9780195125559

"Rothery does an excellent job of synthesizing the research inspired by the Voyager missions into a coherent description of outer solar system geology." -Jonathan I. Lunine, Sky & Telescope "A highly readable, respectably accurate and complete nontechnical summary of planetary satellites for general and scientific audiences." -Paul M. Schenk, Icarus "Rothery brings these satellites to life." -David Hughes, New Scientist. "The depth and authority of the treatment of physical geological processes makes this a good introduction to the outer satellites for undergraduate students, while the clarity of the text ensures that things do not become too complicated for less expert readers." -Lionel Wilson, Times Higher Eduation Supplement. Extensively revised and updated, this new edition of this acclaimed geological guide to the outer solar system includes results and close-up color and black-and-white images from both the 1995-1999 Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Voyager space probe. Rothery explains the geological aspects of the major satellites of the outer planets, from Jupiter to Neptune and the Pluto-Charon system. In particular he shows how tectonic and volcanic processes, driven by heat from within, have shaped the rigid outer layers of these worlds. Rothery also discusses the similarities and differences among them and the ways in which they resemble Earth-like planets.