"The polarization study of celestial objects is a valuable part of optical astronomy, and the author has done exceptionally well in bringing to gether contributions treating all aspects of the polarimetry field. . . . The first section contains a fine introduction and an excellent and definitive history of the subject. . . . The volume is ...

"Over forty authorities present sections on the nucleus, dust, coma, and tails of comets, along with sections on their origin, and relationships to other solar system bodies. . . . An excellent book."--Space News

"The volume is highly recommended to all interested in comets and the Solar System."--Journal of the British ...

"No serious astronomical library can be complete without it."--Journal of the British Astronomical Association

"The book contains the results of the exploration of Venus by spacecraft during the period 1962-1978. . . . The book represents an excellent review of the principal results of Venus in the period covered."--Bulletin of the ...

"This is the 12th book in the University of Arizona Space Science Series, a burgeoning library destined to stand as the consummate literary legacy of our era's revolution in Solar System exploration. . . . Satellite science has matured rapidly since its rebirth in March 1979, and its vitality radiates from the pages of this fine volume."

Do we really know what we see through a telescope? How does the ocular system construct planetary images, and how does the brain interpret them? Drawing on both astronomical and psychological data, William Sheehan now offers the first systematic analysis of the perceptual and cognitive factors that go into the initial structuring ...

"What caused the extinction of so many animals at or near the end of the Pleistocene? Was it overkill by human hunters, the result of a major climatic change or was it just a part of some massive evolutionary turnover? Questions such as these have plagued scientists for over one hundred years and are still being heatedly debated today.

This book is now available online too!

Click here for the Table of Contents.

An integrated discussion of the similarities and differences between the atmospheres of various bodies of the solar system, including the Earth.

Uranus occupies a unique niche in the history of western thought; for while the planets from Mercury to Saturn had been known since pre-antiquity, Uranus was the first to be discovered, in 1781, through scientific investigation. Contemporary investigation of Uranus culminated in the Voyager 2 encounter in 1986. The results of that ...

Observational data derived from the world's largest solar telescopes are correlated with theoretical discussions in nuclear and atomic physics by contributors representing a wide range of interests in solar research.