Books on Planetary Geology?

[michaelmorris]

In recent years, the direction of my interests seems to have headed towards lunar and planetary observing and imaging. Books such as Charles Wood's 'A Modern Moon' and to a lesser extent Paul Spudis's 'Once and Future Moon' have provided excellent insights into the geomorphological processes that have created the landscapes we see on the Moon today. When looking at a lunar feature, I can now have a good stab at what the sequence of events were that created the vista before me.

I now want to extend the breadth and depth of my knowledge of planetary geology and I'm looking for a good undergraduate level text on the subject. Has anyone got any suggestions?

[InvaderXan]

It's specifically about Venus, but the book "Venus Revealed" by David Grinspoon is pretty good.

[Astroman]

I have a good one on moons of our gas giants, but can't think of it at the moment. I'll get back to you. Wonderful discussions on differentiation and exotic ices. It's a bit old, (1999?), but most of it should still hold.

[Astroman]

The book I mentioned is Satellites Of The Outer Planets:Worlds In Their Own Right by David A. Rothery. ISBN 0-19-512555-X

Published in 1999, it was state-of-the-art and I found it a great read.

[Dave]

I have a copy of Planetary Geology by John Guest and Paul Butterworth.

ISBN 0-7153-7739-6

It's much older (1979), but a great intro to the subject and has lots of B&W images.

As expected for the date, it concentrates mainly on what was known about The Moon, Mars and Mercury with a very brief overview of Jupiters satellites and Venus.

[lulu]

If you're interested in some form of formal study I can well recommend the OU's course S283 Planetary Science and the search for life. It covers the formation of the solar system and the associated geological processes. It's a level 2 undergraduate course - sort of 2nd year degree level I guess.

Check it out at www.open.ac.uk/courses . An excellent course.

[timetraveller]

I have just started s196 a short OU course on Planetary geology and also their short intro course into Astronomy

as part of a second top up degree to go with my existing geology and Earth science degree.

As part of the Planetary geology course they supplied me with a book from the teach yourself series entitled planets which appears to be quite good. I am planning on this new degree to be totally focused on Astronomy/Astrophysics and Planetary Geology. As i have now finally come to a decision that as i am no longer able to carry on in my old career i would like to get into teaching. of some description or other

regards Pete

[thing]

I have just started s196 a short OU course on Planetary geology and also their short intro course into Astronomy

as part of a second top up degree to go with my existing geology and Earth science degree.

As part of the Planetary geology course they supplied me with a book from the teach yourself series entitled planets which appears to be quite good. I am planning on this new degree to be totally focused on Astronomy/Astrophysics and Planetary Geology. As i have now finally come to a decision that as i am no longer able to carry on in my old career i would like to get into teaching. of some description or other

regards Pete

Have you seen the new S382 and 383 courses? They are specifically focused on astrophysics and cosmology.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01S382

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01S383