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Astronomical problems—an introductory course in astronomy
Planet,SpaceSci. 1970,Vol. 18,PP. 125to 126. PersamonPress. Printedin NorthernIreland
BOOK REVIEWS
H. S. W. MASSEY, E. H. S. BURHOP and H. B. CILBODY (Editors): Electronic and Ionic Impact Pheno~na. Second edition in four volumes. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1969. Volume 1, ‘Collision of Electrons with Atoms’ by H. S. W. Massey and E. H. S. Burhop. xx + 684 pp. ElO; Volume2, ‘El~tronCollisions with Molecules and Photo-ioni~tion’ by H. S. W. Massey. xx + 650 pp. z&10.
THE FIRST edition
of ‘Electronic and ionic impact phenomena’ by H. S. W. Massey and E. H. S. Burhop was published in 1952 and at once became a standard reference. H. B. Gilbody has now joined the two original authors in the preparation of a second edition. The second edition is much more than a revision of the first. It is in effect a new book or rather four new books. The maxi ‘Electronic and ionic impact phenomena’ will be a standard reference for very many years. Volume 1 covers all aspects of electron-atom collisions: the passage of electrons through atomic gases; total collision cross sections; swarm experiments, momentum transfer cross sections; impact ionization, detachment and excitation; analysis of energy and angular distributions; general and semi-empirical theory of elastic scattering; the Born and related approximations; application of classical mechanics; theory of slow electron-atom collisions; resonance phenomena and threshold behaviour. Volume 2 covers all aspects of el~tron-rnol~~e collisions and also radiative processes: the elastic scattering of electrons by molecules; excitation of vibration and rotation; electronic excitation and ionization; dissociative attachment; radiative recombination, photo-ionization, bremsstrahlung, photo-detachment and radiative attachment. Material which appeared up to early 1967 is included. The emphasis is not on presenting a comprehensive compilation of data but rather on giving critical accounts of the important experimental and theoretical methods and on interpreting results. Extensive mathematical analysis is avoided but mathematics is used where necessary. The exposition is lucid. ‘Electronic and ionic impact phenomena’ may be consulted with profit both by specialists in collision physics and by specialists in other fields such as space science. The labour entailed in writing these two volumes was formidable. Perhaps some 2500 research papers are cited. There are over 700 figures and about 130 tables. Each volume has an author index and a good subject index. The standard of production by the Clarendon Press is worthy of this great treatise. D.
R. BATES
B. A. VOUONTSOV-VEL’YAWNOV: AstronomicalProblems-An Introductory Course in Astronomy. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1969. xi + 314 pp. 80s. $10.00. THIS collection of theoretical exercises in elementary astronomy has been translated from the Russian. The sections into which it has been divided follow a course designed primarily for first year astronomy students at universities, but a separate part of each section is given to simpler problems suitable for sixth form work in schools. It is evident from this, and from other remarks in the author’s introduction, that astronomy is taught at school levef more widely in Russia than here. Each section contains an outline of the theory required for the problems in question. The aim here has been to introduce the astronomical principles only, and the underlyingmathemati~l and physical foundations have been taken as read. The book is therefore a handbook of guidance for teachers rather than a course 125
126
BOOK REVIEWS
textbook for students. It is interesting that the list of topics follows roughly the syllabus for some undergraduate courses in this country. The problems, however, contain many fresh ideas which will be welcome to teachers here, This will probably be the main value of the book. P. A. SWEET
N. H. LANGTON (Editor): The Space Environment, Volume 1 of Space Research and Technology. University of London Press, 1969. xiii + 238 pp, 35s. THE AUTHORS of each chapter of this book append the letters F.B.I.S. after their names. It is intended for It is not clear what use universities in the United Kingdom universities and those working in astronautics. would make of the volume since the emphasis is strongly on space as an environment for human beings which, of course, has alwavs been the main preoccupation of the British Interplanetary Society. Once this bias is recognized howeve< the book will be’found to make a good introduction to its subjeci. Chaoter 1 bv M. S. Hunt of African Exolosives and Chemical Industries on the History of Astronautics is interisting, though the inclusion of a se&on on the ELDO story is almost as ludicrous as the story itself. Chapter 2 by Professor G. V. Groves on Atmospheric Structure of the Earth, Venus and Mars is excellent and authoritative. The third chapter on Temperatures in Space by P. Brunt of Hawker Siddeley is really concerned with the temperature a space craft would take up in space-rather a different matter. Here again is a good introduction for anyone concerned about this. Chapter 4 by J. S. Bevan of Borough Polytechnic deals with Radiation and Radiation Protection wholly from the point of view of the hazard to space adventurers. The relevant geophysical picture given is somewhat dated and the account of radiation trapping (especially Fig. 4.3) would be obscure to anyone not already familiar with the mechanism. The Editor’s chapter on Meteoroid Hazards is adequate, but on its own admission barely necessary. In the final chapter on Man in Space, D. H. Howle of New Jersey sets out to deal with the problem of man’s requirements and does so in an adequate and readable manner. ROBERT L. F. BOYD
AN ATLAS: Around the World. George Philip and Son, 1969. 128 pp. 30s.
