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Cosmic Perspective, The, 3/E
Jeffrey Bennett, University of Colorado, Boulder
Megan Donahue, Michigan State University
Nicholas Schneider, University of Colorado, Boulder
Mark Voit, Michigan State University

ISBN-10: 0805387382
ISBN-13: 9780805387384

Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Copyright: 2004
Format: Paper Package; 752 pp
Published: 07/25/2003
We're sorry, this product is no longer available and has been replaced with Cosmic Perspective Media Update with MasteringAstronomy™, The, 5/E.

Please contact your Pearson rep if you are using this product and need instructor resources.

The enhanced pedagogy, streamlined presentation, and integrated media of The Cosmic Perspective, Third Edition, makes it easier than ever for students to successfully navigate their way through introductory astronomy. Renowned for its up-to-date and expert coverage, this student-friendly text focuses on central ideas and unifying themes to provide a cosmic context. New chapter openers and end-of-chapter summaries expertly steer students through key concepts, helping them stay focused on core learning goals. The text's superior media package has been further enhanced to provide professors with superior in-class presentation tools and the ability to use and assign media activities out of class in creative ways they may not have previously considered. In particular, The Astronomy Place Website's highly acclaimed tutorials are now fully assignable with a built-in grading system, and a new Lecture Launcher CD-ROM puts a comprehensive library of in-class presentation applets, animations, and images in the palm of professors' hands.

The Third Edition also features expanded coverage on seasons, the solar system, chronological history, and astrobiology. A reorganized table of contents makes the text even more cohesive and easy to use.

Big picture approach presents each topic within a cosmic context, creating a framework for understanding by first exploring the underlying themes and then fleshing them out in more detail.

Exceptional art program features carefully developed, clear, and imaginative illustrations to help students understand difficult concepts. Comprehensive star charts are included at the end of the book.

Focus on the universality of physics and the importance of science helps students see how the phenomena they observe in their own lives are connected to the processes that govern the cosmos.

Evolving vision of galaxies and dark matter concentrates on our emerging understanding of galaxy evolution—explaining starbursts, quasars, and intergalactic clouds within context—and how this parallels stellar evolution.

A planet-by-planet introduction gives students an overarching picture of the solar system first, and a comparative approach then emphasizes similarities between planets and explores their connecting processes. This combined approach gives students a deeper understanding of our solar system, our world, and prospects for life elsewhere in the universe.

End-of-chapter problems include a wide variety of problem types—from group discussion topics through “sensible statements” and more quantitative exercises—to accommodate different learning needs.

Enhanced pedagogy helps students navigate their way through the text:
- Chapter openers combine the chapter table of contents and Learning goals to provide a clear study plan of how to tackle the material.
- Learning goals are presented as key questions at the start of each chapter to help students focus on the most important concepts ahead.
- End-of-chapter summaries wrap up the Learning goals with answers, tables, and figures to reinforce understanding of key concepts presented in the chapter.

Media explorations page at the end of each chapter, provides quick exercises and in-depth projects using the wealth of specially developed on-line and CD-based media supporting this text.

Reorganized Table of Contents makes the text even more cohesive and easy to use, including a more comprehensive, planet-by-planet introduction to the solar system chapters.

Expanded coverage on areas of common misconceptions and recent scientific development including seasons, solar system, astrobiology, and chronological history.

Cohesive, easy-to-use media package includes:
- Cosmic Lecture Launcher CD-ROM contains an extensive library of more than 1,000 interactive applets, animations, high-resolution figures from the book and other key astronomical sources. PowerPoint® slides are also provided to get your lecture course up and running quickly and easily and show you just how easily you can integrate animations and interactive tools into your classroom lecture.
- Astronomy Place assignability allows instructors to assign and grade the highly acclaimed Astronomy Place interactive tutorials with a new built-in grading system. The tutorials can now be conveniently assigned as pre- or post-class activities for practice, or as part of the grade.
- Media Icons throughout the text direct students to online interactive tutorials and other specific media resources that offer further explanation of tricky concepts.

I. DEVELOPING PERSPECTIVE.

1. Our Place in the Universe.

2. Discovering the Universe for Yourself.

3. The Science of Astronomy.

S1. Celestial Timekeeping and Navigation.

