Full Description
A wealth of material on practically every aspect of astronomy, beginning from the first principles. It is quite unique in providing a level of scientific accuracy and detail to be found in no other introductory book, including coverage of instruments, theory, observation, space exploration and cosmology. Encyclopaedic in its breadth, the book still contains in-depth explanations of the underlying theories. The illustrations - many of them colour photographs - animate the text, itself so clear and concise that it will fascinate readers of every discipline.
Winner of the Rapportryers Prize for "most meritorious popular science book".
Contents
1 The Visible Night Sky.- 2 The Dawn of Astronomy.- 3 The Formulation of Laws.- 4 Instruments.- 5 Fundamental Measurements.- 6 Surveying the Planets.- 7 New Planets, Comets and Meteors.- 8 Exploring the Solar System.- 9 The Sun.- 10 Stars and Double Stars.- 11 Variable Stars.- 12 The Milky Way Galaxy.- 13 Beyond the Milky Way.- 14 From the Big Bang to the Present.- Appendices.
