In the twenty-first century, the debate about life on other worlds is quickly changing from the realm of speculation to the domain of hard science. Within a few years, as a consequence of the rapid discovery by astronomers of planets around other stars, astronomers very likely will have discovered clear evidence of life beyond the Earth. Such a discovery of extraterrestrial life will change everything.

James L. Burch·C. Philippe Escoubet Originally published in the journal Space Science Reviews, Volume 145, Nos 1–2, 1–2. DOI: 10. 1007/s11214-009-9532-7 © Springer Science+Business Media B. V. 2009 The IMAGE and CLUSTER spacecraft have revolutionized our understanding of the inner magnetosphere and in particular the plasmasphere. Before launch, the plasmasphere was not a prime objective of the CLUSTER mission. In fact, CLUSTER might not have ever observed this region because a few years before the CLUSTER launch (at the beginning of the 1990s), it was proposed to raise the perigee of the orbit to 8 Earth radii to make multipoint measu- ments in the current disruption region in the tail. Because of ground segment constraints, this proposal did not materialize. In view of the great depth and breadth of plasmaspheric research and numerous papers published on the plasmasphere since the CLUSTER launch, this choice certainly was a judicious one. The fact that the plasmasphere was one of the prime targets in the inner magnetosphere for IMAGE provided a unique opportunity to make great strides using the new and comp- mentary measurements of the two missions. IMAGE, with sensitive EUV cameras, could for the rst time make global images of the plasmasphere and show its great variability d- ing storm-time. CLUSTER, with four-spacecraft, could analyze in situ spatial and temporal structures at the plasmapause that are particularly important in such a dynamic system.

Magnetohydrodynamics, or MHD, is a theoretical way of describing the statics and dynamics of electrically conducting uids. The most important of these uids occurring in both nature and the laboratory are ionized gases, called plasmas. These have the simultaneous properties of conducting electricity and being electrically charge neutral on almost all length scales. The study of these gases is called plasma physics. MHD is the poor cousin of plasma physics. It is the simplest theory of plasma dynamics. In most introductory courses, it is usually afforded a short chapter or lecture at most: Alfven ´ waves, the kink mode, and that is it. (Now, on to Landau damping!) In advanced plasma courses, such as those dealing with waves or kinetic theory, it is given an even more cursory treatment, a brief mention on the way to things more profound and interesting. (It is just MHD! Besides, real plasma phy- cists do kinetic theory!) Nonetheless, MHD is an indispensable tool in all applications of plasma physics.

Space is a large natural plasma laboratory offering a wealth of phenomena which range from the simple to the highly complex and non-linear. This book begins with an introduction to basic principles such as single-particle motion, magnetohydrodynamics and plasma waves. It incorporates these concepts into an analysis of complex phenomena including the sun and solar activity, shocks, interplanetary space and magnetospheres, and finally the interaction between these entities in solar-terrestrial relationships. In all these subfields of space research, special attention is paid to energetic particles. The book concludes with a brief chapter on instrumentation. In this third edition, numerous examples have been added to illustrate the basic concepts and aid the reader in applying such concepts to real world physics. In addition, recent observations (ACE, TRACE, Wind) have been included. The chapter on solar-terrestrial relationships has been expanded to introduce the current research topic of Space Weather.

xxii CONTENTS In 1957 I was invited to work on special problems in Magnetic Laboratory of the Academy of Sciences of USSR as a Head of Department of Magnetic Hydrodynamics. In few years this Laboratory was transfered into the I. V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, and I continued to work in this Institute up to 1965. In parallel I also worked at Moscow State University as Professor in the CR and Space Research Team. I also gave lectures in Irkutsk, Alma-Ata, Nalchik, Tbilisi, Erevan, Samarkand, and others places. Over about 40 years of teaching under my supervision more than hundred graduate students and scientists in USSR and some other countries gained their Ph. D. and several tenths became Doctors of Science. As my hobby I continued to work in CR research, and as Vice-President of All-Union Section of Cosmic Rays and Radiation Belts, took an active part in preparing the Soviet net of CR stations to the IGY (International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958): we equipped all soviet stations in USSR and in Antarctica with standard cubic and semi-cubic muon telescopes and with neutron monitors of IGY (or Simpson’s) type. In connection with preparing for the IQSY (the International Quiet Sun Year, 1964-1965), the soviet net of CR stations was extended about two fold and they were equipped with neutron super-monitors of IQSY type (with an effective surface about 10 times bigger than the previous monitor of IGY type).

