Observational Astrophysics

Observational Astrophysics
Author: Pierre Léna
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 724
Release: 2012-01-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642218148

,This is the updated, widely revised, restructured and expanded third edition of Léna et al.'s successful work Observational Astrophysics. It presents a synthesis on tools and methods of observational astrophysics of the early 21st century. Written specifically for astrophysicists and graduate students, this textbook focuses on fundamental and sometimes practical limitations on the ultimate performance that an astronomical system may reach, rather than presenting particular systems in detail. In little more than a decade there has been extraordinary progress in imaging and detection technologies, in the fields of adaptive optics, optical interferometry, in the sub-millimetre waveband, observation of neutrinos, discovery of exoplanets, to name but a few examples. The work deals with ground-based and space-based astronomy and their respective fields. And it also presents the ambitious concepts behind space missions aimed for the next decades. Avoiding particulars, it covers the whole of the electromagnetic spectrum, and provides an introduction to the new forms of astronomy becoming possible with gravitational waves and neutrinos. It also treats numerical aspects of observational astrophysics: signal processing, astronomical databases and virtual observatories.

New Windows to the Universe

New Windows to the Universe
Author: International Astronomical Union
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 584
Release: 1990-12-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780521384292

Launching Space Objects: Issues of Liability and Future Prospects

Launching Space Objects: Issues of Liability and Future Prospects
Author: V. Kayser
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2006-04-11
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0306484056

Launch activities performed by private entities deal with a complex legal environment. The Space Treaties provide a general liability framework. Launch participants are subject to regulatory or institutional control, and to domestic liability laws. Specific contractual practice has developed due to insurance limitations, the inter-participants' waivers of liability and claims. This book synthesizes information on the norms of play, to allow the grasp of their relative weight and interactions in the assessment of liability risk for launch activities. It reveals a legal framework presently lacking sufficient predictability for an efficient liability risk management: the waivers of liability suffer weaknesses as do all such clauses, and lack uniformity and reliability; and the Space Treaties contain ambiguous terms preventing predictable determination of the States responsible for authorizing and supervising launch activities and for damage compensation, and do not reflect the liability of launch operators. This book offers suggestions of new approaches for: harmonizing waivers of liability to improve their consistency, validity and flow-down; and improving the Space Treaties for their implementation to non-governmental launch activities. In the launch community, the need for lawmaking is less compelling than in fields such as aviation. Nevertheless, adjustments to the present framework are proposed through model clauses and an international instrument, for further thinking and contribution by those sharing the opinion that creative lawmaking is needed now to prepare for tomorrow's endeavors.

Modern Astrometry

Modern Astrometry
Author: Jean Kovalevsky
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2013-03-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3662047306

An introduction to practical astrometry, dealing with the determination of positions, motions, distances and dimensions of celestial bodies ranging from quasars to artificial satellites. For this 2nd edition, the release of the Hipparcos and Tycho catalogs, the rise in CCD astrometry and the adoption of a new celestial reference frame by the IAU led to a significant modification of the text. And, especially, the outlook for astrometry has been completely rewritten.

GNSS – Global Navigation Satellite Systems

GNSS – Global Navigation Satellite Systems
Author: Bernhard Hofmann-Wellenhof
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 537
Release: 2007-11-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3211730176

This book extends the scientific bestseller "GPS - Theory and Practice" to cover Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and includes the Russian GLONASS, the European system Galileo, and additional systems. The book refers to GNSS in the generic sense to describe the various existing reference systems for coordinates and time, the satellite orbits, the satellite signals, observables, mathematical models for positioning, data processing, and data transformation. This book is a university-level introductory textbook and is intended to serve as a reference for students as well as for professionals and scientists in the fields of geodesy, surveying engineering, navigation, and related disciplines.

European Yearbook 1996

European Yearbook 1996
Author: J. -P Chauvet
Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
Total Pages: 1336
Release: 1998-12-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9789041110657

The "European Yearbook" promotes the scientific study of nineteen European supranational organisations, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Each volume contains a detailed survey of the history, structure and yearly activities of each organisation and an up-to-date chart providing a clear overview of the member states of each organisation. In addition, a number of articles on topics of general interest are included in each volume. A general index by subject and name, and a cumulative index of all the articles which have appeared in the "Yearbook," are included in every volume and provide direct access to the "Yearbook"'s subject matter. Each volume contains a comprehensive bibliography covering the year's relevant publications. This is an indispensable work of reference for anyone dealing with the European institutions.