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The Cosmic Perspective with MasteringAstronomy and Skygazer Planetarium Software, 4/E
Jeffrey O. Bennett, University of Colorado, Boulder
Megan Donahue, Michigan State University
Nicholas Schneider, University of Colorado, Boulder
Mark Voit, Michigan State University

ISBN-10: 0805392696
ISBN-13: 9780805392692

Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Copyright: 2006
Format: Paper Package; 848 pp
Status: Out of Print

Suggested retail price: $114.67
This item is out of print and is no longer available for purchase.

The Fourth Edition of The Cosmic Perspective builds on the textbook's long tradition of strong pedagogy and streamlined presentation.

 

Renowned for its up-to-date and expert coverage, this student-friendly text focuses on central ideas and unifying themes to provide a cosmic context. The Fourth Edition features a new straightforward learning program that uses chapter openers, headers, and chapter summaries to make learning goals more explicit and to tie together important concepts. The comprehensive media package has been expanded to help students and professors seamlessly integrate the text's superior media into their classroom presentations, homework, and test review. New interactive figures and interactive photos for each chapter help students visualize complex astronomical concepts and an expanded Cosmic Lecture Launcher CD-ROM features even more material for instructors to incorporate into their lectures.

  • Thorough coverage of new discoveries such as the accelerating universe/cosmological constant, the detection of more planets around other stars, the potential of water flows on Mars, and the latest theories on the very early universe.
  • Big picture approach presents each topic within a cosmic context, creating a framework for understanding by first exploring the underlying themes and then fleshing them out in more detail.
  • Exceptional art program features carefully developed, clear, and imaginative illustrations to help students understand difficult concepts. Comprehensive star charts are included at the end of the book.
  • Focus on the universality of physics and the importance of science helps students see how the phenomena they observe in their own lives are connected to the processes that govern the cosmos.
  • Evolving vision of galaxies and dark matter concentrates on our emerging understanding of galaxy evolution–explaining starbursts, quasars, and intergalactic clouds within context–and how this parallels stellar evolution.
  • A planet-by-planet introduction gives students an overarching picture of the solar system first, and a comparative approach then emphasizes similarities between planets and explores their connecting processes. This combined approach gives students a deeper understanding of our solar system, our world, and prospects for life elsewhere in the universe.
  • End-of-chapter problems include a wide variety of problem types-from group discussion topics through "sensible statements" and more quantitative exercises-to accommodate different learning needs. Straight-forward learning program helps students navigate their way through the text:
  • Chapter openers combine the chapter table of contents and Learning goals to provide a clear study plan of how to tackle the material.
  • Learning goals are presented as key questions at the start of each chapter to help students focus on the most important concepts ahead.
  • Visual end-of-chapter summaries wrap up the learning goals with key figures and answers to reinforce understanding of key concepts presented in the chapter.
  • Media explorations page at the end of each chapter, provides quick exercises and in-depth projects using the wealth of specially developed online and CD-ROM-based media supporting this text.

 

  • New Learning Goals, in addition to being presented at the beginning of the chapter, are also repeated as subheads within the text; answers to Learning Goal questions appear in the chapter summary
  • New annotated art helps students better understand the key concepts presented in a figure or graph. Integrated instructional text focuses students on the main ideas of the figure and builds visual interpretation skills.
  • New expanded end-of-chapter problems include “Quick Quiz,” multiple-choice self-study questions and an expanded set of quantitative problems. New to this edition, selected answers are available in the back of the book for student self-study.
  • New Chapter “Making Sense of the Universe: Understanding Motion, Energy and Gravity” consolidates introductory material and highlights astronomical applications of physics to get students into astronomy content quicker.
  • New chapter ”Other Planetary Systems” illuminates this rapidly developing research field in a way that is accessible to students and integrates the most recent discoveries with our fundamental understanding of planetary properties.
  • New Chapter on Star Birth and expanded coverage of star properties and galaxy formation.
  • Revised planetary geology and planetary atmosphere chapters use Earth as the basis of comparisons for understanding our solar system.
  • A cohesive, state-of-the art media package includes:
      • The dynamic Cosmic Lecture Launcher CD-ROM contains an extensive library of more than 1,000 interactive applets, animations, high-resolution figures from the book, The Astronomy Place, and other key astronomical resources. PowerPoint® slides are also provided on this cross-platform CD-ROM to get your lecture course up and running quickly and show you just how easily you can integrate animations and interactive tools into your classroom lecture. Powerpoint® slides include CRS (clicker) questions specifically written to accompany The Cosmic Perspective.

