Explorations: An Introduction to Astronomy, Updated, 3/e
Tom Arny
ISBN: 0072465700 Copyright year: 2004
What's New
NEW TO THIS UPDATE
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This 2004 update also includes some new images, revised figures, and updated
material in several areas. I have expanded several topics, for example, the material on
extra-solar planets, where I have added discussion of the transiting planet and some
images of preplanetary disks. In that discussion, I have also emphasized that much of
the motivation for studying extra-solar planets is to better understand planet formation.
(I have not, however, tried to keep the number of such planets current, a hopeless
task.)
Another area that I have updated is the discussion of what causes one forming
galaxy to become a spiral, while another becomes an elliptical. Likewise, I have revised
the section on whether the Universe will expand forever or recollapse, eliminating the
distinction of “open” and “closed” universes. This was necessary because if the cosmological
constant is not zero, the previously relatively simple relation between curvature
and whether or not the Universe expands forever no longer holds.
As an experiment, I have also revised a number of the Re-Modeling boxes. These
boxes were originally designed to show how new evidence leads astronomers to
modify their ideas. The revisions to the Re-Modeling boxes are meant to show how
scientific ideas are subjected to testing. Hence, these revised boxes have been renamed
“Science at Work.” I hope this will help students better see how the scientific method
operates.
The above updates were built upon the changes to the Third Edition,which include:
Migration of the giant planets within the Solar Nebula
The shape of planetary nebulas
Evidence from the cosmic microwave background that our Universe is flat
Evidence for “recent” water flows on Mars
Hypotheses for why Earth and Venus have such different surfaces
The discovery of numerous brown dwarfs and low-temperature stars
I have made two shifts in the organization of the material. The discussion of seasons is
now in chapter 1, and the chapter on telescopes now follows directly the chapter on
light. Both these changes were urged by many reviewers, and, to be honest, I myself
have generally discussed seasons with the material on aspects of the sky. Most of the
other changes in this edition are minor or are corrections of typos or other points
raised by reviewers. Foot and margin notes add a few topics that are of more specialized
interest but that I wanted my own students to know of.
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2004 McGraw-Hill Higher Education