II. KEY CONCEPTS FOR ASTRONOMY.

4. A Universe of Matter and Energy.

5. Universal Motion.

6. Light: The Cosmic Messenger.

7. Telescopes: Portals of Discovery.

III. LEARNING FROM OTHER WORLDS.

8. Our Solar System: An Introduction and Overview.

9. Formation of the Solar System.

10. Planetary Geology: Earth and the Other Terrestrial Worlds.

11. Planetary Atmospheres: Earth and the Other Terrestrial Worlds.

12. Jovian Planet Systems.

13. Remnants of Rock and Ice: Asteroids, Comets, and Pluto.

14. Planet Earth and Its Lessons on Life in the Universe.

IV. A DEEPER LOOK AT NATURE.

S2. Space and Time.

S3. Spacetime and Gravity.

S4. Building Blocks of the Universe.

V. STELLAR ALCHEMY.

15. Our Star.

16. Stars.

17. Star Stuff.

18. The Bizarre Stellar Graveyard.

VI. GALAXIES AND BEYOND.

19. Our Galaxy.

20. Galaxies: From Here to the Horizon.

21. Galaxy Evolution.

22. Dark Matter and the Fate of the Universe.

23. The Beginning of Time.

24. Life in the Universe.

Appendix A: A Few Mathematical Skills.

Appendix B: The Periodic Table of the Elements.

Appendix C: Planetary Data.

Appendix D: Stellar Data.

Appendix E: Constants.

Appendix F: Key Equations.

Star Charts.

Astronomy (Physics & Astronomy)

Cosmic Perspective, The |
Author Bios

Jeffrey Bennett received a B.A. in biophysics from the University of California, San Diego (1981) and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Colorado, Boulder (1987). He currently spends most of his time as a teacher, speaker, and writer. He has taught extensively at all levels, including having founded and run a science summer school for elementary and middle school children. At the college level, he has taught more than fifty classes in subjects ranging from astronomy, physics, and mathematics, to education. He served two years as a visiting senior scientist at NASA headquarters, where he helped create numerous programs for science education. He also proposed the idea for and helped develop the Voyage Scale Model Solar System, which opened in 2001 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In addition to The Cosmic Perspective, he has written college-level textbooks in astrobiology, mathematics, and statistics, and a book for the general public, On the Cosmic Horizon (Addison-Wesley, 2001). He also recently completed his first children's book, Max Goes to the Moon (Big Kid Science, 2003). When not working, he enjoys participating in masters swimming and in the daily adventures of life with his wife, Lisa, his children Grant and Brooke, and his dog, Max.

Megan Donahue is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Michigan State University. Her current research is mainly on clusters of galaxies: their contents—dark matter, hot gas, galaxies, active galactic nuclei—and what they reveal about the contents of the universe and how galaxies form and evolve. She grew up on a farm in Nebraska and received a bachelor's degree in physics from MIT, where she began her research career as an X-ray astronomer. She has a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Colorado, for a thesis on theory and optical observations of intergalactic and intracluster gas. That thesis won the 1993 Trumpler Award from the Astronomical Society for the Pacific for an outstanding astrophysics doctoral dissertation in North America. She continued post-doctoral research in optical and X-ray observations as a Carnegie Fellow at Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, and later as an STScl Institute Fellow at Space Telescope. Megan was a staff astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, when she joined the MSU faculty. Megan is married to Mark Voit, who is also a frequent collaborator of hers on many projects, including The Cosmic Perspective and the raising of their three children, Michaela, Sebastian, and Angela. Between the births of Sebastian and Angela, Megan qualified for and ran the 2000 Boston Marathon. She hopes to run another one soon.

Nicholas M. Schneider is an associate professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado and a researcher in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. He received his B.A. in physics and astronomy from Dartmouth College in 1979 and his Ph.D. in planetary science from the University of Arizona in 1988. In 1991, he received the National Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator Award. His research interests include planetary atmospheres and planetary astronomy, with a focus on the odd case of Jupiter's moon Io. He enjoys teaching at all levels and is active in efforts to improve undergraduate astronomy education. Off the job, he enjoys exploring the outdoors with his family and figuring out how things work.