      • MasteringAstronomy™ is the most sophisticated astronomy tutorial and assessment system ever built. It provides the first library of activities and problems pre-tested by students nationally. Sophisticated analysis of the student performance data (including difficulty, time spent, and most common errors) has allowed every item to be systematically refined for quality, educational effectiveness, efficiency of teaching and learning, and assessment accuracy. www.masteringastronomy.com

      • Media icons throughout the text direct students to online interactive tutorials and other interactive resources that further explain difficult concepts in the book.

 

PART I

DEVELOPING PERSPECTIVE

1 Our Place in the Universe

1.1 Our Modern View of the Universe

1.2 The Scale of the Universe

1.3 Spaceship Earth

2 Discovering the Universe for Yourself

2.1 Patterns in the Night Sky

2.2 The Reason for Seasons

2.3 The Moon, Our Constant Companion

2.4 The Ancient Mystery of the Planets

3 The Science of Astronomy

3.1 The Ancient Roots of Science

3.2 Ancient Greek Science

3.3 The Copernican Revolution

3.4 The Nature of Science

3.5 Astrology

S1 Celestial Timekeeping and Navigation

S1.1 Astronomical Time Periods

S1.2 Celestial Coordinates and Motion in the Sky

S1.3 Principles of Celestial Navigation

PART II

KEY CONCEPTS FOR ASTRONOMY

4 Making Sense of the Universe: Understanding Motion, Energy, and Gravity

4.1 Describing Motion: Examples from Daily Life

4.2 Newton’s Laws of Motion

4.3 Conservation Laws in Astronomy

4.4 The Universal Law of Gravitation

4.5 Orbits, Tides, and the Acceleration of Gravity

5 Light and Matter: Reading Messages from the Cosmos

5.1 Light in Everyday Life

5.2 Properties of Light

5.3 Properties of Matter

5.4 Learning from Light

5.5 The Doppler Shift

6 Telescopes: Portals of Discovery

6.1 Eyes and Cameras: Everyday Light Sensors

6.2 Telescopes: Giant Eyes

6.3 Telescopes and the Atmosphere

6.4 Telescopes And Technology

PART III

LEARNING FROM OTHER WORLDS

7 Our Solar System

7.1 Studying the Solar System

7.2 Patterns in the Solar System

7.3 Spacecraft Exploration of the Solar System

8 Formation of the Solar System

8.1 The Search for Origins

8.2 The Birth of the Solar System

8.3 The Formation of Planets

8.4 Asteroids, Comets, and Exceptions to the Rules

8.5 The Age of the Solar System

9 Planetary Geology: Earth and the Other Terrestrial Worlds

9.1 The connection Between Planetary Interiors and Surfaces

9.2 The Processes that Shape Planetary Surfaces

9.3 Geology of the Moon and Mercury

9.4 Geology of Mars

9.5 Geology of Venus

9.6 The Unique Geology of Earth

10 Planetary Atmospheres: Earth and the Other Terrestrial Worlds

10.1 Atmospheric Basics

10.2 Weather and Climate

10.3 Atmospheres of the Moon and Mercury

10.4 The Atmospheric History of Mars

10.5 The Atmospheric History of Venus

10.6 Earth’s Unique Atmosphere

11 Jovian Planet Systems

11.1 A Different Kind of Planet

11.2 A Wealth of Worlds: Satellites of Ice and Rock

11.3 Jovian Planet Rings

12 Remnants of Rock and Ice:

Asteroids, Comets, and Pluto

12.1 Asteroids and Meteorites

12.2 Comets

12.3 Pluto: Lone Dog, or Part of a Pack?

12.4 Cosmic Collisions

13 Other Planetary Systems

13.1 Detecting Planets Around Other Stars

13.2 Characteristics of Other Planetary Systems

13.3 New Insights Into Solar System Formation

PART IV

S2 Space and Time

S2.1 Einstein’s Revolution

