Encyclopedia of Planetary Sciences

James H. Shirley has written many scientific publications in the fields of lunar and terrestrial seismology, solar physics, and atmospheric sciences. He is a member of the Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer Science team of the Galileo Mission to Jupiter, based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Professor Rhodes W. Fairbridge is emeritus Professor of Geology at Columbia University and is now visiting scientist at the Goddard Institute of Space Studies (NASA, NY). He has edited more that two dozen encyclopedias and authored more than three-hundred scientific publications.

List of contributors. Preface. Absorption, absorption spectrum. Accretion. Achondrite meteorites. Adams, John Couch (1819-1892). Aerosol. Airglow. Albedo. Alfven, Hannes Olof Gosta (1908-1995), and wave. Amor object. Angular momentum. Angular momentum cycle in planet Earth. Antarctic meteorites. Antoniadi, Eugenios (1870-1944). Aphelion. Apollo missions; object. Apsis, apsides. Archeoastronomy. Aristarchus (c. 310-230 BC). Asteroid: compositional structure and taxonomy; families; lightcurve; photometry; resonance; thermal infrared studies. Asthenosphere. Astrogeology. Astrometric observation. Astronomical constants; unit. Aten object. Atmosphere. Atmospheric thermal structure. Aurora; historical record; planetary. Barnard, Edward Emerson (1857-1923). Barycenter. Basalt. Basaltic achondrite meteorites. Biosphere. Blackbody radiation. Bradley, James (1693-1762). Brahe, Tycho (1546-1601). Breccia. Brouwer, Dirk (1902-1966). Bruckner cycle. Callisto. Campbell, William Wallace (1862-1938). Capture mechanisms. Carbon, carbon dioxide. Carbonaceous chondrite. Carrington, Richard Christopher (1826-1875). Cartography. Cassini, Jean-Dominique (1625-1712), and Cassini's laws. Cassini mission. Celestial mechanics. Center of mass, gravity and inertia. Ceres. Chamberlin, Thomas Chrowder (1843-1928); Chamberlin-Moulton planetesimal hypothesis. Chandler wobble. Chaotic dynamics in the solar system. Charge-coupled device. Charged particle observation. Charon. Chemical element. Chiron. Chondrites, ordinary. Chronology: meteorite. Clementine mission. Cold accretion theory. Collisions. Color. Comet: dynamics; historical perspective; impacts on Earth; impacts on Jupiter; observation; origin and evolution; structure and composition. Commensurability. Coordinate systems. Copernicus, Nicolaus (1473-1543). Core, terrestrial planetary. Coriolis force, geostrophic motion. Corona (Venus). Coronal mass ejections. Corpuscular radiation. Cosmic rays. Cosmic ray exposure ages. Cosmochemistry. Crater. Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary. Croll, James (1821-1890). Crust. Cyclone, anticyclone. Darwin, George Howard (1845-1912). Dating methods. Dawes, William Rutter (1799-1868). Deep Space Network. Deimos. Denning, William Frederick (1848-1931). Determinism. Differentiation. Diurnal variation. Dome. Dust. Dynamo theory. Early bombardment. Earth: atmosphere; geology, tectonics and seismicity; magnetic field and magnetosphere; Observing System; rotation; rotational history. Earth-Moon system: dynamics; origin. Eccentric dipole. Eccentricity. Eclipse. Ecliptic. Ejecta. Electromagnetic radiation. Ellipsoid. Emissivity. Enceladus. Encke, Johann Franz (1791-1865). Enstatite meteorites. Eolian transport. Ephemeris. Eratosthenes (276-195 BC). Erosion. Eucrite meteorites. Euler, Leonhard (1707-1783), and motion. Europa. European Space Agency. Exosphere. Flood basalt. Forbush: decrease; effect. Fracture, fault. Fraunhofer line. Galactic cycle. Galilean satellites. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Galileo mission. Ganymede. Gaspra. Gauss, Carl Friedrich (1777-1855). Geoid. Geomagnetic polarity reversals and the geological record. Geomagnetic storm. Gilbert, William (1540-1603). Giotto mission. Global Positioning System. Goddard, Robert Hutchings (1882-1945). Gravimetry. Gravitation. Gravity-assist navigation. Gravity fields of the terrestrial planets. Greenhouse effect. Hadley circulation. Hale, George Ellery (1868-1938), and cycle. Hall, Asaph (1829-1907). Halley, Edmond (1656-1742), and comet. Heliosphere. Herschel, William (1738-1822). Hilda asteroids. Hipparchus of Nicaea (190-120 BC). History of planetary science: I: pre-space age; II: space age. Hohmann transfer orbit. Hot spot tectonics. Huygens, Christian (1629-1695). Huygens Titan atmospheric probe. Hydrosphere. Ice age. Ida. Igneous rock. Imaging science. Impact cratering. Inertia, inertial frame. Infrared radiation. Infrared spectroscope. Insolation. International Astronomical Union. Interplanetary magnetic field. Interstellar: grains; . medium. Io. Ion and neutral mass spectrometry. Ionosphere. Iridium anomaly. Iron. Iron meteorites. Isostasy. Jones, Harold Spencer (1890-1960). Julian calendar, year and day. Jupiter: atmosphere; interior structure; magnetic field and magnetosphere; ring system; satellite system. Kepler, Johannes (1571-1630). Kepler's laws. Mantle. Mantle