Книга: Stars Above, Earth Below: A Guide to Astronomy in the National Parks (Springer Praxis Books / Popular Astronomy)

In Sky Above, Earth Below, Tyler Nordgren examines a range of astronomical topics and makes the connection between them and the landscapes, processes and cultures which one can see and experience within specific US National Parks. For each park and topic this story unfolds in three steps: what does the reader see for his or herself? What is the scientific cause or explanation of what the reader sees? And finally, what is the big picture about ourselves, our world, or our Universe, towards which understanding of this object or process leads? The author takes us the length and breadth of the US from the coast of Maine to the Rocky Mountains, from the Grand Canyon to Hawaii, exploring these natural links between the features of the parks and features of our Universe. As an example, one chapter will begin by explaining the causes of tides one sees while visiting the Atlantic Ocean along Mainea??s Acadia National Park. Tides are a direct visible example of how planetary bodies affect one another. The planet Jupiter, which one can see in the sky during specific times of the year, has a moon upon which it exerts such enormous tides that its frozen interior has melted resulting in a liquid ocean far larger and deeper than our own. While standing on our oceana??s shores, marvelling at the life we see in tidal pools, we are able to understand the causes of another planeta??s ocean and wonder what the prospect of life may be beneath its waves. In another chapter, the author explores volcanism, one of the most spectacular geological activities that can shape a planet. Visitors to the caldera of Kilauea in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will see an analogue to calderas on Jupitera??s moon, Io, the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. Astronomers using telescopes atop Mauna Kea, an extinct volcano right next to Kilauea, make regular observations of Io and thus attempt to understand its volcanic activity so as to better understand our own.