S2.2 Relative Motion

S2.3 The Reality of Space and Time

S2.4 Testing Special Relativity

S2.5 Ticket to the Stars

S3 Spacetime and Gravity

S3.1 Einstein’s Second Revolution

S3..2 The Equivalence Principle

S3.3 Understanding Spacetime

S3.4 A New View of Gravity

S3.5 Testing Special Relativity

S3.6 Hyperspace, Wormholes, and Warp Drive

S4 Building Blocks of the Universe

S4.1 The Quantum Revolution

S4.2 Fundamental Particles and Forces

S4.3 The Uncertainty Principle

S4.4 The Exclusion Principle

S4.5 Key Quantum Effects in Astronomy

PART V

STARS

14 Our Star

14.1 A Closer Look at the Sun

14.2 Nuclear Fusion in the Sun

14.3 The Sun-Earth Connection

15 Surveying the Stars

15.1 Properties of Stars

15.2 Classifying Stars

15.3 Star Clusters

16 Star Birth

16.1 Stellar Nurseries

16.2 Stages of Star Birth

16.3 Masses of Newborn Stars

17 Star Stuff

17.1 Life as a Low-Mass Star

17.2 Life as a High-Mass Star

17.3 Binary Star Systems

18 The Bizarre Stellar Graveyard

18.1 White Dwarfs

18.2 Neutron Stars

18.3 Black Holes: Gravity’s Ultimate Victory

18.4 The Mystery of Gamma-Ray Bursts

PART VI

GALAXIES AND BEYOND

19 Our Galaxy

19.1 The Milky Way Revealed

19.2 Galactic Recycling

19.3 History of the Milky Way

19.4 The Mysterious Galactic Center

20 A Universe of Galaxies

20.1 Islands of Stars

20.2 Distances of Galaxies

20.3 Ages of Galaxies

20.4 The Expanding Universe

21 Galaxy Evolution

21.1 Looking Back Through Time

21.2 Galaxy Formation

21.3 Differences Among Galaxies

21.4 Quasars and other Active Nuclei

22 Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Fate of the Universe

22.1 Unseen Influences in the Cosmos

22.2 Evidence for Dark Matter

22.3 Structure Formation

22.4 The Universe’s Fate

23 The Beginning of Time

23.1 The Big Bang

23.2 Evidence for the Big Bang

23.3 The Big Bang and Inflation

23.4 Observing the Big Bang for Yourself

PART VI

LIFE ON EARTH AND BEYOND

24 Life in the Universe

24.1 Life on Earth

24.2 Life in the Solar System

24.3 Life Around other Stars

24.4 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

24.5 Interstellar Travel and Its Implications to Civilization

Jeffrey Bennett received a B.A. in biophysics from the University of California, San Diego (1981) and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Colorado, Boulder (1987). He currently spends most of his time as a teacher, speaker, and writer. He has taught extensively at all levels, including having founded and run a science summer school for elementary and middle school children. At the college level, he has taught more than fifty classes in subjects ranging from astronomy, physics, and mathematics, to education. He served two years as a visiting senior scientist at NASA headquarters, where he helped create numerous programs for science education. He also proposed the idea for and helped develop the Voyage Scale Model Solar System, which opened in 2001 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In addition to The Cosmic Perspective, he has written college-level textbooks in astrobiology, mathematics, and statistics, and a book for the general public, On the Cosmic Horizon (Addison-Wesley, 2001). He also recently completed his first children's book, Max Goes to the Moon (Big Kid Science, 2003). When not working, he enjoys participating in masters swimming and in the daily adventures of life with his wife, Lisa, his children Grant and Brooke, and his dog, Max.

