San Antonio College Library

Disc 1: Tour the surface of Earth's life-giving star. Mars may be the future of humanity - uses data collected from probes and robotic rovers. Scars on the planet's surface and in its fossil record illustrate the threat posed by meteorites, comets, and asteroids that routinely collide with Earth. Two and a half times the size of all the other planets in the solar system combined, and half a billion miles from Earth, Jupiter is a colossal riddle. Disc...

With the aid of computer animation, this program looks at the planets Mercury and Venus.

"A quantitative, broad-based introduction to planetary systems science for advanced undergraduate students, including planet formation, extrasolar planets, and planetary habitability"--

After decades of painstaking planning, NASA's first dedicated exoplanet detection mission, the Kepler space telescope, was launched in 2009 from Cape Canaveral. Kepler began a years-long mission of looking for Earth-like planets amongst the millions of stars in the northern constellations of Lyra and Cygnus. Kepler's successful launch meant that it was only a matter of time before we would know just how many Earth-like planets exist in our galaxy....

A comprehensive guide to the universe that focuses on the outer planets, which includes Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and beyond; discussing the evolving view of the solar system throughout history, characteristics of the planets, and the search for planets beyond the Milky Way.

The sun's family of planets become a familiar place in this personal account of the lives of other worlds. With her gift for weaving difficult scientific concepts into a compelling story, Sobel explores the planets' origins and oddities through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history.--From publisher description.

"Benson shows that ancient theories of planetary motion were based on the assumptions that the Earth was the center of the universe and the planets moved in a uniform circular motion. Since ancient astronomers noted that occasionally a planet would exhibit retrograde motion--would seem to reverse its direction and move briefly westward--they concluded that the planets moved in epicyclic curves, circles with smaller interior loops, similar to the patterns...

"The eight essays range across the breadth of planetary science, from the inner to the outer worlds, from telescopic to robotic exploration, and from computerized armchairs to diving below the Antarctic ice. The stories encompass tales of personal exploration and the fears of a scientist living at the edge of funding difficulties. You will learn about the mountains of the Moon, the craters of Venus, the volcanos of Io, the possibility of seas on Titan,...