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Foundations of Astronomy
Seeds, Michael A.
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Últimas novedades
astronomía
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Description
With this newly revised tenth edition of FOUNDATIONS OF ASTRONOMY, International Edition, Mike Seeds’ goal is to help students use astronomy to understand science--and use science to understand what we are. Fascinating and engaging, this text illustrates the scientific method and guides students to answer these fundamental questions: What are we? How do we know? In discussing the interplay between evidence and hypothesis, Seeds provides not only facts but also a conceptual framework for understanding the logic of science. This edition addresses the newest developments and latest discoveries in the exciting study of astronomy, including new data on Jupiter’s ring system; new observations of the shapes of stars; new evidence of dark energy, quasars, and galaxy collisions; and a look inside supernova explosions.
New to this edition
FOUNDATIONS OF ASTRONOMY, Chapter 1, titled "What Are We? How Do We Know?" lays out the book’’s key themes and locates the reader in space and time. This chapter includes the new section "When Is Now?" that gives readers a sense of their place in the history of the universe.
Each chapter ends with a "What Are We?" box to reinforce why studying astronomy is so relevant to understanding our origins. By drawing connections between the chapter content and students’’ everyday experiences, these new boxed features help students develop an appreciation for their place in the universe.
Fully updated to reflect the rapid and exciting developments in astronomy, the text includes coverage of the latest results on Jupiter’’s ring system, magnetosphere, and atmospheric circulation; new observations of the shapes of stars; new evidence of dark energy, quasars, and galaxy collisions; and a look inside supernova explosions. The text also has been enhanced with the newest photographs from the Spitzer Infrared Observatory, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as with new images of Saturn and its moons from Cassini.
New "Learning to Look" questions at the end of each chapter ask students to look at a photo and answer questions about what they see. Astronomy is a visual science, so students must learn to identify critical concepts visually.
Features
Seeds’’ thematic emphasis on the scientific method stands out in two recurring text features. "How Do We Know?" boxes draw on examples of great moments in science from various disciplines to illustrate the logical processes scientists use to learn about nature. The "Scientific Argument" feature at the end of each section contains a carefully designed question to help students review the key concepts. A short answer follows each question to emphasize how scientists construct logical arguments from observations, evidence, theories, and natural laws. A further question gives students a chance to construct their own argument on a related issue.
For the tenth edition, several elements have been designed to help students develop a stronger understanding of the big picture. Chapter-opening "Guideposts" connect previous and subsequent chapters to the material students are about to read, highlighting the "essential questions" within that chapter. These essential questions act as the organizing elements in the chapter summaries to encourage students to gain a deeper understanding of the material rather than just memorize a list of facts.
Seeds’’ unique art program showcases this visual science in a consistent, striking new style. The hallmark Concept Art Spreads are numbered and emphasized in text narratives, making these two-page visual summaries easy to analyze and synthesize. Concept Figures marry art and text, encouraging students to synthesize information as a unified concept. Guided Discovery Figures lead students through several frames of art to demonstrate processes that occur over time and provide brief guiding comments explaining each frame. To help students understand the main idea at a glance, all H-R diagrams are consistently designed.
Two different CD-based planetarium software options are available on request, allowing instructors more flexibility when designing their course. Choose from TheSky™ Student Edition or Starry Night™.
Available on request with the text are two innovative technology enhancements. Virtual Astronomy Labs focus on 20 of the most important concepts in astronomy, offering students hands-on exercises that complement text topics. Instructors can set up classes online and view student results or students can print their lab reports for submission, making the Virtual Astronomy Labs ideal for homework assignments, lab exercises, and extra-credit work. CengageNOW for Astronomy creates a Personalized Learning Plan for students based on their performance on a series of self-diagnostic quizzes to help them focus their study time on the concepts that require their attention. |
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Part I: EXPLORING THE SKY.
1. What Are We? How Do We Know?
2. The Sky.
3. Cycles of the Moon.
4. The Origin of Modern Astronomy.
5. Gravity.
6. Light and Telescopes.
Part II: THE STARS.
7. Atoms and Starlight.
8. The Sun.
9. The Family of Stars.
10. The Interstellar Medium.
11. The Formation of Stars.
12. Stellar Evolution.
13. The Deaths of Stars.
14. Neutron Stars and Black Holes.
Part III: THE UNIVERSE.
15. The Milky Way Galaxy.
16. Galaxies.
17. Galaxies with Active Nuclei.
18. Cosmology in the 21st Century.
Part IV: THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
19. The Origin of the Solar System.
20. Earth: The Standard of Comparative Planetology.
21. The Moon and Mercury: Comparing Airless Worlds.
22. Comparative Planetology of Venus and Mars.
23. Comparative Planetology of Jupiter and Saturn.
24. Uranus, Neptune, and the Dwarf Planets.
25. Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets.
Part V: LIFE.
26. Life on Other Worlds.
Afterword.
Appendix A: Units and Astronomical Data.
Appendix B: Observing the Sky.
Glossary.
Answers to Even-Numbered Problems.
Index. |
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