The Third Edition features a new straightforward learning program that uses chapter openers, headers, callouts in the text, and chapter summaries to make learning goals more explicit and to tie together important concepts. Key content has been consolidated and reorganized, with a new emphasis on a planet-by-planet teaching approach. The material is linked to everyday life to help students develop an appreciation for the scientific method and to see how physics and astronomy are foundations for understanding their world.

An expanded and easy-to-use media package makes professors' lives easier both in and out of the classroom.