THIS new atlas should appeal to a wide public because of the unusual treatment of its subject matter, an attractive format and a reasonable price. 94 coloured satellite photographs of the Earth’s surface are presented, to demonstrate variety in the physical environment, and they are accompanied by straightforward commentaries and appropriate physio~aphic diagrams. The quality of photographic reproduction is often good enough for the plates to yield bonus information. when they are inspected under a hand lens. These same plates cannot fail to add fresh interest to the contents of other more orthodox atlases. R. COMMON
A. C. S~CKLA~~ (General Editor): The Proton Fiure Project (The Ju@ 1966 Event). Annals of the IQSY. Volume 3. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass. and London, 1969. xiii + 511 pp. 211s. VOLUME 3 of the IQSY Annals deals with a well planned and well executed international project. The objective was to select a single solar proton event, to ensure that it was observed very fully, and then to publish the resuIts in one volume. The period May-Septem~r 1966 was chosen as a time when a few, but not too many, events might be expected. Thus one could expect one well isolated event to be observed. As it happened an event on July 1966 was well suited to the purpose and a very wide range of observations had been made. The detailed observations are set out in 60 papers. About half of these were related to data that could be regarded as solar, and about half to cosmic and geophysical data. These papers achieve the main purpose of getting the essential material into one place where it can be examined and compared. The main intentions
BOOK REVIEWS
H. S. W. MASSEY, E. H. S. BURHOP and H. B. CILBODY (Editors): Electronic and Ionic Impact Pheno~na. Second edition in four volumes. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1969. Volume 1, ‘Collision of Electrons with Atoms’ by H. S. W. Massey and E. H. S. Burhop. xx + 684 pp. ElO; Volume2, ‘El~tronCollisions with Molecules and Photo-ioni~tion’ by H. S. W. Massey. xx + 650 pp. z&10.
THE FIRST edition
of ‘Electronic and ionic impact phenomena’ by H. S. W. Massey and E. H. S. Burhop was published in 1952 and at once became a standard reference. H. B. Gilbody has now joined the two original authors in the preparation of a second edition. The second edition is much more than a revision of the first. It is in effect a new book or rather four new books. The maxi ‘Electronic and ionic impact phenomena’ will be a standard reference for very many years. Volume 1 covers all aspects of electron-atom collisions: the passage of electrons through atomic gases; total collision cross sections; swarm experiments, momentum transfer cross sections; impact ionization, detachment and excitation; analysis of energy and angular distributions; general and semi-empirical theory of elastic scattering; the Born and related approximations; application of classical mechanics; theory of slow electron-atom collisions; resonance phenomena and threshold behaviour. Volume 2 covers all aspects of el~tron-rnol~~e collisions and also radiative processes: the elastic scattering of electrons by molecules; excitation of vibration and rotation; electronic excitation and ionization; dissociative attachment; radiative recombination, photo-ionization, bremsstrahlung, photo-detachment and radiative attachment. Material which appeared up to early 1967 is included. The emphasis is not on presenting a comprehensive compilation of data but rather on giving critical accounts of the important experimental and theoretical methods and on interpreting results. Extensive mathematical analysis is avoided but mathematics is used where necessary. The exposition is lucid. ‘Electronic and ionic impact phenomena’ may be consulted with profit both by specialists in collision physics and by specialists in other fields such as space science. The labour entailed in writing these two volumes was formidable. Perhaps some 2500 research papers are cited. There are over 700 figures and about 130 tables. Each volume has an author index and a good subject index. The standard of production by the Clarendon Press is worthy of this great treatise. D.
