title: Asteroids: Astronomical and Geological Bodies (Cambridge Planetary Science)
author:  Thomas H. Burbine 
description: 'Asteroids: Astronomical and Geological Bodies was written to coincide with the surge of interest in these relatively small bodies. Missions such as NASA's Dawn satellite to Vesta and Ceres have increased this interest ... [the author] intends for this book to introduce students to asteroids, meteors, and comets at a level that would allow them to move on to understanding articles in the planetary science literature. For a work of this breadth, the length is such that some topics are only briefly presented, but with detailed references for students to follow up for further study. Although the book does provide significant detail on the families of asteroids in the main belt, it also discusses comets, Trojan asteroids, centaurs, and Kuiper Belt objects. Some science results from the New Horizons mission to Pluto are presented... Undergraduates with an interest in planetary science will find this to be a very helpful reference book.' C. Palma, CHOICE<br /><br />'This excellent text-book is engagingly written, clear, readable, comprehensive, and just the right length and level for a masters' course ... If you know little about asteroids and want to learn, I can recommend no better way to start than with this extremely impressive book.' David W. Hughes, The Observatory: A Review of Astronomy<br /><br />'... an excellent reference for readers interested in space rocks either out of professional or personal curiosity. It prepares the readers with the basics such that results obtained from space missions like Dawn, the first to visit a dwarf planet (Ceres); Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Shoemaker, the first to land on an asteroid (Eros); Hayabusa, the first to return samples of an asteroid (Itokawa); Galileo and others can be interpreted and understood. ... It is not all academic but conveys general knowledge as well. For instance, do the readers know that the iron used to make the dagger found in the tomb of Tutankhamun is meteoritic?' B. Ishak, Contemporary Physics
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  # **21**
  
  "Okay, let's go try this thing out," Spectre said, rubbing his hands.
  "Commander Weaver, I hope you have a convenient target? Any handy asteroids?"
  
  "Well, sir, like any Jovian, this one has moons," Bill said. "There are a
  couple of small ones. Does that work?"
  
  "Gimme a course," the CO replied.
  
  
  
  "That's a moon?" Spectre asked, looking at the lump of rock.
  
  "Actually, sir, it technically counts as an asteroid that's been captured by
  the gravity well of the Jovian," Bill replied. "For it to be a moon, it has to
  have sufficient internal gravity to assume a circular shape."
  
  "So you _did_ find me an asteroid," the CO said. "Good job. Tactical, you have
  the target in sight?"
  
  "Conn, Tactical, we are tracking the target designated Sierra Four."
  
  "Open tube doors and fire," Spectre said.
  
  What fired was a ball of white light that receded faster than the eye could
  track. But it was apparen