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CAROLE ROBERT
DINWIDDIE
DAVID GILES
STOTT
HUGHES
SPARROW
LONDON, NEW YORK, MELBOURNE, MUNICH, AND DELHI Editorial consultant Senior editor Senior art editors Editors
Proof-reader Index US editor Designers
Design assistant Jacket designers Picture researchers Illustrators Creative technical support Production editor Senior production controller Managing editors Managing art editors Associate publisher Art director Publisher
CONTENTS
Iain Nicolson Peter Frances Mark Lloyd, Vicky Short Jemima Dunne, Megan Hill, Nicola Hodgson, Patrick Newman, Steve Setford, Andrew Szudek Sean O’Connor Indexing Specialists (UK) Ltd Jenny Siklós Vivienne Brar, Mandy Earey, Alison Gardner, Richard Horsford, Matthew Robbins, Liz Sephton, Alison Shackleton Anushka Mody Silke Spingies, Duncan Turner Ria Jones, Myriam Megharbi, Roland Smithies, Sarah Smithies The Art Agency, SJC Illustration Adam Brackenbury Phil Sergeant Inderjhit Bhullar Camilla Hallinan, Julie Oughton Karen Self, Louise Dick Liz Wheeler Phil Ormerod Jonathan Metcalf
First American edition, October 2010 Published in the United States by DK Publishing, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 10 11 12 13 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 176040—10/10 Copyright © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersely Limited A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-7566-6738-2 DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 or
[email protected]. Printed and bound in China by Hung Hing Offset Printing Company Discover more at www.dk.com Endpapers: Rembrandt Crater, Mercury Half-title page: Launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour Title pages: The surface of Mars Above: The center of the Milky Way
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LAUNCHPAD EARTH
Looking Out Observing the Skies On the Launchpad Journey into Space Into Orbit Orbiting Earth Early Space Stations The International Space Station Spacewalking An Astronaut’s View of Earth Exploring Earth From Space Earth’s Oceans Earth’s Land Earth’s Ice and Snow Earth’s Atmosphere Surrounding Earth
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8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 26 32 34 36 40 42 44 46
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NEIGHBORING WORLDS
The Solar System The Inner Planets Earth The Moon The Moon in Our Skies Mapping the Moon To the Moon and Back Landing on the Moon Exploring on Foot Roving Across the Moon The Moon’s Unseen Face
Venus Beneath Venus’s Clouds Venus’s Surface Mercury Messenger at Mercury The Sun Close to the Sun Mars Mars from Above Valles Marineris The Tharsis Region The Ice Caps of Mars The Dunes of Mars Dust Storms on Mars Roving over Mars Endurance Crater Victoria Crater Gusev Crater The Moons of Mars
50 52 54 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 74
76 78 80 82 84 86 88 92 94 96 98 100 104 106 110 112 114 116 120
BEYOND THE BELT
The Outer Planets Asteroids Missions to Asteroids Jupiter The Great Red Spot Jupiter’s Moons Io Europa Ganymede Callisto Saturn Saturn’s Atmosphere Saturn’s Rings
124 126 128 130 132 136 138 140 144 146 148 152 154
Cassini at Saturn Saturn’s Moons Enceladus, Mimas, and Tethys Dione, Rhea, Hyperion, and Iapetus Titan Uranus Uranus’s Rings and Moons Neptune Neptune’s Moons The Outer Region Comets Missions to Comets Sample Collection Looking Back
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156 160 162 164 166 168 170 172 174 178 180 184 186 188
A GALAXY OF STARS
The Milky Way Toward the Stars Pinning Down the Stars Nearby Stars Stellar Characteristics The Fuel Source of Stars Starbirth The Orion Nebula The Eagle Nebula The Infrared Universe Star Systems The Pleiades 47 Tucanae and M30 Main-sequence Stars Red Giants Supergiants and Hypergiants
192 196 198 200 202 208 210 212 214 218 220 222 224 226 228 230
Investigating Stars The Giant Telescopes Planetary Nebulae The Helix Nebula The Cat’s Eye Nebula The Red Rectangle Nebula, the Eskimo Nebula, and the Ant Nebula The Death of Massive Stars The Crab Nebula The Veil Nebula and Cassiopeia A Planets Beyond the Solar System Extraterrestrial Life Stellar Recycling The Heart of the Milky Way
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232 236 238 240 242
244 248 250 252 254 256 258 260
A UNIVERSE OF GALAXIES
Galaxy Islands The Large Magellanic Cloud The Small Magellanic Cloud The Andromeda Galaxy The Triangulum Galaxy, Barnard’s Galaxy, and NGC 55 Galaxies and the Hubble Space Telescope Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy The Whirlpool Galaxy The Pinwheel Galaxy The Sombrero Galaxy The Virgo Cluster
266 268 270 272
Colliding Galaxies Active Galaxies Centaurus A The Circinus Galaxy, ESO 0313–192, and the Death Star Galaxy The Visible Edge
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298 302
THE OUTER LIMITS
What is Cosmology? The Big Bang Background Radiation Dark Cosmology Galaxy Formation Bird’s-eye View How Might the Universe End? The Future of Deep-space Exploration
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292 294 296
306 310 316 318 320 322 324 326
REFERENCE SECTION 330
276
The Solar System The Milky Way and Other Galaxies The Night Sky Exploration
280 282 284 286 290
Glossary Index and Acknowledgments
344
274
334 338 340
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