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This is a very useful reference book for working astronomers and astrophysicists. Forming the proceedings of a recent IAU meeting where the availability and the needs of atomic and molecular data were discussed, the papers published here discuss existing and planned instruments for astronomical spectroscopy from earth-orbiting satellites. In particular, the atomic and molecular parameters that are, or will be, needed for analysis of the data obtained by these instruments are considered. A number of significant shortcomings in the available databases are identified. The needs highlighted will be of interest to laboratory astrophysicists, both experimentalists and theorists, who can produce the data required. A second group of papers provides a current inventory of atomic and molecular data compilations. ... Read more

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Discusses the planets and other components of the solar system, offers brief biographies of key astronomers, describes stellar types and life cycles, and covers eighty-eight constellations. ... Read more

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An Astronomer's "Friend"
This book provides a lot of information in just 96 pages. It describes the lifespan of stars, the unique characteristics of each planet in our Solar System, the constellations and the history behind them, plus tips for star-gazers (like getting the best out of you telescope or even binocularsand what areas of the sky provide the best "show".) At the end ofthe book is a quick reference section that sums up the info intoeasy-to-read charts. There is also a page where you can find the history ofastronomy and answers to space-related questions. I plan to be anastronomer when I grow up, and this book was an excellent starting point inmy research of astronomy. ... Read more

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Apollo 13. Big bang theory. Comet Hyakutake. White Dwarf Stars. When studying complex scientific concepts, your students need a resource written in terms they will understand — your students need U·X·L's Astronomy & Space. Out-of-this-world features include:

• Approximately 300 entries — each ranging from one to nine pages
• Approximately 240 illustrations
• Sidebars that expand on areas of high interest to students
• A historical timeline of famous astronomers, events and discoveries

Customer Reviews (1)

Up to date, Complete, and Fascinating
This is a huge, up to date, single volume encyclopedia. It is not a text, but an alphabetical listing of just about everything there is to know about the subject. More than most astronomy books, this one contains a lot more information about the various space oriented NASA projects. I can't say that every mission is documented, but in looking several up I couldn't find any that were missing. Likewise other aspects of space technology aren't left out. You don't find discussions for instance on the de Laval nozzle in most other books.

On the astronomical side, his discussions on dark enery and dark matter are as good as any I've seen. This is not to say that he claims to know what they are, but he gives a good description what the leading current theories say. I notice that he has no comment on the speed of gravity (which nobody seems to know), but I guess you have to draw the line somewhere.

One problem with this book is putting it down. It is so big, and has so much information that you tend to want to read it from beginning to end. Except that you get distracted and start jumping around as something new grabs your interest. ... Read more

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To the Navajo, sandpaintings are sacred, living entitiesthat reflect the interconnectedness of all living beings—humans,plants, stars, animals, and mountains. This book, now available inpaperback, explores the circularity of Navajo thought insandpaintings, Navajo chantway myths, and stories reflected in thecelestial constellations.

Beautifully illustrated by the author, this well-documented bookexplores the spiritual world of the Navajo, their ceremonialpractices, and their conceptions of time and stellarmotion. Griffin-Pierce shows how the images of sacred sandpaintingsnot only communicate the temporal and spatial dimensions of the Navajouniverse but also present, in visual form, Navajo ideas aboutrelationships among nature, self, and society.

"Griffin-Pierce's approach is highly original, bringing this materialtogether in an innovative and creative manner while grounding itholistically within the context of Navajo world view."—M. JaneYoung, author of Signs from the Ancestors: Zuni Cultural Symbolism andPerceptions of Rock Art ... Read more

