Driven by discoveries, and enabled by leaps in technology and imagination, our understanding of the universe has changed dramatically during the course of the last few decades. The fields of astronomy and astrophysics are making new connections to physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science. Based on a broad and comprehensive survey of scientific opportunities, infrastructure, and organization in a national and international context, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics outlines a plan for ground- and space- based astronomy and astrophysics for the decade of the 2010's. Realizing these scientific opportunities is contingent upon maintaining and strengthening the foundations of the research enterprise including technological development, theory, computation and data handling, laboratory experiments, and human resources. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics proposes enhancing innovative but moderate-cost programs in space and on the ground that will enable the community to respond rapidly and flexibly to new scientific discoveries. The book recommends beginning construction on survey telescopes in space and on the ground to investigate the nature of dark energy, as well as the next generation of large ground-based giant optical telescopes and a new class of space-based gravitational observatory to observe the merging of distant black holes and precisely test theories of gravity. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics recommends a balanced and executable program that will support research surrounding the most profound questions about the cosmos. The discoveries ahead will facilitate the search for habitable planets, shed light on dark energy and dark matter, and aid our understanding of the history of the universe and how the earliest stars and galaxies formed. The book is a useful resource for agencies supporting the field of astronomy and astrophysics, the Congressional committees with jurisdiction over those agencies, the scientific community, and the public.

Excerpt from The Recent Progrss of Astronomy: Especially in the United States This little volume is designed to exhibit in a popular form the most important astronomical discoveries of the past ten years. It does not profess even to enumerate all the discoveries of this period. Such an enumeration would have swelled the volume much beyond its present size. Those topics have been selected in which it was supposed the public generally would feel the deepest interest. The book was designed, not for astronomers, but for the public; and I have accordingly aimed to exhibit results in common language, as free as possible from technical terms. It is hoped that the book may be read with profit by those who have never made Astronomy a subject of special study; and that it may be found an appropriate supplement to the popular treatises on this science, most of which are very deficient in their notice of recent discoveries. It is hoped that the fourth chapter, which exhibits the progress of Astronomy in the United States, may be found to have a special interest for American readers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Recent Progress of Astronomy: Especially in the United States These observations are all permanently recorded by a simple touch of the finger upon a key which closes an electric circuit - a method recently introduced at Greenwich observatory, and known everywhere throughout Europe by the distinctive name of the American method. Numerous discoveries have been the result of this astronomical activity. A large number of comets have been independently discovered on this side of the Atlantic; and among these, three at least were observed here before they were seen in Europe. The two nebulae which have been longest and best known, were never adequately figured until they were observed by the Messrs. Bond; and the planet Saturn, which for many years was made the subject of special study by the elder Herschel, with his wonderful means of observation, first revealed to the Messrs. Bond a new ring and an eighth satellite. The novel spectacle of a comet divided into two nearly equal portions, was first witnessed in America; and an American observer has added one to the long list of planetary discoveries. Let us indulge the hope that the future progress of astronomy is to be no less brilliant than the past; and that henceforth America may be even more distinguished for her contributions to science, than for her progress in material power and wealth. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.