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WebAssign for Seeds/Backman/Wegryn's Astro: Exploring the Universe, Single-Term Instant Access, 4th Edition

Michael A. Seeds, Dana Backman, Eric Wegryn

  • Copyright 2025
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Starting At $84.95 See pricing and ISBN options
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WebAssign for Seeds/Backman/Wegryn's Astro: Exploring the Universe, Single-Term Instant Access 4th Edition by Michael A. Seeds/Dana Backman/Eric Wegryn
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Overview

WebAssign for Seeds/Backman/Wegryn's ASTRO: EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE, 4th EDITION, is a flexible and fully customizable online instructional solution that puts powerful tools in the hands of instructors, enabling you to deploy assignments, instantly assess individual student and class performance and help your students master the course concepts. With its powerful digital platform and specific content, you can tailor your course with a wide range of assignment settings, add your own questions and content and access student and course analytics and communication tools.

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Meet the Authors

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Michael A. Seeds

Mike Seeds was a professor of physics and astronomy at Franklin and Marshall College (F&M) 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 archeoastronomy 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 FOUNDATIONS OF ASTRONOMY, 14th Edition (2019); STARS AND GALXIES, 10th Edition (2019); THE SOLAR SYSTEM, 10th Edition (2019); and ASTRO, 3rd Edition (2018), all published by Cengage. He was senior consultant for creation of the 20-episode telecourse accompanying his book HORIZONS: EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE.

Dana Backman

Dana Backman taught with Mike Seeds 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 has also taught introductory solar system astronomy at Santa Clara University, plus introductory courses on astronomy, astrobiology, cosmology and the science of climate change in Stanford University’s continuing studies program. His research interests focused on infrared observations of planetary system formation and evolution of the solar system’s Kuiper belt. Dana is employed by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, as lead for the Astronomy Activation Ambassadors teacher professional development program at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Dana is coauthor with Mike Seeds of FOUNDATIONS OF ASTRONOMY, 14th Edition (2019); STARS AND GALAXIES, 10th Edition (2019); THE SOLAR SYSTEM, 10th Edition (2019); and ASTRO, 3rd Edition (2018), all published by Cengage.

Eric Wegryn

Erıc Wegryn is a life-long explorer and explainer. His career began as an aerospace engineer who helped launch NASA's Space Shuttles. Eric transitioned to science, earning a Ph.D. in planetary science from the University of Arizona (Lunar & Planetary Lab), as part of the Mars Pathfinder mission. After Mars, he helped explore Saturn, discovering organic chemicals on Saturn's moons as member of the Cassini mission team at NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute. Eric has taught astronomy, engineering, and physics courses at several colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has traveled the world chasing solar eclıpses and investigating nuclear sites including Hiroshima and Chernobyl. Erıc has also authored Just Twelve Men, a history of the Moon landings, as well as a history of the Space Shuttle program.

Features

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  • Life-of-Edition Access: With WebAssign, if students are using the right code for the book, they will have continued access to the platform after the first semester as long as the course uses the same textbook and edition.

Table of Contents

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PART I: EXPLORING THE SKY.
1. Here and Now.
Where Are We?
When Is Now?
Why Study Astronomy?
2. A User's Guide to the Sky.
The Stars.
The Sky: Its Motions and Cycles.
3. Cycles of the Sun and Moon.
Cycles of the Sun.
Astronomical Influences on Earth's Climate.
The Changeable Moon.
4. The Origin of Modern Astronomy.
Prehistoric Astronomy.
Classical Astronomy.
The Copernican Revolution.
Planetary Motion.
Galileo Galilei.
Isaac Newton and Orbital Motion.
5. Light and Telescopes.
Radiation: Information from Space.
Telescopes. Observatories on Earth: Optical and Radio.
Airborne and Space Observatories.
Astronomical Instruments and Techniques.
6. Atoms and Spectra.
Atoms.
Interactions of Light and Matter.
Understanding Spectra.
PART II: THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
7. The Solar System: A Cosmic Family Portrait
The Great Chain of Origins.
A Family Portrait of the Solar System.
A Recipe for Planets.
8. Earth and Moon: Bases for Comparative Planetology.
A Travel Guide to the Terrestrial Planets.
Planet Earth.
The Moon.
9. Mercury, Venus, and Mars.
Mercury.
Venus.
Mars.
10. The Giant Planets
A Travel Guide to the Outer Solar System.
Jupiter.
Saturn.
Uranus.
Neptune.
11. Comets, Asteroids, Meteorites
Comets
Asteroids
Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
Meteoroids, Meteors, and Meteorites.
Asteroid and Comet Impacts.
PART III: THE STARS.
12. The Sun.
The Solar Atmosphere.
Solar Activity.
Nuclear Fusion in the Sun.
13. The Family of Stars.
Star Distances.
Apparent Brightness, Intrinsic Brightness, and Luminosity.
Stellar Spectra.
Star Sizes.
Star Masses--Binary Stars.
A Census of the Stars.
14. The Formation of Stars and Planets.
The Interstellar Medium.
Making Stars from the Interstellar Medium.
Young Stars and Disks.
15. Stellar Structure and Evolution.
Stellar Structure and Nuclear Fusion.
Main-Sequence Stars.
After the Main Sequence
Lower-Main-Sequence Stars.
The Evolution of Binary Systems.
16. Supernovas, Neutron Stars, and Black Holes.
The Deaths of Massive Stars.
Neutron Stars.
Black Holes.
Power Unleashed.
PART IV: THE UNIVERSE OF GALAXIES.
17. The Milky Way Galaxy.
Discovery of the Galaxy.
Structure of the Galaxy.
Spiral Arms and Star Formation.
The Nucleus of the Galaxy.
Origin and History of the Milky Way Galaxy.
18. Galaxies: Normal and Active.
The Family of Galaxies.
Measuring the Properties of Galaxies.
The Evolution of Galaxies.
Active Galactic Nuclei.
Supermassive Black Holes.
19. Modern Cosmology.
Introduction to the Universe.
The Big Bang Theory.
Space and Time, Matter and Energy.
Twenty-First-Century Cosmology.
PART V: LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS.
20. Extrasolar Planets: Worlds Around Other Suns
Properties and Formation of the Solar System, Reprise
Discovering Extrasolar Planets
Extrasolar Planets Zoology
21. Astrobiology: Life on Other Worlds.
The Nature of Life.
Life in the Universe.
Intelligent Life in the Universe.
Afterword.
Appendix A Units and Astronomical Data.
Appendix B Observing the Sky.
Glossary.
Answers to Even-Numbered Problems.
Credits.
Index.

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Each WebAssign online product offers the full textbook combined with a flexible and fully customizable online instructional assignments and tools.

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  • ISBN-10: 0357976819
  • ISBN-13: 9780357976814
  • RETAIL $84.95
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