Planetary Sciences, 2nd Edition

An authoritative introduction for graduate students in the physical sciences, this award-winning textbook explains the wide variety of physical, chemical, and geological processes that govern the motions and properties of planets. This updated second edition has been revised and improved while maintaining its existing structure and organization. Many data tables and plots have been updated to account for the latest measurements. A new Appendix focuses on recent discoveries since the second edition was first published. These include results from Cassini, Kepler, MESSENGER, MRO, LRO, Dawn at Vesta, Curiosity, and others, as well as many ground-based observatories. With over 300 exercises to help students apply the concepts covered, this textbook is ideal for graduate courses in astronomy, planetary science and earth science, and well suited as a reference for researchers. Color versions of many figures, movie clips supplementing the text, and other resources are available at

'The illustrations and images are excellently produced This hardback volume should serve the degree student well throughout their years of study.' Popular Astronomy
a comprehensive overview of the planetary science field Lunar and Planetary Information Bulletin
a massive achievement, and the well-considered problems and exercises at the end of each chapter will be particularly useful to students and to test one's own understanding. William B. Hubbard, Physics Today
the book is essentially excellent. Given their formidable task, de Pater and Lissauer have done as good a job as can be imagined, and I can't imagine two other authors doing a better job on a first edition this book could serve as a valuable introduction to aspects of planetary science that graduate students might never study at all the discussions are generally so comprehensive and up-to-date that active scientists will find the individual chapters to be excellent 'primers' on subjects outside their formal training. There really is no other book at this level like Planetary Sciences. William B. McKinnon, EOS
Planetary Sciences presents a comprehensive coverage of this fascinating and expanding field at a level The book explains the wide variety of physical, chemical and geological processes that govern the motions and properties of planets a very useful book an excellent textbook for anyone studying astronomy and planetary geology a rich source of knowledge Highly recommended. Richard Taylor, Spaceflight
The second edition keeps pace with the new discoveries in planetary science. It still has the classic figures and tables, but it also has spectacular new images and new theories. More space is devoted to derivations, so students can learn the material on their own. The book works at many levels, and I will continue to use it in my courses. Andrew P. Ingersoll, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology

Imke de Pater is a Professor in the departments of Astronomy and of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and is affiliated with the Delft Institute of Earth Observation and Space Systems (DEOS) at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. She began her career observing and modeling Jupiter's synchrotron radiation, followed by detailed investigations of the planet's thermal radio emission. In 1994 she led a worldwide campaign to observe the impact of comet D/Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. Currently, she is exploiting adaptive optics techniques in the infrared range to obtain high angular resolution data. Jack J. Lissauer is a Space Scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, and a Consulting Professor at Stanford University. His primary research interests are the formation of planetary systems, detection of extrasolar planets, planetary dynamics and chaos, planetary ring systems, and circumstellar/protoplanetary disks. He is co-discoverer of the first four planets found to orbit about faint M dwarf stars, and co-discovered two broad tenuous dust rings and two small inner moons orbiting the planet Uranus.

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