The purpose of this book is to bring comets into the living rooms of general households, to familiarize politicians with these fascinating objects when they ponder funding for comet research, to teach children and young students, and to provide teaching tools about these very unusual objects in our skies. The presentation is very comprehensive in its description of orbits around the Sun, the development of the coma (escaping atmosphere) from a comet’s nucleus and source of all activities, ...

Combining the latest astronomical results with a historical perspective, Solar System: Between Fire and Ice takes you on a fabulous tour of our intriguing Solar System. Not content with a conventional discourse restricted to the major and minor bodies, astronomers Hockey, Bartlett, and Boice venture beyond the limits of our system to look at exoplanets and to consider future trends in space exploration and tourism. They discuss not only what scientists know about ...

The History Behind the Names The place names of Arkansas reflect four centuries of settlement and human response to the state's unique geography. Each new group of settlers brought their own rich memories, heritage and hopes for a better life, all of which manifested in the names of the places they encountered and the towns that grew. Merchants and businessmen (and women), especially railroad officials, eagerly attached their own names to the new stations and towns that sprang up in the la...

Explore the galaxies!Aliens, space ships, and constellations, oh my! Ride on a rocket ship to another galaxy with this stellar book. With The Everything Kids' Astronomy Book, astronomers-in-training will learn:How galaxies like the Milky Way were built.Why the sun's surface is 20,000-50,000-degrees Fahrenheit.Why the earth spins and how gravity works.What comets and asteroids are made of and how they affect plane...

Forbidden Fruit is a collection of fascinating, largely untold tales of ordinary men and women who faced mobs, bloodhounds, bounty hunters, and bullets to be together**—**and defy a system that categorized blacks not only as servants, but as property.In the true love stories of Forbidden Fruit, you will meet sixteen couples who fought for love—love between slaves, between slaves and masters, and between slaves and...

"[A] glorious, pictorial tour of the universe . . . beginning with photos depicting Earth from space and progressing through . . . the individual planets." — School Library JournalPreface by Bill NyeTake a tour of the universe with this breathtaking collection of photographs from the archives of NASA. Astonishing images of Earth from above, the phenomena of our solar system, and the celestial bodies of deep space will captivate reade...

Slow Travels-Mississippi explores the history of the state along U.S. Highways 45, 61, 80, 82, and 84. Based on the American Guides Series of the 1930's and 40's, this guide includes up to date directions, reference maps, and GPS coordinates for all listed sites. Explore Vicksburg, Natchez, Jackson, and all the history inbetween.

For everyone who’s curious about what’s new under (and over and around) the stars.Douglas Adams famously pronounced in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that the answer to life, the universe, and everything was 42. Quirks & Quarks, whose approach to science owes almost as much to Adams as it does to Newton or Einstein or Hawking, have flipped that notion through a gap in the space-time continuum (or something like that) and come up with answers to the 42 essenti...

The tracks of the Norfolk and Western Railway snaked through Virginia�s Shenandoah Valley and the coalfields of West Virginia. For nearly 100 years, the Norfolk and Western brought freight, passengers, and economic vitality to large cities and rural mining towns. At each stop was the depot or station; some stations were large, architecturally ornate structures that represented the muscular energy and romantic era of this great steam railway with its famed J-class engines. In other places t...

An astronomer explores the science of astrobiology in this " serious but accessible examination of the prospects for finding life elsewhere in the universe" (Sean Carroll, author of The Big Picture ).Describing the most recent discoveries made with space exploration technology, including the Kepler space telescope, the Mars Curiosity rover, and the New Horizons probe, astronomer Jon Willi...

The curious history of a tiny town that all but disappeared . . . Includes photos!Founded by a famously scheming New Hampshire governor, Glastenbury struggled for over a century to break triple digits in population. A small charcoal-making industry briefly flourished after the Civil War, yet by 1920 Glastenbury counted fewer than twenty inhabitants.The end came officially in 1937, when the state, following a spirited debate, formally disincorporated the tow...

The wild land of Susquehanna County, traversed but not inhabited by the Lenape tribe, was first settled after the Revolutionary War, mostly by veterans in search of affordable land and willing to pioneer. Their families built homes, churches, and businesses and formed thriving agricultural communities, taking advantage of natural resources like timber and bluestone. Rolling hills, clear lakes, and mountain streams form a scenic and peaceful backdrop, attractive to visitors. From the mounta...