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Informative, well written, a bit repetitive
The author's wrote this book so she could understand for herself and be able to present Navajo sandpaintings as "dynamically sacred living entities whose meanings lie in the process of their creation and use" (page xix). Sandpaintings, created from different colored sands and sacred objects, are not art.They are representations of mythical beings and legends created for the purpose of reestablishing someone's health and harmony.The study of sandpaintings and their various meanings permits the reader considerable insight into Navajo land-tied religious beliefs, world view, creation myths, society, history, and even concepts of time. (page 6)
The author, Trudy Griffin-Pierce, provides little autobiographical information in the book.She mentions her rootless Air Force upbringing and how her early readings were devoted to books about Native American culture, especially the Navajo.Although she is distantly related to the Catawba Indians of South Carolina, she always felt a kinship with the Navajo and lived for a time with a Navajo family, learning their traditions, history, and language.This bond drew her to Arizona after she completed her undergraduate degree in art at Florida State University.N. Scott Momaday, in his "Forward", adds that Ms. Griffin-Pierce is a very creative artist, capable of understanding and discussing the artistic dimension of the Navajo world.She makes the inventive and imaginative Navajo system of belief without our understanding.Ms. Griffin-Pierce received her doctorate in anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1987, where she is currently Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department and teaches three courses. The information on her website at the University of Arizona reveals that this was her first published book.She has written four newer books, The Encyclopedia of Native America (1995), Native Americans: Enduring Cultures and Traditions (1996), Native Peoples of the Southwest (2000), and Paridigms of Power:The Chiricahua Apache Prisoners of War and Naiche's Hide Paintings (in press);and two articles, "When I am Lonely the Mountains Call Me:The Impact of Sacred Geography on Navajo Psychological Well Being", and "Navajo Religion".All of her writings center on the history of Indians in the United States' Southwest.She is currently studying aging and dementia among Arizona's Native Americans.
In this book, Ms. Griffin-Pierce details Navajo religious beliefs, world views, historical myths, societal structure, and astronomical concepts before she discusses the use and structure of Navajo sandpaintings.Basic Navajo religious beliefs are still followed by many Navajos who chose not to assimilate the tenets of Christianity presented to them in the 1800's.There is no word for "religion" in the Navajo language.Spirituality, health, harmony, and beauty are inseparable.The universe is an all-inclusive whole where everything has a unique place and beneficial relationship to all other living things.God is the "Unknown Power" worshipped through His Creation.The Navajo also have a close relationship with the Holy People, with whom they interact daily. (page 34)
Navajo religious beliefs are closely tied to their intense longing for and their love of their homeland, which they consider the "point in space from which all conceptions of the cosmos proceed". (page xv)The land and the earth is their foundation of all belief, wonder, and meaning in human existence, and the four sacred mountains are the center.There are no permanent religious centers.The Native American Church is a local peyote visionary religion. (page 23)The Navajo have a circular concept of time that permits their mythic, spiritual world to coexist with their physical world.The author suggests that the Navajo sacred sandpaintings cannot be understood unless we accept the Navajo's "mythopoetic context of layered time, space, and meaning". (page 7)Navajo spirituality affirms humanity's place in nature as a whole.Their ceremonies restore the interconnectedness of all life.They believe sicknessresults from failure to maintain reciprocal responsibilities with the environment, infringement of ceremonial rules, and transgressions against one's own mind and bodies.Her purpose in writing this book is to share a more humane, more connected view of the world and its contributions in reestablishing humanity's alignment with the universe. (page 9) Navajos still worship gods and goddesses of specific purposes.Their deities include the Sun; Changing Woman, who brings the earthly seasons; and their children, Hero Twins, Monster Slayer, Born-for Water, First Man and First Woman, First Boy and First Girl, the trickster Coyote, and the Speechless Ones, who cannot utter words. (page 34)These are often depicted in the sandpaintings.
Navajos have a concept of the "Holy Wind", reminiscent of the Christian Holy Spirit, as a being that exists everywhere and is in all living beings.For them this means that all living beings are related and that humanity has a responsibility to care for other living beings.Curiously, in Navajo Creation stories, the Holy People spoke, sang, and prayed the world into existence with their sacred words.Since everyone has an inner form and is part of the Holy Wind, each has a Holy Person located within.Oneness with the universe creates a responsibility to treat one's fellow creatures with the same respect one has towards oneself.(page 73).
