About the Author

Mike Seeds was a professor of physics and astronomy at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1970 until his retirement in 2001. In 1989 he received F&M Colleges Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Mikes love for the history of astronomy led him to create upper-level courses on archaeoastronomy 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 Horizons: Exploring the Universe, 12th edition (2012); Universe: Solar Systems, Stars, and Galaxies, 7th edition (2012); Stars and Galaxies, 8th edition (2013); The Solar System, 8th edition (2013); and ASTRO, 2nd edition (2013), all published by Cengage. He was senior consultant for creation of the 20-episode telecourse accompanying his book Horizons: Exploring the Universe.

Dana Backman taught 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&Ms interdisciplinary Foundations program. Dana now teaches introductory Solar System astronomy at Santa Clara University and introductory astronomy, astrobiology, and cosmology courses in Stanford Universitys Continuing Studies Program. His research interests focus on infrared observations of planet formation, models of debris disks around nearby stars, and evolution of the solar systems Kuiper belt. Dana is employed by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, as director of education and public outreach for SOFIA (the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) at NASAs Ames Research Center. Dana is coauthor with Mike Seeds of Horizons: Exploring the Universe, 14th edition (2018); Universe: Solar Systems, Stars, and Galaxies, 7th edition (2012); Stars and Galaxies, 8th edition (2013); The Solar System, 8th edition (2013); and ASTRO, 2nd edition (2013), all published by Cengage.

Since 2004, Michele M. Montgomery has been part of the physics faculty at one of the top three universities with the most undergraduate students, The University of Central Florida. She teaches introductory astronomy, astrophysics, astrobiology, galaxies and cosmology courses to large and small audiences, both face-to-face and online. At UCF, she created a Life in the Universe course that is taught each spring as a follow-up to the fall semesters astronomy course. Since 2006, she has been an adjunct professor at Valencia College, an urban college with more than 35,000 students, where she started the astronomy program at the east campus. She is currently Editor-in-Chief of AAS WOMEN, a weekly newsletter product of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA). She is a co-author on WOMEN IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATH (STEM) - Getting Ahead via the Internet in the book WOMEN, WORK, AND THE WEB: HOW THE WEB CREATES ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES BY SCARECROSS PRESS 2013. With Mike Seeds and Dana Backman, she coauthors HORIZONS HYBRID: EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE 13e and UNIVERSE HYBRID: SOLAR SYSTEM, STARS, AND GALAXIES, 8e and contributed to HORIZONS: EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE 13e AND UNIVERSE: SOLAR SYSTEM, STARS, AND GALAXIES 7e - all published by Cengage. Dr. Montgomery earned her bachelors degree in nuclear/mechanical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, masters degree in physics from the University of Alabama, and Ph.D in physics from Florida Institute of Technology. Prior to her career in academia, she was a nuclear engineer for Bechtel Corporation working on projects at DOEs Savannah River Plant and TVAs Browns Ferry nuclear power plant.