Contents
- Preface
1Science and the Universe: A Brief Tour
2Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy
7Other Worlds: An Introduction to the Solar System
13Comets and Asteroids: Debris of the Solar System
14Cosmic Samples and the Origin of the Solar System
18The Stars: A Celestial Census
20Between the Stars: Gas and Dust in Space
21The Birth of Stars and the Discovery of Planets outside the Solar System
27Active Galaxies, Quasars, and Supermassive Black Holes
- AHow to Study for an Introductory Astronomy Class
- BAstronomy Websites, Images, and Apps
- CScientific Notation
- DUnits Used in Science
- ESome Useful Constants for Astronomy
- FPhysical and Orbital Data for the Planets
- GSelected Moons of the Planets
- HFuture Total Eclipses
- IThe Nearest Stars, Brown Dwarfs, and White Dwarfs
- JThe Brightest Twenty Stars
- KThe Chemical Elements
- LThe Constellations
- MStar Chart and Sky Event Resources
- Index
Review Questions
Review Questions
List several ways that Venus, Earth, and Mars are similar, and several ways they are different.
Compare the current atmospheres of Earth, Venus, and Mars in terms of composition, thickness (and pressure at the surface), and the greenhouse effect.
How might Venus’ atmosphere have evolved to its present state through a runaway greenhouse effect?
Describe the current atmosphere on Mars. What evidence suggests that it must have been different in the past?
Explain the runaway refrigerator effect and the role it may have played in the evolution of Mars.
What evidence do we have that there was running (liquid) water on Mars in the past? What evidence is there for water coming out of the ground even today?
What evidence is there that Venus was volcanically active about 300–600 million years ago?
Why is Mars red?
What is the composition of clouds on Mars?
What is the composition of the polar caps on Mars?
Describe two anomalous features of the rotation of Venus and what might account for them.
How was the Mars Odyssey spacecraft able to detect water on Mars without landing on it?