The Navajos were among the last American Indians to migrate from Asia to North America and were late in arriving in the Southwest.They settled in the geographical area bounded by the four Sacred Mountains in the Four Corners area of the Southwest.Their geographical isolation protected them from diseases brought by the Spaniards and provided them with access to stealing their horses, sheep, and goats.They learned weaving from the Pueblos.The Navajo societal structure was and is matriarchal, clan, andfamily based, and they dwell in isolated family groups structured by the nuclear family, the matrilocal extended family, close relatives, and other relatives.Many Navajo live in frame houses today, but some still choose well-constructed hogans. (page 21)
Navajo ceremonial healings involving sandpaintings are conducted by highly trained practitioners called "chanters" who have learned to sing the elaborate Navajo rituals.The Navajo chanter can cure witchcraft, exorcise ghosts, and establish immunity to illness.(page 37)A chanter is a priest, not a shaman, and never enters the shaman's characteristic trance state.Most chanters are men.Women become diagnosticians, or shamans who acquire knowledge in a trance state.(page 39)Navajo ceremonials are rites (rattle is not used) or chants (rattle accompanies singing.The major rites (Blessingway and Enemyway) use drypaintings with pigments made from plants, including corn, pollens, cornmeal, flower petals, and charcoal.The author explains that Enemyway is a form of exorcism against the ghosts of aliens, violence, and ugliness.The chanting ceremonies (Holyway, Evilway, or Lifeway)use sandpaintings of different colors of sand, ocher and charcoal.Other sacred objects, vegetation,and bowls of water are incorporated into both types of ceremonies.(pages 40-41)There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different sandpainting designs.
A sandpainting is a place of entry where supernaturals enter and leave, attracted by their likenesses in the painting.The establishment of this pathway lets the evil or illness in the patient be replaced by the good, or healing power of the supernatural being.(page 43)The healing ceremonies last for several days.It takes four to six people three to five hours to complete a sandpainting six feed in diameter.The workers begin in the center and work outwards.(page 45) The Navajos' basic concept is that the powers of the heavens and earth are drawn into the sandpainting for the purpose of healing.Time is compressed so that powerful mythic events of the past coexist with the present and restore harmony and well being to the person being healed.(page 58)The sandpainted image is intended to let the sick person project his or her mind through time and space, rising above present earthly limitations.(page 59)The Navajo layered worldview becomes meaningless during a ceremony as all layers of heavens and underground become one.
The Navajos study the constellations and star arrangements primarily for determination of seasons, and they are not part of the ceremonial core of sandpaintings, even though depictions of mythical gods of creation in the form of constellations may be used.(page 103)One of the more interesting myths is how Younger Brother went to the sky country and met an inner circle of hostile beings whom he left to stay with the friendly Star People in the outer dwellings.These friendly Star People, whom the Navajo call "The People", and the hostile beings are still incorporated into sandpaintings.
The author concentrated on the "Mother Earth, Father Sky" sandpainting because it is the most familiar to outsiders and presents the most detailed depiction of the Navajo heavens of sandpaintings in use today.(page 175)She describes the intricate, careful, detailed process involved in making a sandpainting.Mother Earth and Father Sky must be identical in shape and size.The act of creating a sandpainting is healing because it focuses everyone's thoughts on the principles of balance and order.(page 177)The painting becomes "alive" to serve its transcendent purpose when the chanter strews sacred pollen on it and blesses those attending.(page 183).The sacred and blessed sandpainting forces the patient to reconnect in time and space to past and present sacred forces and reminds the patient of her connectedness to humans present physically or spiritually.(page 194)
This book accomplishes the author's stated purposes and does discuss the themes in detail.However, the information is disorganized and scattered, making the book itself hard to read.The author's purpose was to teach the reader how to understand and appreciate the making, content, and purpose of Navajo sandpainting, which she accomplishes.Some of the information presented about Navajo religious beliefs is curiously similar to Christianity, and the author does not sufficiently discuss whether or not these were original to the Navajo who migrated to the Americas or picked up and changed a bit from what Christian missionaries tried to teach them.The Navajo ties to the religious symbolism of their land is remarkably similar to early Hebrew thought, but no mention is made of that.The textual sources used by the author are all documented research papers or books that are fairly recent in date.One would wish earlier sources had been consulted on some issues, but their availability is not known.The author combines quite boring detailed information with her myths and more lively text, making the book itself a challenge to complete.

