Both the high level of activity in worldwide space exploration programmes and the discovery of extra-solar planets have spurred renewed interest in the physics and evolution dynamics of solar systems. The present book has grown out of a set of lectures by leading experts in the field within the framework of the well-known EADN summer schools. It addresses primarily graduate students and young researchers but will be equally useful for scientists in search of a comprehensive tutorial account that goes beyond the material found in standard textbooks.

Inhalt

• Solar and Extra-Solar Planetary Systems.- The Solar System: An Overview.- Setting the Scene: A Star Formation Perspective.- Extrasolar Planets: A Review of Current Observations and Theory.- The Giant Planets.- The Formation of Planets.- Dynamics of the Solar System.- Photometry of Resolved Planetary Surfaces.- Mercury - Goals for a Future Mission.- Physical Processes Associated with Planetary Satellites.- Light Scattering in the Martian Atmosphere: Effects on Surface Photometry.- The Small Bodies of the Solar System.- Dust in the Solar System and in Other Planetary Systems.- Meteors, Meteor Showers and Meteoroid Streams.