convection. Map projections. Maraldi, Giacomo Filippo (1665-1729). Mariner missions. Kirchhoff, Gustav Robert (1824-1887), and laws. Kirkwood, Daniel (1814-1895). Kuiper belt. Kuiper, Gerard Peter (1905-1973). Lagrange, Joseph Louis (1736-1813). Lagrangian point. Laplace, Pierre Simon de (1749-1827). Laser ranging. Length of day. Leverrier, Urbain Jean Joseph (1811-1877). Libration. Life: origin. Lithosphere. Lomosomov, Mikhael Vasilyevich (1711-1765). Lowell, Percival (1855-1916). Luna missions. Lunar meteorites. Lunar Orbiter missions. Lyman alpha. Magellan mission. Magnetism. Magnetometry. Magnetospheres of the outer planets. Mars: atmosphere; geology; gravity; impact cratering; magnetic field and magnetosphere; Observer mission; remote sensing; structural geology and tectonics. Mascon. Mass extinction. Maunder, Edward Walter (1851-1928), and minimum. Maxwell theory. Mercury: atmosphere; geology; magnetic field and magnetosphere. Mesosphere. Meteor, meteoroid. Meteor shower, meteoroid stream. Meteorite. Meteorite parent bodies. Micrometeorite. Microwave spectroscopy. Milankovitch, Milutin (1879-1958), and theory. Miller-Urey experiment. Miranda. Moon (Earth's Moon). Moon: atmosphere; geology; gravity; magnetism and interior; origin; seismicity. NASA. Near-Earth object. Nebular hypothesis: Kant-Laplace. Nemesis. Neptune: atmosphere; magnetic field and magnetosphere; ring system; satellite system. Nereid. Newcomb, Simon (1835-1909). Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727), and laws. Noble gas. Nomenclature. Oberon. Obliquity. Obliquity: terrestrial record. Occultation. Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthaus (1758-1840), and paradox. Oort, Jan Hendrik (1900-1992), and cloud. Opik, Ernst Julius (1893-1985). Opposition. Opposition effect. Optical depth. Orbit. Orbital commensurability and resonance. Paleomagnetism. Periapse, perihelion, perigee, peribac. Phobos. Phobos mission. Photoclinometry. Photogrammetry, radargrammetry and planetary topographic mapping. Photometry. Piazzi, Giuseppe (1746-1826). Pickering, William Henry (1858-1938). Pioneer 10 and 11 missions. Pioneer Venus missions. Planet: extrasolar; X. Planetary: Data System; dynamical astronomy; geodesy; ice; lightning; ring; rotation; sampling: in situ analysis; torus. Planetesimal. Plasma. Plasma wave. Plate tectonics. Pluto. Polar cap. Polarimetry. Polarity reversals. Poynting-Robertson drag. Precession and nutation. Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus, AD C. 100-c. 170). Radar astronomy. Radiation belts. Radiative transfer in planetary atmospheres. Radio astronomy. Radio science. Radiometry. Ranger missions. Reflectance spectroscopy. Reflectivity. Regional Planetary Image Facilities. Regolith. Relativistic cosmology. Remote sensing. Resonance in Saturn's rings. Resonance in the solar system. Roche, Edouard Albert (1820-1883). Roche limit. Sabine, Edward (1788-1883). Sakigake and Suisei missions. Saros cycle. Satellite, natural. Saturn: atmosphere; interior structure; magnetic field and magnetosphere; ring system; satellite system. Schiaparelli, Giovanni Virginio (1835-1910). Seismicity. Sharonov, Vsevolod Vasilievich (1901-1964). Shepherd satellite. Shock metamorphism. Shock waves. Sidereal period. Silica, silicate. Slipher, Earl Carl (1883-1964). Small satellite. SNC meteorites. Solar: activity; constant; corona; day and time; flare; luminosity; motion; nebula; neutrino; particle event; photosphere; system. Solar system: origin; stability. Solar wind. Soviet Mars missions. Spacewatch. Spectrophotometry. Spectroscopy: atmospheres. Stony iron meteorites. Stratosphere. Sun. Surface gravity. Surface pressure. Surface processes. Surveyor missions. Synergetic tidal force. Synodic period. Syzygy. Tectonics. Tektite. Temperature. Terrestrial planets. Tessera. Thales of Miletus (624-548 Bc). Thermal: evolution of planets and satellites; plasma instrumentation. Thermosphere. Tidal friction. Tidal heating. Tide-raising force. Titan. Titania. Titius-Bode law. Tombaugh, Clyde William (1906- ). Torque. Transit. Triton. Trojan asteroids. Troposphere. Trouvelot, Ettienne Leopold (1827-1895). Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich (1857-1935). Ultraviolet radiation. Ultraviolet spectroscope. Ulysses mission. Umbriel. Uranus: atmosphere; magnetic field and magnetosphere; ring system;satellite system. Ureilite meteorites. Urey, Harold Clayton (1893-1981). Vaisala orbit. Van Allen, James Alfred (1914- ). Vega mission. Venera missions. Venus: atmosphere; geology and geophysics; gravity;magnetic field and magnetosphere. Vesta. Viking mission. Visible and near-infrared spectroscopy. Volcanism in the solar system. Voyager missions. Voyager planetary radio astronomy. Water. Weathering. Whistler. Wolf, Max (1863-1932). Wolf, Rudolf (1816-1893), and number. Yarkovsky effect. Year. Zeeman effect. Zodiac. Zodiacal light. Zond. Zwicky, Fritz (1898-1974). Appendix A: Lists of entries by subject. Appendix B: The international system of units. Author index. Subject index.