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'… will be an invaluable reference work for serious observers - but it is equally suitable for armchair browsers, and indeed for anyone who is curious about what lies beyond the Earth.' Martin Rees, Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, University of Cambridge (from Foreword)
'… a wonderful compendium. It is an invaluable reference work for serious observers and is equally suitable for armchair browsers, and indeed for anyone who is curious about what lies beyond the Earth. … a one-stop reference for astronomers of all levels.' Spaceflight
'Patrick Moore's Data Book of Astronomy holds … [an] allure for the armchair traveller, a compendium of the far-away and strange destinations in the heavens. The diverse offerings of the night sky - nebulae, galaxies, constellations, clusters, comets, asteroids, double stars, variable stars, meteor storms, supernovae, planets and moons - are all here, neatly organised, catalogued and enumerated. Readers with no prior interest in amateur astronomy will find a lot to captivate here. It also contains clearly written, up-to-date sections explaining what all these various celestial objects are, and how we've come to know them. This work offers so much more than a handbook for backyard telescopes; it is an atlas for the Universe around us that will surprise every time you dip in.' Lewis Dartnell, Times Higher Education
'… a tremendously useful text to dip into.' The Observatory
'… a wonderful compendium. It is an invaluable reference work for serious observers and is equally suitable for armchair browsers, and indeed for anyone who is curious about what lies beyond the Earth. … a one-stop reference for astronomers of all levels.' Spaceflight
'Patrick Moore's Data Book of Astronomy holds … [an] allure for the armchair traveller, a compendium of the far-away and strange destinations in the heavens. The diverse offerings of the night sky - nebulae, galaxies, constellations, clusters, comets, asteroids, double stars, variable stars, meteor storms, supernovae, planets and moons - are all here, neatly organised, catalogued and enumerated. Readers with no prior interest in amateur astronomy will find a lot to captivate here. It also contains clearly written, up-to-date sections explaining what all these various celestial objects are, and how we've come to know them. This work offers so much more than a handbook for backyard telescopes; it is an atlas for the Universe around us that will surprise every time you dip in.' Lewis Dartnell, Times Higher Education
'… a tremendously useful text to dip into.' The Observatory
Product Description
Packed with up-to-date astronomical data about the Solar System, our Galaxy and the wider Universe, this is a one-stop reference for astronomers of all levels. It gives the names, positions, sizes and other key facts of all the planets and their satellites; discusses the Sun in depth, from sunspots to solar eclipses; lists the dates for cometary returns, close-approach asteroids, and significant meteor showers; and includes 88 star charts, with the names, positions, magnitudes and spectra of the stars, along with key data on nebulae and clusters. Full of facts and figures, this is the only book you need to look up data about astronomy. It is destined to become the standard reference for everyone interested in astronomy.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This monumental work is the latest incarnation of a book that was first published some fifty years ago now, and is the first edition to appear in the last ten. In this time astronomy and planetary science have advanced enormously, so it is no surprise to discover that the text has been updated and even in some cases extensively added to and revamped, to take into account the discoveries of recent unmanned missions to the sun, moon and planets( as far as the end of 2010 ) , not to mention such recent cutting edge topics as extrasolar planets, dark matter and dark energy.
The range and depth of material collected together in this work can best be gauged by surveying some of the very generous helping of pages provided for inspection by Amazon, typically several for most chapters in the book. You will see there that in addition to extensive tables of numerical data, each chapter has a very readable text, divided into logical sections, and so can be read for entertainment and pleasure, as well as being consulted for that odd obscure fact that might take much longer to track down through, say, Google.
This book is quite simply the most extensive and comprehensive compendium of general astronomical data that I am aware of in book form, as well as being a damn good read too. Anyone with a serious interest in astronomy - and certainly any astronomical quiz buffs out there - should invest in a copy immediately.
No work is perfect, but in this case any recommendation for improvements will be little more than a quibble. One that I might suggest however is that in a future edition a couple of pages might be devoted to listing astronomical symbols and abbreviations; this is the only real omission that immediately occurs to me, and in light of the vast treasure trove of other information presented, I hesitate to mention it. As I said, only a quibble!
The range and depth of material collected together in this work can best be gauged by surveying some of the very generous helping of pages provided for inspection by Amazon, typically several for most chapters in the book. You will see there that in addition to extensive tables of numerical data, each chapter has a very readable text, divided into logical sections, and so can be read for entertainment and pleasure, as well as being consulted for that odd obscure fact that might take much longer to track down through, say, Google.
This book is quite simply the most extensive and comprehensive compendium of general astronomical data that I am aware of in book form, as well as being a damn good read too. Anyone with a serious interest in astronomy - and certainly any astronomical quiz buffs out there - should invest in a copy immediately.
No work is perfect, but in this case any recommendation for improvements will be little more than a quibble. One that I might suggest however is that in a future edition a couple of pages might be devoted to listing astronomical symbols and abbreviations; this is the only real omission that immediately occurs to me, and in light of the vast treasure trove of other information presented, I hesitate to mention it. As I said, only a quibble!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
... if you need a book where you can find all the data you need on the solar system. In this book you'll also find some data on stars, nebulae, clusters, constallations and so on.
This book will certainly serve you well, if you have a somewhat nerd-ish interest in astronomy (like I do), or perhaps even if you are studying astronomy at the university.
Patrick Moore gives the amateur astronomer alot of knowledge about the solar system and the stars, but he doesn't give alot of detailed explanations of the physical phenomena of the universe.
For instance he tells about the spectra of the lights of stars and that astronomers can deside from those, what the stars are composed of, but he doesn't get into the quantum physics behind it... which doesn't matter if you just need a data book, or if you find it interesting to expand your knowledge of the solarsystem and the night sky.
Beeing a complete astro-nerd, I'd have to give this book 5 stars!
The book is written in a language anyone with an interest in astronomy or physics should be able to understand. I'm from Denmark, so my native toungue isn't even english, and I've read the whole 500+ pages without any problems. The last pages of the book is a glossary. It makes the reeding much smoother, that he doesn't explain each and every technical term all the way through the book!
This book will certainly serve you well, if you have a somewhat nerd-ish interest in astronomy (like I do), or perhaps even if you are studying astronomy at the university.
Patrick Moore gives the amateur astronomer alot of knowledge about the solar system and the stars, but he doesn't give alot of detailed explanations of the physical phenomena of the universe.
For instance he tells about the spectra of the lights of stars and that astronomers can deside from those, what the stars are composed of, but he doesn't get into the quantum physics behind it... which doesn't matter if you just need a data book, or if you find it interesting to expand your knowledge of the solarsystem and the night sky.
Beeing a complete astro-nerd, I'd have to give this book 5 stars!
The book is written in a language anyone with an interest in astronomy or physics should be able to understand. I'm from Denmark, so my native toungue isn't even english, and I've read the whole 500+ pages without any problems. The last pages of the book is a glossary. It makes the reeding much smoother, that he doesn't explain each and every technical term all the way through the book!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
V good, but clearer tables in Kindle edition would make it better
11 May 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I downloaded the Kindle edition to my iPad. The subject coverage is wide and answers most questions for the curious. The only disappointment is the lack of clarity of the data tables. They appear to be facsimiles of the originals and the rendering of the print is not crisp. When one normally enlarges a page on the iPad the font is rendered and is beautifully clear. The tables in this book contain a lot of interesting data but some of it is blurred. I'm sure more effort could have been put in to make the tables eBook-friendly.
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