Journey to the Stars: Space Exploration--Tomorrow and Beyond

by Robert Jastrow

Overview

Robert Jastrow discusses the past and future of space exploration, the cosmic mysteries that still await solution, and the possibility of extraterrestrials whose intelligence far outstrips our own.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553349092
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/01/1990
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

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Introduction
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Excerpted from "Journey to the Stars"
by .
Copyright © 1990 Robert Jastrow.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
I.	Dawn of the Space Age	5
1.	The Moon Beckons	7
2.	New Eyes in the Heavens	23
II.	The Cosmic Mysteries	41
3.	In the Beginning	43
4.	Birth of the Stars	55
5.	Black Holes and Quasars	69
III.	Exploring Our Solar System	83
6.	The Sun's Family	85
7.	Many Earths Circling Many Stars	109
8.	The Search for Life	117
9.	Mission to Mars	137
10.	The Martian Experience	149
IV.	A Journey into the Future	161
11.	Encounter with a Star	163
12.	A Message	173
13.	Stars of Promise	181
14.	Reaching Out to Cosmic Life	187
	Afterword: The Evolving Perception of the Cosmos	197
	Acknowledgments	205
	Index	207

Editorial Reviews

Outer-space exploration is a field teeming with activity and promise, to judge from astronomer Jastrow's informal preview of what the next few years--and decades--may hold in store. NASA plans to launch the powerful Space Telescope, which will let scientists search for planets in other solar systems. The Americans and the Soviets are vying with one another to land on Mars and its moons. A handful of star systems within 12 light years of our sun are being scrutinized as places where extraterrestrial intelligent life might have evolved. Even our own solar system is abuzz with unresolved mysteries--witness the renewed search for a 10th planet that may lie in orbit up to 10 billion miles from the sun. These are among the probes and puzzles investigated in a popular style by a noted author ( Until the Sun Dies ) who draws on his past experience working in the space program. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)

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