discover the stars in sandpaintings
Have you ever seen a Native American sandpainting? This book does a great job of digging deep into the cosmology behind the Navajo, or Dine's, unique sandpainting tradition. More than just a colorful artistic medium, the practice of sandpainting and the end products share a fundamental connection to the worldviews held by these people. The sandpaintings you see in art galleries and gift shops are beautiful, but these are only a secondary use of the sandpainting skills. Sandpainting holds an integral place in Navajo healing ceremonies and this book documents how these sandpaintings and their components provide a ceremonial connection between the people and the universe.

Of particular interest is the author's detailed coverage of the Navajo constellations and the ceremonial sandpaintings that reference them. She effectively combines information from previous works and her own studies with Navajo teachers. As a result, the reader is presented with a much better understanding of Navajo star figures and how they are represented in certain sandpaintings. This information is tied to contemporary stars and constellations enough to help the reader go beyond the book and actually find some of the figures in the night sky.

This book does a good job of carefully treading the line between documentation and exploitation of it's culturally significant and sensitive subject. The Navajo's keeping of cultural knowledge by oral tradition is safeguarded by having aspects of their traditions documented in a book like this. This book is not a light read, but it shouldn't be, as the subject is a serious and thought-provoking one.

Don Childrey, author of "STAR TRAILS - Navajo" ... Read more

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Fully updated with data from space-based observations and a comprehensive index and bibliography, this third edition contains the most frequently used information in modern astrophysics. As well as a vast number of tables, graphs, diagrams and formulae it also contains information covering topics including atomic physics, nuclear physics, relativity, plasma physics, electromagnetism, mathematics, probability and statistics, and geophysics. This handbook will be an essential reference for graduate students, researchers and professionals working in astronomy and the space sciences. A website containing extensive supplementary information and databases can be found at www.cambridge.org/9780521782425. ... Read more

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A great reference book
This is the third edition of Zombeck's excellent handbook - and it was long overdue.It is an invaluable resource for students and academics in the field of space science and astrophysics.The layout is clean and information is easy to find.As well as covering all the standard topics one might expect in such a book, there are some interesting extras such as permissible raditation doses.Be warned though, there are relatively few explanations in here so it is not a book for the general public - you really have to know the subject matter.

A reference for modern Space Scientists
This book is meant to be like the C.R.C.
Mathematics Tables that many of us have carried since high school.
Starting with fundamentals constants it presents values and equations
necessary for calculations in astronomical science
and ends with information on space delivery systems available at the time of printing.
Every college library connected with an astronomy program should have this reference on it's shelves. ... Read more

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This is a superb introduction to the universe, with breathtaking surface-eye views of the planets and wonderful deep space images of stars. It gives a planet by planet guide to the solar system, 20 pages of star maps plus a guide to famous and easy to spot stars, nebulae, galaxies and meteor showers. It includes practical information on star-watching, home astronomy and using a telescope or binoculars. It also includes internet links to recommended websites with the latest space information, and fabulous images from the Hubble Space Telescope. ... Read more

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The New York Public Library amazing space

Travel to distant galaxies and explore awesome constellations. Discover mysterious planets and catch a comet by the tail. Find the answers to your questions about the wonders of space . . .

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY's best-selling reference books include The New York Public Library Desk Reference, The New York Public Library Book of Answers, and The New York Public Library Student's Desk Reference. ANN-JEANETTE CAMPBELL is the coauthor of The New York Public Library Incredible Earth.

