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Michael A. Seeds
Mike Seeds was a professor of physics and astronomy at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1970 until his retirement in 2001. In 1989 he received F&M College’s Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Mike’s love for the history of astronomy led him to create upper-level courses on archaeoastronomy and on the Copernican Revolution (“Changing Concepts of the Universe”). His research interests focused on variable stars and automation of astronomical telescopes. Mike is coauthor with Dana Backman of Horizons: Exploring the Universe, 12th edition (2012); Universe: Solar Systems, Stars, and Galaxies, 7th edition (2012); Stars and Galaxies, 8th edition (2013); The Solar System, 8th edition (2013); and ASTRO, 2nd edition (2013), all published by Cengage. He was senior consultant for creation of the 20-episode telecourse accompanying his book Horizons: Exploring the Universe.
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Dana Backman
Dana Backman taught in the physics and astronomy department at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1991 until 2003. He invented and taught a course titled “Life in the Universe” in F&M’s interdisciplinary Foundations program. Dana now teaches introductory Solar System astronomy at Santa Clara University and introductory astronomy, astrobiology, and cosmology courses in Stanford University’s Continuing Studies Program. His research interests focus on infrared observations of planet formation, models of debris disks around nearby stars, and evolution of the solar system’s Kuiper belt. Dana is employed by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, as director of education and public outreach for SOFIA (the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Dana is coauthor with Mike Seeds of Horizons: Exploring the Universe, 14th edition (2018); Universe: Solar Systems, Stars, and Galaxies, 7th edition (2012); Stars and Galaxies, 8th edition (2013); The Solar System, 8th edition (2013); and ASTRO, 2nd edition (2013), all published by Cengage.
- Eric Wegryn
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Chapter 25 is a new chapter focused exclusively on the rapidly expanding field of extrasolar planets, consolidating substantial up-to-date content with some material appearing in other chapters in the previous edition.
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Every chapter has been reviewed, revised and updated with recent discoveries and images, including the latest results from the James Webb Space Telescope and new international planetary missions. This includes the chapter-opening images.
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Revised and enhanced inclusive language, including using “we” terminology over “you.” The wording has also been updated to avoid excluding persons with low visual acuity.
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Concept Art Spreads are special two-page spreads that help students synthesize and visualize key scientific concepts.
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How Do We Know? Commentaries are integrated sections in every chapter that explain how scientific knowledge is built, emphasizing the role of evidence.
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What Are We? Essays are end-of-chapter essays that explore humanity's place in the cosmos, encouraging reflection of the larger picture.
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End-of-Chapter Active Learning Questions are designed to push students beyond the text, encouraging creative and critical thinking.
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WebAssign Integration offers practice opportunities, additional resources and real-time feedback to enhance learning, including new Stellarium Activities.
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How Do We Know? commentaries appear in every chapter and will help students comprehend how science works. They point out where scientists use statistical evidence, why they think with analogies, and how they build confidence in hypotheses.
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Practicing Science boxes at the end of many text sections are carefully designed to help students review and synthesize concepts from the section and practice thinking like a scientist.
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Special two-page Concept Art spreads provide an opportunity for students to synthesize their own understanding and share in the satisfaction that scientists feel as they uncover the secrets of nature.
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Celestial Profiles of objects in our Solar System directly compare and contrast planets with each other. This is the way planetary scientists understand the planets: not as isolated, unrelated bodies but as siblings with noticeable differences and yet many characteristics and a family history in common.
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Guideposts on the opening page of each chapter help students understand the organization of the book by focusing on a small number of questions to be answered as they read the chapter.
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End-of-Chapter Review Questions are designed to help students review and test their understanding of the material.
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End-of-Chapter Active Learning Questions go beyond the text and invite students to think critically and creatively about scientific questions. These questions can be pondered solo or discussed in class.
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End-of Chapter Sense of Proportion Questions gauge student understanding of relative sizes and timescales in the Universe.
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End-of-Chapter Learning to Look Questions prompt students to answer questions based on observations of visual evidence shown in diagrams or photographs.
Cengage Testing, powered by Cognero® for Seeds/Backman/Wegryn's Foundations of Astronomy
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Instructor's Companion Website for Seeds/Backman/Wegryn's Foundations of Astronomy
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