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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 520
EAN num: 9780805393927
ISBN number: 0805393927
Label: Benjamin Cummings
Manufacturer: Benjamin Cummings
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 550
Printing Date: December 30, 2006
Publishing house: Benjamin Cummings
Sale Popularity Level: 238796
Studio: Benjamin Cummings
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Product Description:
The Essential Cosmic Perspective, Fourth Edition has been thoroughly revised to include more quantitative coverage, an enhanced illustration and photo program, and an unparalleled new media package. Built from the ground up on our new understanding of the universe, the Fourth Edition retains all of the features that have made this text so popular, while adding new features and supplements that enhance the book’s pedagogy to make it the strongest text in the one-semester astronomy market. The Fourth Edition features optional quantitative reasoning boxes, basic equations throughout the text, new end-of-chapter problems, and a consolidated math appendix to emphasize quantitative understanding. Key figures have been annotated to guide reader interpretation of difficult concepts. New two-page illustrations throughout the text, and at the end of every part, visually tie together key concepts from across chapters to drive home main ideas in a meaningful way. Developing Perspective: Our Place in the Universe, Discovering the Universe for Yourself, The science of Astronomy. Key Concepts for Astronomy: Making Sense of the Universe: Understanding Motion, Energy, and Gravity, Light: The Cosmic Messenger Our Solar System and Its Origin, Earth and the Terrestrial Worlds, Jovian Planet Systems, Remnants of Rock and Ice: Asteroids, Comets, and the Kuiper Belt. Stars: Our Star, Surveying the Stars, Star Stuff, The Bizarre Stellar Graveyard. Galaxies and Beyond: Our Galaxy, A Universe of Galaxies, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Fate of the Universe, The Beginning of Time. Life on Earth and Beyond: Life in the Universe. AUDIENCE: For all readers interested in astronomy and a new understanding of the universe.
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Rated by buyers 
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This wonderful astronomy course was bought brand new from Amazon as a gift, but when the recipient and I received it from Amazon, the shrinkwrap was torn and retaped and the Student Acess Kit (which includes the key for online learning resources) was missing. Check your book carefully.
Rated by buyers 
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It's rather interesting to read, although it's a bit challenging too since I'm very unfamiliar with Astronomy. The best part of it is mentioning the uncertainties of the universe, and it's very up to date, making it exciting and intriguing.
Rated by buyers -
I love this book! I don't even read text books very often, but this one is one of the most fun text books I've ever read--the fourth edition of "The Essential Cosmic Perspective." Perhaps I say this because I like Astronomy. I've never taken the course before, so this is really the only college text book in this subject I've looked at. Still, everything in here is interesting.
It has been updated with the most recent expansions with two notable points. It contains the most recent alterations of language by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Did you know that Pluto isn't a planet? It's actually a comet! In August of 2006, the IAU changed the definition of planet to account for the differences of the planet Pluto, an object whose composition recently discovered is essentially the same as a comet from the belt of comets just outside of the Solar system: called "the Kuiper belt (pronounced like "viper," but with a K. In 2006, the IAU changed the designation of Pluto to a new category of Solar body: the dwarf planet.
Dwarf planets are not planets, as the definition of a planet now has a finer meaning, changed by the IAU. Planet designations are based on composition and size: the inner four planets--Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars--are referred to as "terrestrial planets," because their compositions are made up mostly of metal and rock, they're all about the same size, and they have two moons or less. Asteroids also have the composition of rock and metal, and so the belt of asteroids lying just outside of Mars gives an interesting connotation about our system which I will explain soon. Then, the four outer planets--Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune--are called "Jovian planets," meaning "Jupiter-like," because their compositions are mostly gaseous, and because of their sizes: "gas giants." These Jovian, gas giants are several times the mass and diameter of the terrestrial planets, and so their sizes make them considerable to the system. What sets these solar bodies apart the most is THE WAY THEY WERE FORMED which accounts for their composition differences, and therefore the asteroid belt is the boundary line between the inner-terrestrial and outer-Jovian planets of the Solar system.
Every Solar body with an orbit on a somewhat-similar elliptical plane and beyond Neptune is a comet of the Kuiper belt. Although Uranus and Neptune also have essentially a similar gaseous composition as comets like Pluto, the main difference is Pluto has a radius of about 1000 kilometers. Anything that small is considered to be a comet, and, because the comets of the Kuiper belt are usually very small, Pluto resembles them more than a planet, as it is much smaller than even Earth's Moon. Pluto's mass is about 18 percent that of the Moon.
Remember the tenth planet, "Planet X?" Planet X, the tenth planet, was known as "Planet X" because scientists thought that, because it was so small and had the composition of a comet, that these were fundamental differences between comets and planets of the solar system. They felt that, if every newly-discovered comet of the Kuiper belt orbiting the Sun could be called a planet because it revolved around the Sun, our new computerized telescopes would be discovering planets quite frequently; comets, no matter how small they are, would be called "planets," by old definitions. That's why these new definitions are in place now. Pluto has enjoyed the stature of a planet for about 75 years since its discovery, but now that designation is over.
Additionally, the Jovian worlds are known for their multiple moons. Pluto has a moon, but, because its center-of-gravity lies outside of its moon Charon, both Pluto and Charon should actually be referred to as "binary planets," or more correctly "binary dwarf planets" by IAU's new definition--or rather a "binary system of dwarf planets." A planet and a dwarf planet are separate categories of solar bodies and not the same.
Incidentally, speaking of the Moon, the Moon is thought to have been a planet that, at one time, moved around the Sun. Scientists think this because of the size which is roughly the same as Mercury, a terrestrial composition, and it has a similarly substantial amount of gravity. It theoretically took an orbit around the Earth after they collided based on the attractions of their gravity, after which the Moon started orbiting around the Earth. The Moon is also similar to Mercury in that neither of these bodies maintain any atmosphere.
If you hate Al Gore, well--guess what--the same charts used in Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" are in this book: a major subsection of one of the chapters. This may be a point of either hostility or remorse for those Americans who were comforted by the anti-Gore beliefs of "the Flat World Society": apparently, some scientists think Al Gore actually has facts within his determinations. This ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
I received the book I ordered faster than I had expected and it was brand new.
I couldn't be happier.
Would do business with this seller without any hesitation.
Rated by buyers -
The good: This book is easy to read and understand, assumes very little of the reader other than a general understanding of current science. Explainations are clear and build logically throughout the book. Very little math - any high school math would be enough to understand what little there is in this book. Information is up to date and the book has many good pictures and diagrams to aid in understanding.
The not as good: I would have liked more in depth detail. I know this is somewhat subjective the book still has nearly 500 pages, however the text often only covers 60% of a page. In comparison to the at least two compeating books "Astronomy Today" and "The Universe" have over 700 pages each and more like 90% of a text page coverage just to grossly compare them. Each of these books also are easy to read, have good pictures and diagrams too.
So all in all this book is good and covers the subject well, but if you wish more detail other books may be better choices.
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