Neptune : the planet, rings, and satellites / Ellis D. Miner and Randii R. Wessen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miner, Ellis D., 1937-

Contributor:

Wessen, Randii R., 1958-

Series:

Springer-Praxis books in astronomy and space sciences

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Neptune (Planet).

Physical Description:

xxv, 297 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Springer ; Chichester, UK : In association with Praxis Pub., [2002]

Summary:

Neptune: The planet, rings and satellites tells the real story of the Voyager Mission to the outer planets. Written by two scientists directly involved with the Mission, this book is the first to describe events from the point of view of the people who were really there. From this unique standpoint, the authors recreate the excitement generated as reams of spectacular data were fed back from Neptune, and interpret the results of all the Voyager investigations in non-scientific language. Four pages of spectacular colour photographs illustrate the wonders of this amazing planet. This book details the major advances in our knowledge of Neptune and its system, and will remain a definitive description of that planet for years to come.

Contents:

1 The discovery of Neptune 1

1.1 The discovery of Uranus 1

1.2 The perturbations of Uranus 2

1.3 Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier 4

1.4 John Couch Adams 6

1.5 The search 9

1.6 Co-discoverers 13

2 Neptune's position in the Solar System 17

2.1 Last of the giant planets 17

2.2 Terrestrial planets and giant planets 17

2.3 The origins of Neptune 20

3 Speculation about Neptune's rings 27

3.1 Distant stars as probes for the rings 27

3.2 Observations by the team at Villanova 28

3.3 More apparent ring occultations 29

4 Other pre-Voyager Neptune observations 35

4.1 The interior of Neptune 35

4.2 The atmosphere of Neptune 44

4.3 The atmosphere and surface of Triton 52

4.4 The magnetosphere of Neptune 54

5 The saga of Voyager 2 63

5.1 California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory 63

5.2 A 'grand tour' of the outer planets proposed 66

5.3 Scaling down to a Voyager mission to fit NASA's budget 68

5.4 The launch of Voyagers 1 and 2 71

5.5 Problems along the way 74

5.6 The Voyager team 78

5.7 The eyes and ears of Voyager 85

6 The pre-Neptune scientific results of Voyager 101

6.1 'Jupiter the giant' 101

6.2 'Saturn the gem' 114

6.3 'Uranus the fuzzy blue tennis ball' 131

6.4 The post-Uranus mission of Voyager 143

7 The Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune 147

7.1 Preparing Voyager 2 for Neptune 147

7.2 Characteristics of the Neptune encounter 167

8 The interior of Neptune 187

8.1 Constraints imposed by Voyager results 187

8.2 Models consistent with Voyager data 191

9 The atmosphere of Neptune 197

9.1 Atmospheric features 197

9.2 Global energy distribution 203

9.3 Vertical structure within the atmosphere 205

9.4 Horizontal cloud and temperature structure 212

10 The magnetosphere of Neptune 221

10.1 Strength and orientation of the magnetic field 221

10.2 Implications of the tilt and offset of the magnetic field 223

10.3 Aurorae (northern or southern lights) on Neptune 227

10.4 Radio emissions from Neptune 228

10.5 The plasma environment of Neptune 229

10.6 Energetic charged particles at Neptune 231

10.7 Wave-particle interactions in the magnetosphere 232

11 The rings of Neptune 237

11.1 Discovery of rings 237

11.2 Structure of the rings 239

11.3 Physical properties of the rings 241

11.4 Interaction with shepherding satellites 242

11.5 Age and evolution of the rings 244

12 The satellites of Neptune 247

12.1 Discovery of six additional satellites 247

12.2 Orbital and physical characteristics of the satellites 249

12.3 Proteus, Larissa, Galatea, Despina, Thalassa, and Naiad 250

12.4 Nereid 252

12.5 Triton 256

13 Post-Voyager observations of Neptune 265

13.1 Earth-based telescope observations 265

13.2 Hubble Space Telescope observations 266

13.3 Spacecraft missions to Neptune 267

14 Comparative planetology of the four giant planets 273

14.1 Interiors 273

14.2 Atmospheres 274

14.3 Rings 276

14.4 Magnetospheres 279

14.5 Satellites 282.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1852332166

OCLC:

46472092