Look Inside Look Inside Cover: Discovering the Essential Universe, 6th Edition by Neil F. Comins

Discovering the Essential Universe

Sixth Edition ©2015 Neil F. Comins

Neil Comins’ Discovering the Universe confronts the challenges of the one-term astronomy course by heightening student curiosities about the cosmos, by using the context of astronomy to teach the process of science, and by highlighting common misconceptions and showing students how to think t...
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Look Inside Look Inside Cover: Discovering the Essential Universe, 6th Edition by Neil F. Comins

Neil Comins’ Discovering the Universe confronts the challenges of the one-term astronomy course by heightening student curiosities about the cosmos, by using the context of astronomy to teach the process of science, and by highlighting common misconceptions and showing students how to think their way past them. With its signature combination of vivid writing and spectacular images, the new edition offers new findings, new study help, and an expanded new media/supplements package centered on W.H. Freeman’s breakthrough online course space, LaunchPad.

Features

New to This Edition

New Coverage
New findings include the discovery of the Higgs particle, discoveries of extrasolar planets, findings from the Mars rover, Curiosity, and new models of supernovae explosions.

New chapter! Exoplanets (Chapter 5) captivates students with one of the most fascinating, emerging topics in astronomy. The new chapter follows Chapter 4, Formation of the Solar System—students learn how planets in our solar system evolved then explore the development of other planets.

New usage of the altazimuth coordinate system helps students visualize their position in the cosmos (Chapter 1).

Expanded coverage of the planetary satellites highlights our current understanding of the solar system.

New Learning Tools
LaunchPad
Developed with extensive feedback from instructors and students, W.H. Freeman’s new online learning space offers:

  • Pre-built Units for each chapter, curated by experienced educators, with media for that chapter organized and ready to assign or customize to suit your course.
  • All online resources for the text in one location, including an interactive e-book, LearningCurve adaptive quizzing (see below), astronomy tutorials, image map activities, and more.
  • Intuitive and useful analytics, with a Gradebook that lets you see how your class is doing individually and as a whole.
  • A streamlined and intuitive interface that lets you build an entire course in minutes.

LearningCurve

  • In a game-like format, LearningCurve adaptive and formative quizzing provides an effective way to students involved in the coursework. It offers:
  • A unique learning path for each student, with quizzes shaped by each individual’s correct and incorrect answers.
  • A Personalized Study Plan, to guide students’ preparation for class and for exams.
  • Feedback for each question with live links to relevant e-book pages, guiding students to the reading they need to do to improve their areas of weakness.

New Got It? questions help students gauge their understanding of big picture concepts related to the chapter topic. These questions often focus on common misunderstandings, helping students think their way through to dispelling misconceptions.

Focus Questions are now numbered and placed in the margins, making it easier for students to use them as guideposts for studying and easier for instructors to use them for assignments and assessments.

Digital Options

Table of Contents

1. Discovering the Night Sky
2. Gravitation and the Waltz of the Planets
3. Light and Telescopes
4. Formation of the Solar System
5. Exoplanets
6. The Terrestrial Planets and Their Moons
7. The Outer Planets and their Moons
8. Vagabonds of the Solar System
9. The Sun. Our Extraordinary, Ordinary Star
10. Characterizing Stars
11. The Lives of Stars from Birth Through Middle Age
12. The Deaths and Remnants of Stars
13. The Galaxies
14. Cosmology
15. Astrobiology
Headshot of Neil F. Comins

Neil F. Comins

Professor Neil F. Comins is on the faculty of the University of Maine. Born in 1951 in New York City, he grew up in New York and New England. He earned a bachelors degree in engineering physics at Cornell University, a masters degree in physics at the University of Maryland, and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from University College, Cardiff, Wales, under the guidance of Bernard F. Schutz. Dr. Cominss work for his doctorate, on general relativity, was cited in Subramanyan Chandrasekhars Nobel laureate speech. He has done theoretical and experimental research in general relativity, optical and radio observational astronomy, computer simulations of galaxy evolution, and science education. He is also the author of five trade books, What if the Moon Didnt Exist?, Heavenly Errors, The Hazards of Space Travel, What if the Earth Had Two Moons?, and The Traveler’s Guide to Space. What if the Moon Didnt Exist? has been made into planetarium shows, been excerpted for television and radio, translated into several languages, and was the theme for the Mitsubishi Pavilion at the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. Dr. Comins has appeared on numerous television and radio shows and gives many public talks. Although he has jumped out of airplanes while in the military, today his activities are a little more sedate: he is a licensed pilot and avid sailor, having once competed against Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

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