course material from the text, as well as providing a useful reference for students. It also has a relatively large number of problems and exercises to illustrate the basic concepts ... the book is quite useful as is, and could very nicely serve as a basic text on which to build an advanced undergraduate or graduate-level course in planetary science." -Robert H Brown, Departments of Planetary Sciences and Astronomy, University of Arizona