Also in this series . . . The New York Public Library Incredible Earth ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Grandpa to an 11 year old
My grandson loved this book that I gave him for Xmas.He claims to have read it, cover to cover, in one sitting.I'm doubtful of that, but I am confident it was throughly enjoyed.

Last of Sam's Xmas 09
this did not come until way after Christmas so that was a disapointment, the condition was good, just the mailing was so very late.

I Love The NY Public Library Series Books
Another great book by NY Public Library. Even as an adult I find new and interesting things to read in these books. I highly recommend them to all ages. ... Read more

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Sort of an who is who of astrophysics
This book is very heavy on astronomy types.
The space program which is more resent is also represented.
It is meant as a reference with biographies
of people not always well known to the rest of the world like
Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell
who earned her research director a Nobel Prize.
Or Mary Fairfax Sommerville who was a first in astrophysics for women.
Since my n-dimensional Euclidean geometry is by another Somerville,
that name caught my attention.
This is a good biographical reference book in astronomy.

Excellent resource.
In dictionary format this volume on Notable Scientists includes the thoroughness and accessibility Facts on File thrives on for presenting easy to research biographies of giants in the field.This volume is about those pioneers in space and astronomy that provided the core of knowledge that scientists are still accessing and using.There are familiar names, such as, Plato , Aristotle, Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley, Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, "...known as the scientist who explains to the masses the laws that govern the universe."This volume is easy to reach for as an authorized site for a "quick biography" that includes personal information, contributions to the field of science, and a picture.Besides learning about the highlights of the scientists' career, the researcher will also find the obstacles and personal tragedies that often beset the lives of these men.Although few women are included, they are sometimes included in the text. Edward Charles Pickering employed women to be "observational astronomers" and help produce Henry Draper Catalogue, funded by the widow of Draper. ... Read more

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When working in the highly technical fields of astronomy and the related space sciences, the practitioner is constantly confronted with a baffling array of different abbreviations, acronyms, contractions and symbols. The identification and differentiation of these terms is a task which, all too often, can prove to be a near impossible one.

With about 200,000 entries, StarBriefs Plus represents the most comprehensive and accurately validated collection of abbreviations, acronyms, contractions and symbols within astronomy, related space sciences and other related fields. As such, this invaluable reference source (and its companion volume, StarGuides Plus) should be on the reference shelf of every library, organization or individual with any interest in these areas.

Besides astronomy and associated space sciences, related fields such as aeronautics, aeronomy, astronautics, atmospheric sciences, chemistry, communications, computer sciences, data processing, education, electronics, engineering, energetics, environment, geodesy, geophysics, information handling, management, mathematics, meteorology, optics, physics, remote sensing, and so on, are also covered when justified. Terms in common use and/or of general interest have also been included where appropriate.

After some thirty years in continuous compilation, verification and updating, this dictionary-style compilation offers also separate sections devoted to Greek letters, mathematical symbols, special signs and characters, as well as entries with a numerical prefix. ... Read more

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1837. Whewell's object is to lead friends of religion to look with confidence and pleasure on the progress of the physical sciences, by showing how admirably every advance in our knowledge of the universe harmonizes with the belief of a most wise and good God. The Contents of this book are divided into three Books: Terrestrial Adaptations; Cosmical Arrangements; and Religious Views. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. ... Read more

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A "BRIDGEWATER TREATISE," AND A CLASSIC OF NATURAL THEOLOGY
William Whewell (1794-1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science.

The Earl of Bridgewater (1856-1829; he was an amateur naturalist) on his deathbed commissioned eight "Bridgewater Treatises" to explore "the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation." These eight volumes appeared between 1833 to 1840, and included such works as: On the Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition of Man: Principally with Reference to the Supply of His Wants and the Exercise of His Intellectual Faculties by John Kidd; Animal and Vegetable Physiology: Considered with Reference to Natural Theology, Volume 1 by Peter Mark Roget; Geology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to Natural Theology, Volume 1 by William Buckland; and Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion Considered with Reference to Natural Theology by William Prout.

