Preface

In the wake of the activation of the James Webb Space Telescope, its large step in spatial resolution, and its varied radiometric capacities, the field of astronomy has witnessed breakthroughs in the frontier of analysis from even the earliest exploitation of its data. Already, the direct viewing of an exoplanet and the detection of CO2 in the atmosphere of an exoplanet are prime examples of furthering the exploration capacity of astronomy. A new era of understanding our universe is now upon us!

Astronomy is not only about looking deep into the limit of our technological capacities to observe the farthest in the Universe, its stars and galactic evolutions, black holes, quasars, pulsars or cosmic microwave background, to name a few. The Sun orbiter, for example, is a space probe that, this year only, permitted us to return the highest resolution information from our own star yet. New evidence of heliomagnetism processes appears simply by such improved viewing capacity. In a similar way, space probes sent into our solar system, are allowed to visit a large number of planetary bodies, rocky or gaseous, alongside their moons and icy rings. Many dwarf planets, asteroids and comets have now been visited by space probes, unraveling further parts of the galactic history.

The first section of this book discusses the universe. Chapter 1 is the Introductory Chapter. Chapter 2 by Onah et al. models the temporal evolution of extra-galactic radio sources in a quasar/galaxy unification scheme. Chapter 3 by Yang discusses unified models of black hole accretion. Chapter 4 by Chen discusses the wave propagation theory and its incoherence with the Big Bang theory.

The second section of the book examines the solar system, with a focus on planetary science. Chapter 5 by Dr. Georg Hildenbrand et al. reviews cryovolcanism in the solar system. Chapter 6 by Fillavicencio et al. uses Enceladus jet plumes composition to investigate the similarity of early oceans on Earth to study the support of early forms of life.

> **Yann-Henri Chemin** Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Ispra, Italy

Section 1

Astronomy

**1**

Section 1 Astronomy
