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I was delighted to be invited by my colleagues Alessandra Celletti and Ettore Perozzi to provide a foreword to their book, Celestial Mechanics: The Waltz of the Planets. Having known them for many years and long admired their work in the subject so many of us love and are fascinated by, 1 read with great attention and pleasure the text when it arrived. It is a formidable task they have set themselves, to provide a book that describes attempts by successive generations of astronomers from the dawn of history five millennia ago to observe, record and understand the phenomena of the heavens, particularly the intricate and perplexing behaviour of the planets. Sun and Moon. As naked eye astronomy became aided by the telescope and the photographic plate, and since the middle of the twentieth century, by instruments launched on spacecraft into circum- Earth orbit or to the Moon and planets and beyond, the discovery of new satellites, scores of them, and ring systems displaying new and initially perplexing behaviour also demanded explanations for that behaviour. It is also the inspiring story of science itself with special reference to how lonely individuals, impelled by curiosity and dedicated to seeking the truth, and nothing but the truth, about the fascinating phenomena of nature, ultimately became accepted as scientists, those players in the most successful endeavour ever engaged in by the human race.

Science --- Mathematics --- Celestial mechanics --- Space research --- Cosmology --- Astrophysics --- Theory of relativity. Unified field theory --- astrofysica --- popularisering wetenschap --- toegepaste wiskunde --- wetenschappen --- relativiteitstheorie --- ruimte (astronomie) --- astronomie --- kosmologie

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Many books deal with the techniques of designing, building and testing computer models and simulations, but few have seriously examined what models are based on, their inherent limitations, and their essential role in extending human knowledge. This book fills this need.It focuses on computer models throughout, yet its exposition of the nature and limits of modeling is entirely general. A chapter on the development of celestial mechanics models illustrates how models progress and are essential to natural science. Chapters on models of global climate, population, economics and warfare, illustra

Computer simulation. --- Celestial mechanics --- Virtual reality. --- Environments, Virtual --- Virtual environments --- Virtual worlds --- Computer simulation --- Reality --- Gravitational astronomy --- Mechanics, Celestial --- Astrophysics --- Mechanics --- Computer modeling --- Computer models --- Modeling, Computer --- Models, Computer --- Simulation, Computer --- Electromechanical analogies --- Mathematical models --- Simulation methods --- Model-integrated computing

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The astronomy of the Carolingian era has commonly been represented as concerned exclusively with computus , the science of calendar construction as well as arithmetical calculation in general. This volume shows the error of that portrayal by exploring the study and teaching of four Roman texts on astronomy and cosmology in the Carolingian world and the diagrams connected to those texts. As each of these works came into use over the Carolingian era, its contributions merged into a progressively more ordered picture of the heavens. Both eccentrics and epicycles appeared by the 840s. These techniques were subsequently introduced clearly and qualitatively to complete the Carolingian enterprise. The primary tool for understanding this effort is the analysis of their diagrams. Medieval and Early Modern Science , volume 8

520.94 --- Sciences Astronomy History Europe --- Planetary theory --- Astronomy, Medieval --- Cosmology, Medieval. --- Carolingians. --- History. --- Astronomy, Medieval. --- Astronomy, Medieval -- Europe. --- Cosmology, Medieval -- Europe. --- Planetary theory -- History. --- Cosmology, Medieval --- Carolingians --- Astronomy & Astrophysics --- Physical Sciences & Mathematics --- Theoretical Astronomy --- Astronomy - General --- History --- Planets, Theory of --- Celestial mechanics --- Medieval cosmology --- Carlovingians --- Carolinians --- Medieval astronomy

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When a leaf falls on a windy day, it drifts and tumbles, tossed every which way on the breeze. This is chaos in action. In Fly Me to the Moon, Edward Belbruno shows how to harness the same principle for low-fuel space travel--or, as he puts it, "surfing the gravitational field." Belbruno devised one of the most exciting concepts now being used in space flight, that of swinging through the cosmos on the subtle fluctuations of the planets' gravitational pulls. His idea was met with skepticism until 1991, when he used it to get a stray Japanese satellite back on course to the Moon. The successful rescue represented the first application of chaos to space travel and ushered in an emerging new field. Part memoir, part scientific adventure story, Fly Me to the Moon gives a gripping insider's account of that mission and of Belbruno's personal struggles with the science establishment. Along the way, Belbruno introduces readers to recent breathtaking advances in American space exploration. He discusses ways to capture and redirect asteroids; presents new research on the origin of the Moon; weighs in on discoveries like 2003 UB313 (now named Eris), a dwarf planet detected in the far outer reaches of our solar system--and much more. Grounded in Belbruno's own rigorous theoretical research but written for a general audience, Fly Me to the Moon is for anybody who has ever felt moved by the spirit of discovery.

Gravity assist (Astrodynamics) --- Celestial mechanics --- Chaotic behavior in systems --- Many-body problem --- n-body problem --- Problem of many bodies --- Problem of n-bodies --- Mechanics, Analytic --- Chaos in systems --- Chaos theory --- Chaotic motion in systems --- Differentiable dynamical systems --- Dynamics --- Nonlinear theories --- System theory --- Gravitational astronomy --- Mechanics, Celestial --- Astrophysics --- Mechanics --- Low energy transfers (Astrodynamics) --- Swingby technique (Astrodynamics) --- Orbital transfer (Space flight) --- Outer space --- Exploration

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This book contains an up-to-date review of the structure and evolution of disk galaxies from both the observational and theoretical point of view. The book is the proceedings of the "Island Universes" conference held at the island of Terschelling, The Netherlands in July 2005, which attracted about 130 experts and students in the field. The conference was organized as a tribute to Dr. Piet C. van der Kruit for receiving the honorary Jacobus C. Kapteyn Professorship in Astronomy. The eight topical themes discussed at the meeting are reflected in these proceedings: 1) Properties of Stellar Disks, 2) Kinematics and Dynamics of Disk Galaxies, 3) Bars, Spiral Structure, and Secular Evolution in Disk Galaxies, 4) The Outskirts and Environment of Disk Galaxies, 5) Interstellar Matter, 6) (Evolution of) Star Formation in Galactic Disks, 7) Disk Galaxies through Cosmic Time, and 8) Formation Models of Disk Galaxies. These proceedings are concluded with a conference summary reflecting on the most significant recent progress and outstanding problems. This volume is unique in that it brings together such a broad range of aspects of disk galaxies: structure and dynamics, the latest multi-wavelength surveys, low- and high redshift observations, theory and observations. This book is addressed to professional astronomers and their students.

Disks (Astrophysics) --- Galactic dynamics --- Galaxies --- Evolution --- Kruit, Pieter C. van der. --- Dynamics, Galactic --- Celestial mechanics --- Dynamics --- Van der Kruit, Pieter C. --- Kruit, P. van der --- Kruit, P. C. van der --- Astrophysics. --- Astronomy. --- Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics). --- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology. --- Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theory. --- Astronomical physics --- Astronomy --- Cosmic physics --- Physics --- Space sciences. --- Gravitation. --- Field theory (Physics) --- Matter --- Antigravity --- Centrifugal force --- Relativity (Physics) --- Science and space --- Space research --- Cosmology --- Science --- Properties --- Kruit, Pieter C. van der