Earth & Space Science for Everybody
ISBN: 1-4251-1975-1
Soft cover:
Hard cover:
eBook:
9781426998027
by
Lasse A. Kivioja
Prof. Emeritus, Purdue University
Learn more about this planet Earth, the dynamic processes that have formed and continue to form our unique 'Garden Spot Planet Earth' with this intriguing gem. The book overviews all existing material from the center of the Earth to the top of Earth's atmosphere, to our Moon, to solar planets, to Earth's location in the Milky Way galaxy and to other galaxies in the universe.
Distant galaxies and their mutual motions are outlined all the way to the outer edges of the known universe from here to a distance of 13,700,000,000 light-years with newest photographs taken by the best ground-based and orbiting telescopes. These recent photographs, diagrams and tables can be seen on computer monitors at the carefully chosen Internet links given throughout the book and more conveniently by the 'Quick Pick Links' explained below. Many links update themselves daily keeping the whole book rather well up-to-date. Many of these links have new pages daily with galleries for days past and 'on the spot' bibliographies and expert descriptions.
This informative book is written in 'Plain English' to be easy to read and easy to understand by almost everybody 'from 9 to 99'.
The book has no mathematical formulas. All distances and velocities about the Earth, our solar system, our Milky Way Galaxy and other galaxies are given in the most easily understood Metric and English quantities using the International System of Units.
Read the book's 'Overview', 'Preview' and 'About the Author' in:
http://www.trafford.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000167265
The book is also available in bookstores worldwide and from many Internet book sellers. Type into the book seller's search box the word "kivioja" (without quotes) for ordering, pricing and shipping information. The book is available in Soft Cover, Hard Cover and in eBook versions.
Over 1,400 Ôready-to-clickÕ Internet links are available in a small download at 'Quick Pick Links'. Printed books cannot have as many, as current and as good new photos on their pages as the given Internet links provide.
Most of these Internet links are from NASA, GPL, USGS, USNO, NOAA, HUBBLE, CHANDRA, ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA, SOHO (http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/), NAOJ, SPITZER and some other organizations. To see what those organizations are, type those acronyms into GoogleÕs search box.
This automatic daily updating feature trumps high school textbooks and other printed books even with their subsequent ÔnewÕ editions printed at intervals of years, because many new discoveries and photos are published every week. This also means that the daily info in this book comes for the day the reader clicks the link.
The book describes a back-yard-size 3-D model of the entire known Universe, so that the 'Whole Shebang' can be visualized from its outside.
About The Author
Lasse A. Kivioja was born in Finland and immigrated to the United States in 1955. During his studies for his Master of Science degree in Physics at The University at Helsinki he worked part-time at the Finnish Geodetic Institute. Specializing in EarthÕs gravity, he was an instructor and received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Geodetic Science at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio while working there at The Mapping and Charting Laboratory. He is a Professor Emeritus from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, where he lectured and conducted research in Geodetic Sciences for 26.5 years and published several refereed articles including:
In Bulletin Geodesique, he published a new exact non-iterative mathematical method for computing astro-latitudes and astro-longitudes for Astrolabe observations.
In Bulletin Geodesique and in Surveying and Mapping he published a method for computing coordinates and azimuths for any 'way-points' and any 'end-points' in GPS positioning, solving the two Main Problems of Geometric Geodesy ( Direct and Inverse Problems) by very precise computer integration using the original differential formulas for all geodetic line elements on the surface of any Earth Ellipsoid besting all older methods. Famous mathematicians spent some time solving these two elliptical integration problems. Among them are: Clairaut 1713-1765, Lagrange 1736-1813, Laplace 1749-1827, Legendre 1752-1833, Gauss 1777-1855, Bessel 1784-1846, Jordan 1838-1922 and Helmert 1843-1917. None of these famous men had electronic calculators.
Published in Bulletin Geodesique studies of world sea-level variations influenced by the melting of land-supported ice masses.
Consultant at National Geodetic Survey, Fredericksburg, Virginia. Developed and published in Surveying and Mapping methods of improving observational accuracies of first order theodolites. Made an autocollimation addition to a first order theodolite to account for its axis wobbles.
Consultant at Argonne National Laboratories in Argonne, Illinois. Developed and published a new method suitable for leveling the 1104-meter long ring with about 200 supports to a few micron (0.001 millimeter) accuracies in the Advanced Photon Source.
Consultant at USAF Geodetic Survey Squadron, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Developed and published an improved method for astronomical azimuth observations In Bulletin Geodesique increasing achievable accuracies in the use of theodolites and leveling instruments using Mercury Leveling with autocollimation methods. Many first order theodolites were calibrated to account for small inherent systematic errors.
He has a US Patent on Mercury Leveling Instruments.
'Quick Pick' Internet Links
Two good examples of daily Internet links are:
From Google: < astronomy picture of the day archive >, get
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html and from Google: < spaceweather >. get
The 'Quick Pick Links' can be used to speed up obtaining the intended Internet pages from the recommended Google search terms and the Internet addresses listed in the text of the book.
Download the 'Quick Pick Links' from:
or from
This download is a 143-page, 8,460-word Microsoft Word document with 5 to 17 underlined clickable links on each of its pages. In total, it has over 1.400 links of the intended photos/tables/information and expert explanations to supplement the text of the book.
For example if one is reading the book on its page 114, in the Chapter 21.7. ÔAsteroids and Comets Hitting ÔOurÕ MoonÕ and if the second to the last Internet site is desired, one could (tediously) type the following Internet address: http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast03nov99_1.htm into the address box of the browser.
Much easier, this same Internet site is just Ôa 'click away'Õ in The 'Quick Pick Links' in the Word download (or in HTML), as follows:
1. Open the downloaded 'Quick Pick' Links (maybe it is already on the desktop).
2. From Edit go down to FindÉ
3. Into the search box of the Find-panel, type: 21.7, or scroll to the chapter in question
4. Click on this panel: Find next.
5. The 'Quick Pick' download document 'goes' to the page where 21.7. is (high-lighted), followed by six underlined links in the same order as in the book.
6. Click on the desired link:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast03nov99_1.htm
7. A five-page NASA site: Leonids on the Moon appears quickly on the computer monitor.
Similarly all other, over 1,400 Internet sites can be accessed quickly without manual typing.
=====