He begins the book by saying, "(T)he views of the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, which natural science opens to us, harmonize with our belief in a Creator, Governor, and Preserver of the world. To do this with respect to certain departments of Natural Philosophy is the object of the following pages."

Here are some other representative quotations from the book:

"When indeed we come to see the vast number, the variety, the extent, the interweaving, the reconciling of such adaptations, we shall readily allow, that all things are so moulded upon and locked into each other, connected by such subtilty and profundity of design, that we may well abandon the idle attempt to trace the order of thought in the mind of the Supreme Ordainer."
"As the eye is made for light, so light must have been made, at least among other ends, for the eye."
"If the earth had no atmosphere ... all must be inert and dead. Who constructed these three extraordinarily complex pieces of machinery, the earth with its productions, the atmosphere, the ether? ... We conceive there can be but one answer; a most wise and good God."
"The Creator of the Heavens and of the Earth, of the inorganic and of the organic world, of animals and man, of the affections and the conscience, appears inevitably to be one and the same God."
"There can be no wider interval in philosophy than the separation which must exist between the laws of mechanical force and motion, and the laws of free moral action."
... Read more

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Part B of Planetary Astronomy from the Renaissance to the Rise of Astrophysics continues the history of celestial mechanics and observational discovery through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It provides a synoptic view of the main developments and furnishes details about the lives, ideas, and interactions of the various astronomers involved.Twelve different authors have contributed their expertise to this book that begins with the reception of Newton's inverse-square law. In the remainder, a large place is given to the development of the mathematical theory of celestial mechanics from Clairaut and Euler to LeVerrier, Newcomb, Hill, andPoincaré. This emphasis is balanced by other chapters on observational discoveries and the rapprochement of observation and theory (for instance, the discovery of Uranus and the asteroids, use of Venus transits to refine solar parallax, introduction of the method of least squares, and the development of planetary and satellite ephemerides). Lists of "Further Reading" provide entrée to the literature of the several topics. This book will be of great interest to historians of science and astronomers. ... Read more

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New Cosmic Horizons tells the extraordinary story of space-based astronomy since the Second World War. Starting with the launch of the V2 rocket in 1946, this book explores the triumphs of space experiments and spacecraft designs and the amazing astronomical results that they have produced. David Leverington examines the fascinating way in which the changing political imperatives of the United States, USSR/Russia and Western Europe have modified their space astronomy programs. He covers all major astronomy missions of the first fifty years of space research: the Soviet Sputnik and American Explorer projects, the subsequent race to the moon, solar and planetary missions, and the wonders of modern astrophysics culminating in the exciting results of the Hubble Space Telescope. Extensively illustrated, New Cosmic Horizons offers amateur and professional astronomers an unusual perspective on the history of astronomy in our time.David Leverington was Design Manager of the GEOS Spacecraft and Meteosat Program Manager for ESA in the 1970s. During his tenure as Engineering Director at British Aerospace in the 1980s, he was responsible for the Giotto spacecraft that intercepted Halley's comet, and the Photon Detector Assembly and solar arrays for the Hubble Space Telescope. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He lives in Essex, England. ... Read more

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The fascinating history of space-based astronomy
In New Cosmic Horizons: Space Astronomy From The V2 To The Hubble Space Telescope, David Leverington reveals the fascinating history of space-based astronomy from the launching of the V! rocket in 1946 down to the present day. Here are all the triumphs of the space experiments and spacecraft designs that have produced the spectacular astronomical results in the last half of the twentieth century. Profusely illustrated and with a comprehensive, "reader friendly" text ideal for both astronomy students, astronomy professionals, and the interested non-specialist general reader, New Cosmic Horizons will prove to be an essential, core addition to any personal, academic or community library reference collection. ... Read more

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Find out how to create your own "Darth Fader" to determine the effects of sunlight on different colors; watch the night sky for some absolutely stellar performances; and create your own planet for you and your friends to visit. The Annual Meteor Shower Chart shows the best times to go meteor watching. ... Read more