The aim of this book is twofold: to provide an introduction for newcomers to state of the art computer simulation techniques in space plasma physics and an overview of current developments. Computer simulation has reached a stage where it can be a highly useful tool for guiding theory and for making predictions of space plasma phenomena, ranging from microscopic to global scales. The various articles are arranged, as much as possible, according to the - derlying simulation technique, starting with the technique that makes the least number of assumptions: a fully kinetic approach which solves the coupled set of Maxwell’s equations for the electromagnetic ?eld and the equations of motion for a very large number of charged particles (electrons and ions) in this ?eld. Clearly, this is also the computationally most demanding model. Therefore, even with present day high performance computers, it is the most restrictive in terms of the space and time domain and the range of particle parameters that can be covered by the simulation experiments. It still makes sense, therefore, to also use models, which due to their simp- fying assumptions, seem less realistic, although the e?ect of these assumptions on the outcome of the simulation experiments needs to be carefully assessed.

During the 30 years of space exploration, important discoveries in the near-earth environment such as the Van Allen belts, the plasmapause, the magnetotail and the bow shock, to name a few, have been made. Coupling between the solar wind and the magnetosphere and energy transfer processes between them are being identified. Space physics is clearly approaching a new era, where the emphasis is being shifted from discoveries to understanding. One way of identifying the new direction may be found in the recent contribution of atmospheric science and oceanography to the development of fluid dynamics. Hydrodynamics is a branch of classical physics in which important discoveries have been made in the era of Rayleigh, Taylor, Kelvin and Helmholtz. However, recent progress in global measurements using man-made satellites and in large scale computer simulations carried out by scientists in the fields of atmospheric science and oceanography have created new activities in hydrodynamics and produced important new discoveries, such as chaos and strange attractors, localized nonlinear vortices and solitons. As space physics approaches the new era, there should be no reason why space scientists cannot contribute, in a similar manner, to fundamental discoveries in plasma physics in the course of understanding dynamical processes in space plasmas.

Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, fifth edition, is the official reference for the field of the IAU, which serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and any surface features on them. The accelerating rate of the discovery of minor planets has not only made a new edition of this established compendium necessary but has also significantly altered its scope: this thoroughly revised edition concentrates on the approximately 10,000 minor planets that carry a name. It provides authoritative information about the basis for all names of minor planets. In addition to being of practical value for identification purposes, this collection provides a most interesting historical insight into the work of those astronomers who over two centuries vested their affinities in a rich and colorful variety of ingenious names, from heavenly goddesses to more prosaic constructions. The fifth edition serves as the primary reference, with plans for supplementary booklets with newly named bodies to be issued every three years.

Our purpose in writing this book is to show how physics has been applied to developing our current understanding of the phase structure, physical condi­ tions, chemical makeup and, evolution of the (thermal) interstellar medium. We hope it provides an up-to-date overview which postgraduates, advanced undergraduates, and professionals in astrophysics can use as a "reference of first resort" before going on to read the more specialist monographs or research literature.

Even today flying into space is an undertaking at the borderline of what is curreiitly feasible. h veq complex assen~bly of sophist~icated machinery is needed in order to reach orbit and return from there to Eart,ll safely. A11 ast,ronaut knows that only if t,he rocket engines, inertial navigat,ion platforms. hydraulic systems; generators of electrical power, att,itude control systems, life support sj stems, coinput~ers. data transmission equipment, heat shields and many other components work flawlessly can he or she accomplish a mission in good llealt,h. I11 other words there is risk, but the odds are better than even. How else could a man or a woman see the incredible beauty of our planet Earth from a clist,ance? Take t,he combination of it,s colours. white and blue. It is so breatht,akingly stunning, that most likely not even a poet could find words to adequately describe it. There is the curved line of the horizon with an incredibly black slij above it. L4t first sight it is evident how elidless and empty the universe actually is. The Eart,h's horizon is fringed with a royal blue seam, our at,mosphere. Its beauty and fragility are thrilling, and seen from orbit it is instantly apparent that there is not much air around us.