R. BATES
B. A. VOUONTSOV-VEL’YAWNOV: AstronomicalProblems-An Introductory Course in Astronomy. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1969. xi + 314 pp. 80s. $10.00. THIS collection of theoretical exercises in elementary astronomy has been translated from the Russian. The sections into which it has been divided follow a course designed primarily for first year astronomy students at universities, but a separate part of each section is given to simpler problems suitable for sixth form work in schools. It is evident from this, and from other remarks in the author’s introduction, that astronomy is taught at school levef more widely in Russia than here. Each section contains an outline of the theory required for the problems in question. The aim here has been to introduce the astronomical principles only, and the underlyingmathemati~l and physical foundations have been taken as read. The book is therefore a handbook of guidance for teachers rather than a course 125
126
BOOK REVIEWS
textbook for students. It is interesting that the list of topics follows roughly the syllabus for some undergraduate courses in this country. The problems, however, contain many fresh ideas which will be welcome to teachers here, This will probably be the main value of the book. P. A. SWEET
N. H. LANGTON (Editor): The Space Environment, Volume 1 of Space Research and Technology. University of London Press, 1969. xiii + 238 pp, 35s. THE AUTHORS of each chapter of this book append the letters F.B.I.S. after their names. It is intended for It is not clear what use universities in the United Kingdom universities and those working in astronautics. would make of the volume since the emphasis is strongly on space as an environment for human beings which, of course, has alwavs been the main preoccupation of the British Interplanetary Society. Once this bias is recognized howeve< the book will be’found to make a good introduction to its subjeci. Chaoter 1 bv M. S. Hunt of African Exolosives and Chemical Industries on the History of Astronautics is interisting, though the inclusion of a se&on on the ELDO story is almost as ludicrous as the story itself. Chapter 2 by Professor G. V. Groves on Atmospheric Structure of the Earth, Venus and Mars is excellent and authoritative. The third chapter on Temperatures in Space by P. Brunt of Hawker Siddeley is really concerned with the temperature a space craft would take up in space-rather a different matter. Here again is a good introduction for anyone concerned about this. Chapter 4 by J. S. Bevan of Borough Polytechnic deals with Radiation and Radiation Protection wholly from the point of view of the hazard to space adventurers. The relevant geophysical picture given is somewhat dated and the account of radiation trapping (especially Fig. 4.3) would be obscure to anyone not already familiar with the mechanism. The Editor’s chapter on Meteoroid Hazards is adequate, but on its own admission barely necessary. In the final chapter on Man in Space, D. H. Howle of New Jersey sets out to deal with the problem of man’s requirements and does so in an adequate and readable manner. ROBERT L. F. BOYD
AN ATLAS: Around the World. George Philip and Son, 1969. 128 pp. 30s.
THIS new atlas should appeal to a wide public because of the unusual treatment of its subject matter, an attractive format and a reasonable price. 94 coloured satellite photographs of the Earth’s surface are presented, to demonstrate variety in the physical environment, and they are accompanied by straightforward commentaries and appropriate physio~aphic diagrams. The quality of photographic reproduction is often good enough for the plates to yield bonus information. when they are inspected under a hand lens. These same plates cannot fail to add fresh interest to the contents of other more orthodox atlases. R. COMMON
A. C. S~CKLA~~ (General Editor): The Proton Fiure Project (The Ju@ 1966 Event). Annals of the IQSY. Volume 3. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass. and London, 1969. xiii + 511 pp. 211s. VOLUME 3 of the IQSY Annals deals with a well planned and well executed international project. The objective was to select a single solar proton event, to ensure that it was observed very fully, and then to publish the resuIts in one volume. The period May-Septem~r 1966 was chosen as a time when a few, but not too many, events might be expected. Thus one could expect one well isolated event to be observed. As it happened an event on July 1966 was well suited to the purpose and a very wide range of observations had been made. The detailed observations are set out in 60 papers. About half of these were related to data that could be regarded as solar, and about half to cosmic and geophysical data. These papers achieve the main purpose of getting the essential material into one place where it can be examined and compared. The main intentions