Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
112,836
result(s) for
"Solar systems"
Sort by:
Solar System Physics for Exoplanet Research
Over the past three decades, we have witnessed one of the great revolutions in our understanding of the cosmos-the dawn of the Exoplanet Era. Where once we knew of just one planetary system (the solar system), we now know of thousands, with new systems being announced on a weekly basis. Of the thousands of planetary systems we have found to date, however, there is only one that we can study up-close and personal-the solar system. In this review, we describe our current understanding of the solar system for the exoplanetary science community-with a focus on the processes thought to have shaped the system we see today. In section one, we introduce the solar system as a single well studied example of the many planetary systems now observed. In section two, we describe the solar system's small body populations as we know them today-from the two hundred and five known planetary satellites to the various populations of small bodies that serve as a reminder of the system's formation and early evolution. In section three, we consider our current knowledge of the solar system's planets, as physical bodies. In section four we discuss the research that has been carried out into the solar system's formation and evolution, with a focus on the information gleaned as a result of detailed studies of the system's small body populations. In section five, we discuss our current knowledge of planetary systems beyond our own-both in terms of the planets they host, and in terms of the debris that we observe orbiting their host stars. As we learn ever more about the diversity and ubiquity of other planetary systems, our solar system will remain the key touchstone that facilitates our understanding and modeling of those newly found systems, and we finish section five with a discussion of the future surveys that will further expand that knowledge.
Journal Article
Low-cost solar electric power
This work describes recent breakthroughs that promise major cost reductions in solar energy production in a clear and highly accessible manner. The author addresses the three key areas that have commonly resulted in criticism of solar energy in the past: cost, availability, and variability.
Book
Lifetime of the solar nebula constrained by meteorite paleomagnetism
A key stage in planet formation is the evolution of a gaseous and magnetized solar nebula. However, the lifetime of the nebular magnetic field and nebula are poorly constrained. We present paleomagnetic analyses of volcanic angrites demonstrating that they formed in a near-zero magnetic field (<0.6 microtesla) at 4563.5 ± 0.1 million years ago, ~3.8 million years after solar system formation. This indicates that the solar nebula field, and likely the nebular gas, had dispersed by this time. This sets the time scale for formation of the gas giants and planet migration. Furthermore, it supports formation of chondrules after 4563.5 million years ago by non-nebular processes like planetesimal collisions. The 1core dynamo on the angrite parent body did not initiate until about 4 to 11 million years after solar system formation.
Journal Article
Solar power your home for dummies
Explains the fundamentals of solar power and other renewable energy sources, including estimating energy needs, selecting the right equipment, and maintaining the system once it is installed.
Book
Ringed versus Ringless Worlds: How Poynting–Robertson Drag Shapes Rings across the Solar System
Planetary rings are not only ubiquitous around the giant planets in the outer solar system, but have also been discovered around several small distant bodies. In contrast, no rings have been observed around any inner solar system objects. To constrain the dynamical origin of this ringed-versus-ringless dichotomy, we employ a numerically cross-checked analytical model of gigayear-scale Poynting–Robertson (PR) drag due to the solar flux acting on an isolated particle, expressed as a function of the host body’s heliocentric distance apla and the particle radius rpar. Here we show that, in the absence of additional perturbations, PR drag alone can explain the observed ring architecture of the solar system: outer planets and Centaurs/trans-Neptunian objects are able to retain rings for the age of the solar system, whereas any rings around the inner planets are removed on much shorter timescales. Because the PR-drag lifetime scales steeply with heliocentric distance (τdecay∝apla2rpar) , we predict that forthcoming surveys will reveal an ever-growing population of ring-bearing bodies in the distant solar system.
Journal Article
Evidence for supernova injection into the solar nebula and the decoupling of r-process nucleosynthesis
The isotopic composition of our Solar System reflects the blending of materials derived from numerous past nucleosynthetic events, each characterized by a distinct isotopic signature. We show that the isotopic compositions of elements spanning a large mass range in the earliest formed solids in our Solar System, calcium–aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs), are uniform, and yet distinct from the average Solar System composition. Relative to younger objects in the Solar System, CAIs contain positive r- process anomalies in isotopes A < 140 and negative r- process anomalies in isotopes A > 140. This fundamental difference in the isotopic character of CAIs around mass 140 necessitates (i) the existence of multiple sources for r -process nucleosynthesis and (ii) the injection of supernova material into a reservoir untapped by CAIs. A scenario of late supernova injection into the protoplanetary disk is consistent with formation of our Solar System in an active star-forming region of the galaxy.
Journal Article
Managing technology transition in Saudi Arabia : residential solar photovoltaic systems development
This book presents a comprehensive overview of the adoption of small-scale residential solar photovoltaic systems (RSPSs) in Saudi Arabia. Focusing on the current technological development of RSPSs, it discusses elements of socio-technical governance theories and energy policy analysis. It also identifies the critical factors that affect Saudi residents decisions to adopt this new technology and analyzes broader energy systems on a state level by investigating factors that shape RSPSs integration policies. This multi-faceted, interdisciplinary book paves the way for an integrated transition management policy design model to stimulate RSPSs adoption rates. Given its scope, it is a valuable resource for readers seeking an in-depth and up-to-date integrated overview of the ever-expanding theoretical and quantitative fields of socio-technical transitions and the transition to sustainability.
Book
The Oxygen Isotopic Composition of the Sun Inferred from Captured Solar Wind
All planetary materials sampled thus far vary in their relative abundance of the major isotope of oxygen, 16 O, such that it has not been possible to define a primordial solar system composition. We measured the oxygen isotopic composition of solar wind captured and returned to Earth by NASA's Genesis mission. Our results demonstrate that the Sun is highly enriched in 16 O relative to the Earth, Moon, Mars, and bulk meteorites. Because the solar photosphere preserves the average isotopic composition of the solar system for elements heavier than lithium, we conclude that essentially all rocky materials in the inner solar system were enriched in 17 O and 18 O, relative to 16 O, by ∼7%, probably via non—mass-dependent chemistry before accretion of the first planetesimals.
Journal Article