This fascinating anthology explores how life on Earth has formed and been influenced by where Earth is in relation to the Sun and the other planets. Written by renowned scientists and published in esteemed journals, each article explores a variety of topics on the subject. How threatened are we by asteroids? Will our life source, the Sun, eventually kill us? Is there a possibility for life on other planets? The editor introduces these questions and many others that are both timely and timeless.

Presents a collection of essays that discuss the role of the sun in the solar system, and covers such topics as solar winds and storms, magnetism, sunspots, ultraviolet radiation, and solar energy.

Presents a collection of essays that examines the characteristics and life cycles of stars, and analyzes how stars are formed, what goes on during the life of a star, and what happens when stars die.

The articles in this collection focus on the revolution in cosmology that took place in 1998 that has shaken scientists' understanding of the universe. Until then, scientists believed that the universe had been expanding for billions of years but was slowing down. However, data collected and analyzed since 1998 points to an accelerating universe. Each article in this educational anthology covers the authors' insights into the new mysterious universe.

This anthology provides insight into some of the more recent information that has been gathered by scientists about the planets in our solar system. Is there water on Mars? Is Pluto really a planet? What do surfaces of the planets farthest from the Sun look like? The cutting-edge collection of articles on these topics is an excellent source of the latest information on this fascinating subject.

Explores how scientists study the inner workings of the earth using such tools as global positioning, seismology, and computer modeling.

Anthology focusing on the various tools astronomers use to understand the universe, including computers, satellites, telescopes, and spacecrafts.