Megan Donahue is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Michigan State University. Her current research is mainly on clusters of galaxies: their contents—dark matter, hot gas, galaxies, active galactic nuclei—and what they reveal about the contents of the universe and how galaxies form and evolve. She grew up on a farm in Nebraska and received a bachelor's degree in physics from MIT, where she began her research career as an X-ray astronomer. She has a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Colorado, for a thesis on theory and optical observations of intergalactic and intracluster gas. That thesis won the 1993 Trumpler Award from the Astronomical Society for the Pacific for an outstanding astrophysics doctoral dissertation in North America. She continued post-doctoral research in optical and X-ray observations as a Carnegie Fellow at Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, and later as an STScl Institute Fellow at Space Telescope. Megan was a staff astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, when she joined the MSU faculty. Megan is married to Mark Voit, who is also a frequent collaborator of hers on many projects, including The Cosmic Perspective and the raising of their three children, Michaela, Sebastian, and Angela. Between the births of Sebastian and Angela, Megan qualified for and ran the 2000 Boston Marathon. She hopes to run another one soon.

Nicholas M. Schneider is an associate professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado and a researcher in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. He received his B.A. in physics and astronomy from Dartmouth College in 1979 and his Ph.D. in planetary science from the University of Arizona in 1988. In 1991, he received the National Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator Award. His research interests include planetary atmospheres and planetary astronomy, with a focus on the odd case of Jupiter's moon Io. He enjoys teaching at all levels and is active in efforts to improve undergraduate astronomy education. Off the job, he enjoys exploring the outdoors with his family and figuring out how things work.

Mark Voit is an associate professor in the department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University. He earned his A.B. in astrophysical sciences at Princeton University and his Ph.D. in astrophysics at the University of Colorado in 1990. He continued his studies at the California Institute of Technology, where he was a research fellow in theoretical astrophysics, then moved on to Johns Hopkins University as a Hubble Fellow. Before coming to Michigan State, Mark worked in the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope, where he developed museum exhibitions about the Hubble Space Telescope and was the scientist behind NASA's HubbleSite. His research interests range from interstellar processes in our own galaxy to the clustering of galaxies in the early universe. He is married to co-author Megan Donahue, and they try to play outdoors with their three children whenever possible, enjoying hiking, camping, running, and orienteering. Mark is also author of the popular book Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe.

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This title is a member of the MasteringAstronomy Series, which also contains the titles below . You can also visit the MasteringAstronomy Series page.

    Built from the ground up on our new understanding of the universe, The Essential Cosmic Perspective, Fourth Edition Media Update retains all of the features that have made this text so popular, and includes updated supplements that enhance the book’s pedagogy to make it the most effective text in the one-semester astronomy market.

     

    This edition features optional quantitative reasoning boxes, basic equations throughout the text, new end-of-chapter problems, and a consolidated math appendix for professors who want to emphasize quantitative understanding in their course. Key figures have been annotated to guide student interpretation of difficult concepts. New two-page Cosmic Context illustrations  throughout the text, visually tie together key concepts from across chapters and put them in context, driving home main ideas in a meaningful way.

     

    The Essential Cosmic Perspective, Fourth Edition Media Update provides an unprecedented media package.  MasteringAstronomy™, the most easy-to-use, yet sophisticated astronomy tutorial and assessment system ever built, provides both instructor-assigned homework as well as a self-study area with Bennett's popular Interactive Tutorials, Interactive Figures and Photos™, quizzes and more. An updated Essential Cosmic Lecture Launcher CD-ROM includes high resolution JPEGs of all images in the text for improved in-class projection, Interactive Figures and Photos™  based on figures from the book, PowerPoint® Lecture Outlines, and Clicker Quizzes based on the book and book-specific interactive media, plus a variety of additional instructor resources. The Astronomy Media Workbook, Fifth Edition is now updated to correlate with  MasteringAstronomy™ and Voyager: SkyGazer v3.7 planetarium software.

     

  • 0321505689The Essential Cosmic Perspective Media Update, 4/E
    Bennett, Donahue, Schneider & Voit
    © 2008 | Addison-Wesley | Paper Package; 550 pages | Instock
    ISBN-10: 0321505689 | ISBN-13: 9780321505682
    Brief Description | Buy from myPearsonStore

Pearson Higher Education offers special pricing when you choose to package your text with other student resources. If you're interested in creating a cost-saving package for your students contact your Pearson Higher Education representative.


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