Astronomers estimate 50,000 sources of near-infrared light are represented in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, I. Labbe (Swinburne University of Technology) and R. Bezanson (University of Pittsburgh). Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Academics

New Edition of ‘Encyclopedia of Astrobiology,’ Co-edited by William Irvine, Now Available

The cover of the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

The third edition of the “Encyclopedia of Astrobiology,” co-edited by William Irvine, emeritus professor of astronomy, has been published by Springer Nature.

The printed version of the latest edition of the work, which was originally published in 2011, consists of three volumes, with approximately 2200 entries by more than 100 authors. Co-edited by Muriel Gargaud of the University of Bordeaux, contributors to the new edition include UMass and Five College authors Irvine, Ron Snell and Gopal Narayanan from the UMass astronomy department, Salman Hameed from Hampshire College and the Five College astronomy department, Susan Leschine and Erin Amato from the UMass Department of Veterinary and Animal Science, and Jeffrey Blanchard and Farah Abdul-Rahman from the UMass biology department.

The topics covered in the encyclopedia include general material on astrophysics, chemistry, geosciences, biology, the history of sciences and planetology, as well as specific articles on such diverse topics as “Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets and Evolution of Intelligence.”

An online version of the “Encyclopedia of Astrobiology” is also available. For more information, institutional access or to purchase the encyclopedia, visit SpringerLink.