Discovering Mars : a history of observation and exploration of the Red Planet / William Sheehan and Jim Bell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sheehan, William, 1954- author.

Bell, Jim, 1965- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mars (Planet)--Exploration.

Mars (Planet).

Planets--Exploration.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (769 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Tucson, Arizona : University of Arizona Press, [2021]

Biography/History:

Jim Bell is a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, and was president of The Planetary Society from 2008 to 2020. He has performed research using Hubble, Mars landers and rovers, Voyager, and orbiters at Mars, the Moon, and several asteroids. He is an author of many popular science books, including Postcards from Mars, The Space Book, The Interstellar Age, The Ultimate Interplanetary Travel Guide, The Earth Book, and Hubble Legacy, and he has received the AAS Carl Sagan Medal for public communication in science. The Main Belt Asteroid 8146 Jimbell was named in his honor.

William Sheehan has been an amateur astronomer most of his life, and is a leading historian of astronomy, with twenty-books to his name, including Planets and Perception, Worlds in the Sky, The Planet Mars, and (with Dale P. Cruikshank) Discovering Pluto. A current member of the International Astronomical Union's Working Group of Planetary System nomenclature, he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship for astronomy writing and is a recipient of the Gold Medal of the Oriental Astronomical Association. The Main Belt Asteroid 16037 Sheehan was named in his honor.

Summary:

"For millenia humans have considered Mars the most fascinating planet in our solar system. We've watched this Earth-like world first with the naked eye, then using telescopes, and, most recently, through robotic orbiters and landers and rovers on the surface. Historian William Sheehan and astronomer and planetary scientist Jim Bell combine their talents to tell a unique story of what we've learned by studying Mars through evolving technologies. What the eye sees as a mysterious red dot wandering through the sky becomes a blurry mirage of apparent seas, continents, and canals as viewed through Earth-based telescopes. Beginning with the Mariner and Viking missions of the 1960s and 1970s, space-based instruments and monitoring systems have flooded scientists with data on Mars's meteorology and geology, and have even sought evidence of possible existence of life-forms on or beneath the surface. This knowledge has transformed our perception of the Red Planet and has provided clues for better understanding our own blue world."-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-8165-3210-9

OCLC:

1269480867