Mark Voit is an associate professor in the department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University. He earned his A.B. in astrophysical sciences at Princeton University and his Ph.D. in astrophysics at the University of Colorado in 1990. He continued his studies at the California Institute of Technology, where he was a research fellow in theoretical astrophysics, then moved on to Johns Hopkins University as a Hubble Fellow. Before coming to Michigan State, Mark worked in the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope, where he developed museum exhibitions about the Hubble Space Telescope and was the scientist behind NASA's HubbleSite. His research interests range from interstellar processes in our own galaxy to the clustering of galaxies in the early universe. He is married to co-author Megan Donahue, and they try to play outdoors with their three children whenever possible, enjoying hiking, camping, running, and orienteering. Mark is also author of the popular book Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe.

Blackboard Access Code Card, 3/E
Bennett, Donohue, Schneider & Voit
©2003 | Addison-Wesley | Access Card Package | Instock (Additional assembly time required)
ISBN-10: 0321167740 | ISBN-13: 9780321167743
Net price: $15.00 (What's this?)

Cosmic Perspective WebCT Stand Alone, 3/E
Bennett
©1998 | Addison-Wesley | Access Card Package | Instock (Additional assembly time required)
ISBN-10: 0321250036 | ISBN-13: 9780321250032
Net price: $15.00 (What's this?)

Stand-alone Access Code Tutor Center
Addison-Wesley
©2008 | Addison-Wesley | Access Code Card | Instock
ISBN-10: 0201721708 | ISBN-13: 9780201721706
Net price: $36.15 (What's this?)

Astronomy Place Website, 3/E
Bennett, Donohue, Schneider & Voit
©2004 | Addison-Wesley | Website | Instock
ISBN-10: 0805387390 | ISBN-13: 9780805387391
Online purchase price: $30.00

CourseCompass™, 3/E
Bennett, Donohue, Schneider & Voit
©2004 | Addison-Wesley | On-line Supplement | Instock
ISBN-10: 0805387420 | ISBN-13: 9780805387421
Online purchase price: $30.00
Availability: Now! | Student Access Type: Access Code Required
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Astronomy Place Website, 3/E
Bennett, Donohue, Schneider & Voit
©2004 | Addison-Wesley | Website | Instock
ISBN-10: 0805387390 | ISBN-13: 9780805387391
Online purchase price: $30.00

Blackboard, 3/E
Bennett, Donohue, Schneider & Voit
©2004 | Addison-Wesley | Electronic Book | Instock
ISBN-10: 0805387412 | ISBN-13: 9780805387414

CourseCompass™, 3/E
Bennett, Donohue, Schneider & Voit
©2004 | Addison-Wesley | On-line Supplement | Instock
ISBN-10: 0805387420 | ISBN-13: 9780805387421
Online purchase price: $30.00

Stand-alone Access Code Tutor Center
Addison-Wesley
©2008 | Addison-Wesley | Access Code Card | Instock
ISBN-10: 0201721708 | ISBN-13: 9780201721706
Net price: $36.15 (What's this?)

WebCT, 3/E
Bennett, Donahue, Schneider & Voit
©2004 | Addison-Wesley | On-line Supplement | Instock
ISBN-10: 0805387986 | ISBN-13: 9780805387988

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MasteringAstronomy™ Student Access Kit for Bennett, Donahue, Schneider & Voit
Bennett, Donahue, Schneider & Voit
©2008 | Addison-Wesley | Access Code Card | Instock
ISBN-10: 0321582195 | ISBN-13: 9780321582195
Suggested retail price: $40.00Net price: $30.00 (What's this?)

MasteringAstronomy™ Student Access Kit
Addison-Wesley
©2008 | Addison-Wesley | Access Code Card | Instock
ISBN-10: 0321582187 | ISBN-13: 9780321582188
Net price: $30.00 (What's this?)

For the Physics & Astronomy Discipline

Stand-alone Access Code Tutor Center
Addison-Wesley
©2008 | Addison-Wesley | Access Code Card | Instock
ISBN-10: 0201721708 | ISBN-13: 9780201721706
Net price: $36.15 (What's this?)

Astronomy Place Website, 3/E
Bennett, Donohue, Schneider & Voit
©2004 | Addison-Wesley | Website | Instock
ISBN-10: 0805387390 | ISBN-13: 9780805387391
Online purchase price: $30.00

This package contains:
• Bennett, Donohue, Schneider & Voit, Astronomy Place Student Access Card for The Cosmic Perspective, The, 3/E (2004)
• Bennett, Donahue, Schneider & Voit, Cosmic Perspective, The, 3/E (2004)
• Bennett, Voyager: SkyGazer, College Edition, version 3.4, 2/E (2003)

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