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Eric Chaisson Tufts University A01_CHAI0067_07_SE_NASTAFM.qxd 6/3/10 3:04 PM Page i ASTRONOMY TRONOASTRONOMYTODAY TODAYTODAY A01_CHAI0067_07_SE_NASTAFM.qxd 6/3/10 3:04 PM Page ii A01_CHAI0067_07_SE_NASTAFM.qxd 6/3/10 3:04 PM Page iii ASTRONOMY TODAY SEVENTH EDITION ERIC CHAISSON TUFTS UNIVERSITY STEVE MCMILLAN DREXEL UNIVERSITY A01_CHAI0067_07_SE_NASTAFM.qxd 6/14/10 1:18 PM Page iv Publisher: Jim Smith Manufacturing Buyer: Jeffrey Sargent Executive Editor: Nancy Whilton Manager, Rights and Permissions: Zina Arabia Director of Development: Michael Gillespie Image Permissions Coordinator: Elaine Soares Editorial Manager: Laura Kenney Manager, Cover Visual Research & Permissions: Karen Project Editor: Tema Goodwin Sanatar Media Producer: Kelly Reed Photo Research: Kristin Piljay Director of Marketing: Christy Lawrence Cover Printer: Phoenix Color Senior Marketing Manager: Kerry Chapman Printer and Binder: Worldcolor, Dubuque Associate Director of Publishing: Erin Gregg Cover Images: Managing Editor: Corinne Benson Main Edition: Carina Nebula, NASA, ESA, and M. Livio Production Supervisor: Mary O’Connell and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI) Compositor: Progressive Information Technologies The Solar System: Solar flares, SOHO (ESA & NASA) Production Service: Progressive Publishing Alternatives Stars and Galaxies: NGC 6302, NASA, ESA, and the Illustrations: Dartmouth Publishing, Inc. Hubble SM4 ERO Team Interior and Cover Design: Derek Bacchus Copyright © 2011, 2008, 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley, 1301 Sansome St., San Francisco, CA 94111. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, 1900 E. Lake Ave., Glenview, IL 60025. For information regarding permissions, call (847) 486-2635. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps. MasteringAstronomy®™ is a trademark, in the U.S. and/or other countries, of Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chaisson, Eric. Astronomy today / Eric Chaisson, Steve McMillan.—7th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-13-240085-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Astronomy. I. McMillan, S. (Stephen), 1955–II. Title. QB43.3.C48 2011 520—dc22 2010017125 ISBN 10-digit 0-13-212006-2; 13-digit 978-0-13-212006-7 (High School Binding) www.PearsonSchool.com/Advanced 12345678910—WDQ—15 14 13 12 11 10 A01_CHAI0067_07_SE_NASTAFM.qxd 6/3/10 3:04 PM Page v BRIEF CONTENTS Astronomy and the Universe 1 1 Charting the Heavens: The Foundations of Astronomy 2 2 The Copernican Revolution: The Birth of Modern Science 30 PART 3 Radiation: Information from the Cosmos 56 4 Spectroscopy: The Inner Workings of Atoms 76 5 Telescopes: The Tools of Astronomy 96 1 Our Planetary System 130 6 The Solar System: An Introduction to Comparative Planetology 132 7 Earth: Our Home in Space 154 8 The Moon and Mercury: Scorched and Battered Worlds 182 9 Venus: Earth’s Sister Planet 210 10 Mars: A Near Miss for Life? 230 PART 11 Jupiter: Giant of the Solar System 258 12 Saturn: Spectacular Rings and Mysterious Moons 284 13 Uranus and Neptune: The Outer Worlds of the Solar System 312 2 14 Solar System Debris: Keys to Our Origin 332 15 The Formation of Planetary Systems: The Solar System and Beyond 360 Stars and Stellar Evolution 382 16 The Sun: Our Parent Star 384 17 The Stars: Giants, Dwarfs, and the Main Sequence 416 18 The Interstellar Medium: Gas and Dust among the Stars 444 PART 19 Star Formation: A Traumatic Birth 464 20 Stellar Evolution: The Life and Death of a Star 490 21 Stellar Explosions: Novae, Supernovae, and the Formation of the Elements 516 3 22 Neutron Stars and Black Holes: Strange States of Matter 660 Galaxies and Cosmology 570 23 The Milky Way Galaxy: A Spiral in Space 572 24 Galaxies: Building Blocks of the Universe 602 25 Galaxies and Dark Matter: The Large-Scale Structure PART of the Cosmos 634 26 Cosmology: The Big Bang and the Fate of the Universe 660 27 The Early Universe: Toward the Beginning of Time 682 4 28 Life in the Universe: Are We Alone? 706 A01_CHAI0067_07_SE_NASTAFM.qxd 6/3/10 3:04 PM Page vi 2.4 The Birth of Modern Astronomy 39 2.5 The Laws of Planetary Motion 42 CONTENTS ■ More Precisely 2-1 | Some Properties of Planetary Orbits 44 2.6 The Dimensions of the Solar System 45 About the Authors xvi 2.7 Newton’s Laws 47 Preface xvii 2.8 Newtonian Mechanics 50 ■ More Precisely 2-2 | Weighing the Sun 52 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Retrograde Motion of Mars 35 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Geocentric Solar System 36 PART • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Heliocentric Solar 1 System 39 Astronomy and the Universe 1 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Earth Captures a Temporary Moon 50 1 CHARTING THE HEAVENS Chapter Review 54 THE FOUNDATIONS OF ASTRONOMY 2 1.1 Our Place in Space 4 1.2 Scientific Theory and the Scientific Method 