The Ringed Planet: Cassini's Voyage of Discovery at Saturn / Edition 1

by Joshua Colwell

Overview

In September 2017, the Cassini spacecraft will point itself toward the atmoshpere of Saturn and end its 13-year mission of solving many of the mysteries of the ringed planet's system with a crash. This book is a dramatic, beautifully illustrated journey of discovery through the Saturn system. Cassini's instruments have revealed never seen before details including the only extraterrestrial lakes known in the solar system and have provided unprecedented views of the rings. It is a non-technical book for everyone who loves astronomy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681744964
Publisher:	Morgan and Claypool Publishers
Publication date:	04/01/2017
Series:	Iop Concise Physics
Pages:	142
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Dr Joshua Colwell is a Planetary Scientist and Professor of Physics at the University of Central Florida with a PhD in Astrophysical, Planetary and Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Colorado. His research interests are in the origin and evolution of the solar system with a particular emphasis on planet formation, planetary rings and interplanetary dust. He is a Co-Investigator on the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph on the Cassini mission. He studies the structure and dynamics of Saturn’s rings with data from Cassini. He is the Director of the Center for Microgravity Research at UCF. His experiments have flown on the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, suborbital rockets, parabolic airplane flights, and he is developing a CubeSat for launch in 2017. An avid Trekkie, his other interests include running, writing and movies. He produces and hosts the astronomy podcast "Walkabout the Galaxy."

Table of Contents

Table of Contents: Introduction / Seeing Saturn / Why are there moons and rings? / A menagerie of moons / Dynamic rings / Titan: the planet moon / The Ringed Planet / Future exploration of the Saturn system

Editorial Reviews

The Ringed Planet takes the reader along Cassini’s incredible voyage in the Saturnian system, as the author guides us through the history, mysteries, discoveries and current scientific theories surrounding Saturn, its fascinating moons, and its enticing rings. Throughout the tour, personal experiences provided by the author, a scientist with intimate knowledge of the mission, give the reader a sense of insight and connectedness with the Cassini mission that other non-fiction works struggle to capture.

Stunning, real images acquired by the Cassini spacecraft inspire a close reading of the text to grasp the fascinating objects and phenomena. Slightly more complicated graphical displays of the data relay the critical revelations made by non-camera instruments, but all are well explained in the text. In fact, the book serves as a remarkable example of how complex astronomical concepts can be communicated effectively to anyone who is interested, including beginners to the field of astronomy. Even for experts, this collection of the mission highlights and their accompanying details is a refreshing reminder of the amazing capabilities of the Cassini spacecraft and the scientific achievements that have resulted from its mission.

The Ringed Planet condenses years of exploration and scientific discovery into an accessible, enjoyable, and practical book without compromising accuracy or completeness. Through striking images and clear explanations, this book is a phenomenal way to uncover the legacy of the Cassini mission to Saturn.

-Dr. Tracy Becker, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), San Antonio, TX.

Dr. Tracy Becker