How did life originate in the universe? How did it all start after the creation of matter and the formation of elements in the stars? What are the pathways from the first organic molecules in space to the evolution of complex life forms on Earth and perhaps elsewhere? And how will it all end? The Universe itself sets the stage for the very interdisciplinary field of astrobiology that attempts to answer such questions, the central one being: What is the (cosmic) recipe for life? Currently there are only very few known elements in this vast mosaic. This book bridges a gap in the literature by bringing together leading specialists from different backgrounds who lecture on their fields, with close relevance to astrobiology, providing tutorial accounts that lead all the way to the forefront of research. The book will thus be useful for students, lecturers and reseachers alike.

This book was conceived during the Workshop "Calibration and Orientation of Cameras in Computer Vision" at the XVIIth Congress of the ISPRS (In­ ternational Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing), in July 1992 in Washington, D. C. The goal of this workshop was to bring photogrammetry and computer vision experts together in order to exchange ideas, concepts and approaches in camera calibration and orientation. These topics have been addressed in photogrammetry research for a long time, starting in the sec­ ond half of the 19th century. Over the years standard procedures have been developed and implemented, in particular for metric cameras, such that in the photogrammetric community such issues were considered as solved prob­ lems. With the increased use of non-metric cameras (in photogrammetry they are revealingly called "amateur" cameras), especially CCD cameras, and the exciting possibilities of acquiring long image sequences quite effortlessly and processing image data automatically, online and even in real-time, the need to take a new and fresh look at various calibration and orientation issues became obvious.

Half a century ago, S. Chandrasekhar wrote these words in the preface to his 1 celebrated and successful book: In this monograph an attempt has been made to present the theory of stellar dy­ namics as a branch of classical dynamics - a discipline in the same general category as celestial mechanics. [ … ] Indeed, several of the problems of modern stellar dy­ namical theory are so severely classical that it is difficult to believe that they are not already discussed, for example, in Jacobi's Vorlesungen. Since then, stellar dynamics has developed in several directions and at var­ ious levels, basically three viewpoints remaining from which to look at the problems encountered in the interpretation of the phenomenology. Roughly speaking, we can say that a stellar system (cluster, galaxy, etc.) can be con­ sidered from the point of view of celestial mechanics (the N-body problem with N» 1), fluid mechanics (the system is represented by a material con­ tinuum), or statistical mechanics (one defines a distribution function for the positions and the states of motion of the components of the system).

Fundamental Astronomy gives a well-balanced and comprehensive introduction to the various fields of classical and modern astronomy. While emphasizing both the astronomical concepts and the underlying physical principles, the text provides a sound basis for more profound studies in the astronomical sciences.

Half a century ago, S. Chandrasekhar wrote these words in the preface to his l celebrated and successful book: In this monograph an attempt has been made to present the theory of stellar dy­ namics as a branch of classical dynamics - a discipline in the same general category as celestial mechanics. [ … J Indeed, several of the problems of modern stellar dy­ namical theory are so severely classical that it is difficult to believe that they are not already discussed, for example, in Jacobi's Vorlesungen. Since then, stellar dynamics has developed in several directions and at var­ ious levels, basically three viewpoints remaining from which to look at the problems encountered in the interpretation of the phenomenology. Roughly speaking, we can say that a stellar system (cluster, galaxy, etc.) can be con­ sidered from the point of view of celestial mechanics (the N-body problem with N » 1), fluid mechanics (the system is represented by a material con­ tinuum), or statistical mechanics (one defines a distribution function for the positions and the states of motion of the components of the system).