6 1.3 The “Obvious” View 8 ■ More Precisely 1-1 | Angular Measure 11 1.4 Earth’s Orbital Motion 12 1.5 The Motion of the Moon 16 1.6 The Measurement of Distance 23 ■ More Precisely 1-2 | Measuring Distances with Geometry 26 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Summer Solstice 14 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Winter Solstice 15 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | The Earth’s Seasons 15 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | The Equinoxes 15 • TUTORIAL | Phases of the Moon 17 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Solar Eclipse in Indiana 19 • TUTORIAL | Stellar Parallax 24 Chapter Review 27 2 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION THE BIRTH OF MODERN SCIENCE 30 2.1 Ancient Astronomy 32 2.2 The Geocentric Universe 34 2.3 The Heliocentric Model of the Solar System 37 ■ Discovery 2-1 | Foundations of the Copernican Revolution 38 A01_CHAI0067_07_SE_NASTAFM.qxd 6/3/10 3:04 PM Page vii CONTENTS vii RADIATION 5.5 Radio Astronomy 114 3 5.6 Interferometry 118 INFORMATION FROM THE COSMOS 56 5.7 Space-Based Astronomy 120 3.1 Information from the Skies 58 5.8 Full-Spectrum Coverage 126 3.2 Waves in What? 61 • TUTORIAL | The Optics of a Simple Lens 99 3.3 The Electromagnetic Spectrum 63 • TUTORIAL | Chromatic Aberration 99 TUTORIAL | Reflecting Telescopes 101 ■ Discovery 3-1 | The Wave Nature of Radiation 65 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Hubble Space Telescope in Orbit 104 3.4 Thermal Radiation 66 • • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Deployment of the James Webb Space ■ More Precisely 3-1 | The Kelvin Temperature Scale 67 Telescope 105 ■ More Precisely 3-2 | More About the Radiation Laws 70 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Gemini Control Room 106 3.5 The Doppler Effect 71 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Speckle Imaging 107 ■ More Precisely 3-3 | Measuring Velocities with • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Adaptive Optics 113 the Doppler Effect 73 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Chandra Light and Data • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Fresnel Diffraction 65 Paths 124 • TUTORIAL | Continuous Spectra and Blackbody Chapter Review 127 Radiation 66 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Solar Eclipse Viewed in X rays 70 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Multispectral View of Orion Nebula 70 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Earth Aurora in X rays 70 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impact at 2.15 Microns 71 • TUTORIAL | Doppler Effect 71 Chapter Review 74 4 SPECTROSCOPY THE INNER WORKINGS OF ATOMS 76 4.1 Spectral Lines 78 4.2 Atoms and Radiation 82 4.3 The Formation of Spectral Lines 84 ■ More Precisely 4-1 | The Hydrogen Atom 86 ■ Discovery 4-1 | The Photoelectric Effect 88 4.4 Molecules 89 4.5 Spectral-Line Analysis 90 • TUTORIAL | Emission Spectra 80 • TUTORIAL | Absorption Spectra 80 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Classical Hydrogen Atom I/Classical Hydrogen Atom II 86 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Photon Emission 87 Chapter Review 94 5 TELESCOPES THE TOOLS OF ASTRONOMY 96 5.1 Optical Telescopes 98 5.2 Telescope Size 102 ■ Discovery 5-1 | The Hubble Space Telescope 104 5.3 Images and Detectors 108 5.4 High-Resolution Astronomy 110 A01_CHAI0067_07_SE_NASTAFM.qxd 6/3/10 3:04 PM Page viii viii CONTENTS PART2 Our Planetary System 130 6 THE SOLAR SYSTEM AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE PLANETOLOGY 132 6.1 An Inventory of the Solar System 134 6.2 Measuring the Planets 136 6.3 The Overall Layout of the Solar System 137 6.4 Terrestrial and Jovian Planets 138 6.5 Interplanetary Matter 140 6.6 Spacecraft Exploration of the Solar System 141 ■ Discovery 6-1 | Gravitational “Slingshots” 144 6.7 How Did the Solar System Form? 146 ■ More Precisely 6-1 | Angular Momentum 148 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | An Astronomical Ruler 137 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Size and Scale of the Terrestrial Planets I & II, The Gas Giants 138 • TUTORIAL | Comparative Planetology Mars 139 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Solar System Formation 150 • ANIMATION/VIDEO | Protoplanteary Disk Destruction 150 8 THE MOON AND MERCURY Chapter Review 151 SCORCHED AND BATTERED WORLDS 182 7 EARTH 8.1 Orbital Properties 184 OUR HOME IN SPACE 154 8.2 Physical Properties 185 8.3 Surface Features on the Moon and 7.1 Overall Structure of Planet Earth 156 Mercury 186 7.2 Earth’s Atmosphere 156 8.4 Rotation Rates 189 ■ More Precisely 7-1 | Why Is the Sky Blue? 159 ■ Discovery 8-1 | Lunar Exploration 190 ■ Discovery 7-1 | The Greenhouse Effect and Global ■ More Precisely 8-1 | Why Air Sticks Around 192 Warming 161 8.5 Lunar Cratering and Surface
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