Synopses & Reviews
Planetary Sciences presents a comprehensive coverage of this fascinating and expanding field at a level appropriate for graduate students and researchers in the physical sciences. The book explains the wide variety of physical, chemical and geological processes that govern the motions and properties of planets. Observations of the planets, moons, asteroids, comets and planetary rings in our Solar System, as well as extrasolar planets, are described, and the process of planetary formation is discussed.
Review
"A comprehensive overview..." Science"Would I use Planetary Sciences as a text? Yes, almost certainly. It is a massive achievement, and the well-considered problems and exercises at the end of each chapter will be particularly useful to students and to test one's own understanding." Physics Today"...the book is essentially excellent. Given their formidable task, de Pater and Lissauer have done as good a job as can be imagined, and I can't imagine two other authors doing a better job on a first edition... this book could serve as a valuable introduction to aspects of planetary science that graduate students might never study at all... the discussions are generally so comprehensive and up-to-date that active scientists will find the individual chapters to be excellent 'primers' on subjects outside their formal training. There really is no other book at this level like Planetary Sciences." William B. McKinnon, EOS"...if you have a hankering to calculate the energy involved when an ion in the lo plasma torus impacts lo, this is the book for you!" TPO
Synopsis
The Space Age has revolutionized our understanding of the Solar System. Planets and large moons have become familiar worlds. As a result, our understanding of star and planet formation is increasing all the time. Planetary Sciences presents a comprehensive coverage of this fascinating and expanding field at a level appropriate for graduate students and researchers in the physical sciences. Observations of the planets, moons, asteroids, comets and planetary rings in our Solar System, as well as extrasolar planets, are described, and the process of planetary formation is discussed.
About the Author
Imke de Pater is a Professor at the University of California, in the departments of Astronomy and Earth and Planetary Science. She was born in Hengelo, the Netherlands, in 1952 and received her Ph.D. cum Laude in 1980 from Leiden University. She held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona from 1980-1983, after which she moved to the University of California in Berkeley.Jack J. Lissauer is a Space Scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. He was born in San Francisco in 1957, received his S.B. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978 and his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California @ Berkeley in 1982. He held postdoctoral fellowships at NASA Ames and the University of California @ Santa Barbara, and was on the faculty of the State University of New York @ Stony Brook from 1987-1996.
Table of Contents
Part I. Introduction: 1. Inventory of the solar system; 2. Planetary properties; 3. Formation of the solar system; Part II. Dynamics: 4. The 2-body problem; 5. The 3-body problem; 6. âPlanetaryâperturbations and resonances; 7. Long-term stability of planetary orbits; 8. Orbits about an oblate planet; 9. Tides; 10. Dissipative forces and the orbits of small bodies; Part III. Solar Heating and Energy Transport: 11. Energy balance and temperatures; 12. Energy transport; Part IV. Planetary Atmospheres: 13. Density and scale height; 14. Thermal structure; 15. Atmospheric composition; 16. Clouds; 17. Meteorology; 18. Photochemistry; 19. Molecular and eddy diffusion; 20. Atmospheric escape; 21. Evolution of terrestrial planet atmospheres and climate; Part V. Planetary Surfaces: 22. Mineralogy and petrology; 23. Crystallisation of a magma; 24. Surface morphology; 25. Impact cratering; 26. Surface geology of individual bodies; Part VI. Planetary Interiors: 27. Modelling and the interior structure of a planet; 28. Seismic tomography and the Earthâs interior; 29. Interior structure of other terrestrial bodies; 30. Interior structure of the giant planets; Part VII. Planetary Magnetospheres and the Interplanetary Medium: 31. The interplanetary medium; 32. Magnetic field configuration: mathematical description; 33. Magnetospheric plasma and the particle motions; 34. Magnetospheres of the individual bodies; 35. Radio emissions; 36. Waves in magnetospheres; 37. Generation of magnetic fields: Part VIII. Meteorites: 38. Basic classification and fall statistics; 39. Source regions; 40. Fall phenomena: atmospheric entry to impact; 41. Chemical and isotopic fractionation; 42. Radiometric dating; 43. Physical characteristics of chondrites; 44. Meteorite clues to the formation of the solar system; Part IX. Asteroids: 45. Orbits; 46. Size distribution and collisional evolution; 47. Observing techniques; 48. Surface composition; 49. Surface structure; 50. Origin and evolution of the asteroid belt; Part X. Comets: 51. Nomenclature; 52. Cometary orbits and comet reservoirs; 53. Gaseous coma; 54. Dust; 55. Magnetosphere; 56. Nucleus; 57. Comet formation and the constraints on the theories of the solar system formetion; 58. Future; Part XI. Planetary Rings: 59. Tidal forces and Rocheâs limit; 60. Flattening and spreading of rings; 61. Observations of planetary rings; 62. Ring-moon interactions; 63. Physics of dust rings; 64. Meteoroid bombardment of planetary rings; 65. Origins of planetary rings; 66. Summary; Part XII. Planet Formation: 67. Observational constraints; 68. Nucleosynthesis: a concise summary; 69. Star formation: a brief overview; 70. Evolution of the solar nebula: the protoplanetary disk; 71. Condensation and growth of solid bodies; 72. Formation of the terrestrial planets; 73. Formation of the giant planets; 74. Planetary migration; 75. Small bodies in orbit about the Sun; 76. Planetary rotation; 77. Origin of planetary satellites; 78. Confronting theory with observations; Part XIII. Extrasolar Planets: 79. Detecting extrasolar planets; 80. Observations of extrasolar planets; 81. Models for the formation of planets observed to orbit main sequence stars other than the Sun; 82. Planets and life; 83. SETI; 84. Conclusions; Appendices; Tables.