Bücher der Reihe Astrophysics and Space Science Library

For many years I was organizing a weekly seminar on dynamical astronomy, and I used to make some historical remarks on every subject, including some anecdotes from my contacts with many leading scientists over the years.

This book explores the scientific career of a man whose 1846 discovery of Neptune made him the most famous astronomer of his time, while his arrogance and bad temper made him many enemies, even to the point of his dismissal as Director of the Paris Observatory.

As discoveries by the Dudley Observatory's astronomers, especially its second director Lewis Boss, made significant contributions to the modern vision of our Milky Way galaxy as a rotating spiral of more than a million stars, the advance of astronomy left that little observatory behind.

Proceedings of the Torun Workshop held July 5-7, 2000

Proceedings of the Joint Discussion-17 at the 23rd IAU General Assembly, organised by the Commission 41, held in Kyoto, Japan, August 25-26, 1997

A personal account of the evolution of millimeter-wave astronomy at the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The author recounts the behind-the-scenes activities of the staff from the beginnings at Kitt Peak to the closing of the Tuscon offices.

Comets are small bodies, but of great cosmic relevance. I have taken the challenge to write a new book on comets that summarizes most of the recent advances on thesubject, including my own workdeveloped during the last 25 years.

In late 2003 I spent two fruitful and enjoyable months in the Astronomy Department at the University of Washington (UW) working on archival material accumulated over the decades by Woody, for a book we will co-author with Jessica Chapman on the early development of Australian astronomy.

The Andromeda Galaxy, or M31, is an attractive galaxy for astronomers. It is close to us, it is of about the size of our galaxy, it provides some intriguing observational puzzles because the galaxy is nearly edge-on, and many objects can be studied in detail, because they are still sufficiently bright.

" St. Francis, from Cantico del sole Two decades have elapsed since the publication of Solar Prominences, 20 years that have seen a nearly phenomenal increase in the interest, as well as the infor mation, concerning these fascinating and beautiful manifestations of solar ac tivity.

A historical sketch of the study of beat Cepheids, first known for their variable amplitudes, is given as an introduction to the book. This introduction clearly demonstrates how complicated the study of variable stars can be, and therefore challenges and invites the reader to study the entire book.

Seated in a sun-lit corner of his 17th century Dutch house, his hand touching a celestial globe, Johannes Vermeer's "Astronomer" seems to pon der about the mysteries of the universe.

Proceedings of the second Hellenic Cosmology Meeting, held in the National Observatory of Athens (Penteli, 19-20 April 2001)

Not everybody knows that the scheduling of the Hubble Space Telescope is performed by a neural network software called SPIKE, described in the stimulating workshop New Observing Modes for the Next Centuryl, partly reported in OSA Volume II by 1.

Only by creativity in developing new techniques for radio noise (including legal transmissions) reduction and by participating fully in the allocation process for radio frequencies has radio astronomy developed to the powerful investigative tool it is today.

This book recounts the history of the refractor telescope at Meudon, France, from the birth of the concept that drove Jules Janssen at the end of the nineteenth century, to the enormous progress it fostered in the visual observation of astronomical objects.

Light scattering and absorption by small homogeneous particles can be worked-out exactly for spheres and infinite cylinders. Accurately formed graphite spheres with radii close to O.02p,m could conceivably provide an explanation of this ultraviolet feature but no convincing laboratory preparation of such spheres has ever been achieved.

The astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort (1900-1992) left behind an extensive collection of notes and correspondence, both on his research and on matters that concerned him in a variety of official functions.

She has picked up speed while passing under the Bridge of the Americas which links de facto the Northern and Southern parts of the continent, and has headed resolutely towards the Pacific Ocean waters along the rows of boats of all kinds waiting to cross the Canal in the other direction.

At the same time, analysis of interaction between radiation and astrophysical plasmas under extreme conditions (strong magnetic fields of white dwarfs and neutron stars or strong gravitational fields in the vicinity of black holes) stimulates the development of plasma physics as a whole.

Proceedings of the 158th Colloquium of the International Astronomical Union, held at Keele, United Kingdom, June 26-30, 1995

A small country builds a world-class telescope in its backyard and lives happily ever after (or at least for a quarter century). Living happily in this context is a continuing record of discovery and as such also a continuing basis for se curing observing time on facilities in other countries and operating at other frequencies.

Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn (1851-1922) of the University of Groningen was one of the foremost astronomers of his time, resulting in a leading role internationally of Dutch astronomy throughout the twentieth century.

Proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute Conference organized by the Department of Geophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, June 22-28, 1969

Data archiving has, for many years, been the most disregarded aspect of all data systems. Much of these data were and are not used on short timescales and (should) have been archived, where they can be used later and/or by others. At present there are a number of data collections and data retrieval systems.

Proceedings of the 123rd Colloquium of the International Astronomical Union, held in Greenbelt, Maryland, April 24-27, 1990

Space, whether interplanetary or interstellar, is filled with plasma or ionized gas. With this view, the Symposium ofPlasma Space Science was held at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Goddard Space Flight Center, June 11-14, 1963.