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
Figuring for Yourself
Figuring for Yourself
Calculate the density of Jupiter. Show your work. Is it more or less dense than Earth? Why?
Calculate the density of Saturn. Show your work. How does it compare with the density of water? Explain how this can be.
What is the density of Jupiter’s moon Europa (see Appendix G for data on moons)? Show your work.
Look at Appendix F and Appendix G and indicate the moon with a diameter that is the largest fraction of the diameter of the planet or dwarf planet it orbits.
Barnard’s Star, the second closest star to us, is about 56 trillion (5.6 × 1012) km away. Calculate how far it would be using the scale model of the solar system given in Overview of Our Planetary System.
A radioactive nucleus has a half-life of 5 × 108 years. Assuming that a sample of rock (say, in an asteroid) solidified right after the solar system formed, approximately what fraction of the radioactive element should be left in the rock today?