The Universal Book of Astronomy: From the Andromeda Galaxy to the Zone of Avoidance
The ultimate guide to the final frontier
This alphabetical tour of the universe provides all the history, science, and up-to-the-minute facts needed to explore the skies with authority. Packed with more than 3,000 entries that cover everything from major observatories and space telescopes to biographies of astronomers throughout the ages, it showcases an extraordinary array of newfound wonders, including microquasars, brown dwarfs, and dark energy, as well as a host of individual comets, asteroids, moons, planets, stars, nebulas, and galaxies. Featuring nearly 200 illustrations and eight pages of color photographs, this comprehensive guide provides easy lookup of topics and offers more in-depth information than can be found in existing star guides or astronomy dictionaries. It's an ideal resource for the amateur astronomer or anyone with an interest in the mysteries of the cosmos. David Darling, PhD (Brainerd, MN), is the author of The Complete Book of Spaceflight (0-471-05649-9) and Equations of Eternity, a New York Times Notable Book. |
Other editions - View all
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The Universal Book of Astronomy: From the Andromeda Galaxy to the Zone of ... David Darling No preview available - 2003 |
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The Universal Book of Astronomy: From the Andromeda Galaxy to the Zone of ... David Darling No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
abbr Absolute magnitude Alpha Andromeda asteroid astronomer atmosphere axis binary black hole bright Brighter than Magnitude brightest star brown dwarf catalog celestial Cepheid chondrites cloud comet constellation core cosmic crater dark density diameter discovered disk distance dust Earth eclipse elliptical emission energy galactic globular clusters gravitational helium Hubble Space Telescope hydrogen impact impact craters infrared interstellar Jupiter km/s known light light-years light-yr lines Lsun luminosity lunar magnetic field Magnitude 4.0 main sequence Mars mass meteorite Milky million light-years Moon Msun named neutron star object Observatory observed Open cluster optical orbit Orion particles perihelion period planet planetary nebula polar pulsar radiation radio radius red giant region ring rotation satellite solar system Spectral type spectrum spiral galaxy star chart Stars Brighter stellar sunspot supergiant supernova Surface temperature tion universe Uranus Ursa variable velocity visible Visual magnitude wavelengths white dwarf X-ray