- Email: [email protected]
Astrophysical techniques
magnetism and special relativity. To keep the length of the book to less than 200 pages, some of the developments of the theory and many of the applications are given as problems. Outline solutions are provided. The book consists of 19 chapters plus a mathematical introduction, which makes the text ideal for a 204ecture course taken at the rate of approximately a chapter per lecture. The book can be thoroughly recommended as a working text which, provided they work diligently through the examples, will give the students a thorough grounding in and broad appreciation of classical electromagnetism. W. G. V. Rosser Lunar Sourcebook. A User’s Guide to the Moon. Edited by Grant Heiken, David Vaniman and Bevan M. French. Pp. 736. Cambridge University Press. 7991. f50.00, US $59.50 ISBN 0 527 33444 6. The publication of this book is timely, because of the current interest expressed by the world’s spacefaring nations in returning to the Moon. This book brings together in a single volume a concise collection of the data on the Moon that has been published in numerous books and journals. Each chapter is written by experts who have been involved with studies of lunar materials and the lunar environment since the return of the samples during the Apollo programme. The chapters describe, in detail, the exploration of the Moon; the collection of samples from the surface; the lunar environment; the formation and evolution of the surface; the chemical and mineralogical characteristics of lunar rocks and regolith; the physical properties of the surface; the origin and history of the Moon; and the goals for future exploration. The editors have succeeded in bringing together a sourcebook that can be used to help plan future scientific studies and the human exploration and utilization of the Moon. For anyone who desires more information on a particular subject, the over 1800 references cited in the text will direct the reader to that information. In addition to its great value as an almost exhaustive reference book, the style, presentation, and readability are egemplary. Highly recommended for anyone with a scientific or exploration interest in the Earth’s nearest neighbour. D. W. Ming Uranus. Edited by Jay T. Bergstralh, Ellis D. Miner and Mildred Shapley Matthews. Pp. 1076. University of Arizona Press. 1991. US $65.00 ISBN 0 8165 1208 6. This book is a reviewer’s delight. Firstly, there is no doubt at all what it is about: you are either interested in the planet Uranus or you are not, and if you are, you must have the book. Secondly, it is about as perfect as a technical book can get: authoritative, combeautifully produced, well prehensive, edited, and good value. It is not just a book about Uranus, it is a compendium of everything which is known
96
about Uranus as a physical planet. It is written in most of its parts by the experts who generated much of the knowledge in the first place, the Voyager experimenters. Furthermore, it will be a long time before there will be another visit to Uranus so the book will become dated only very slowly. The information is collected in five sections - magnetosphere, satellites, rings, atmosphere, and interior, with an excellent introduction and overview by the two scientific editors, Jay Bergstralh and Ellis Miner, themselves major contributors to knowledge about Uranus. The organisation and standard of production, overseen as before by Mildred Shapley Matthews, are well up to the standards we have come to expect from the University of Arizona series on the Solar System. Magnificent. F. W. Taylor Astrophotography for the Amateur. Rev. Edn. By Michael Covington. Pp. 168. Cambridge University Press. 1991. Hardback f25.00, US $44.50 ISBN 0 521 41305 2; paperback f 13.95, US $16.95 ISBN 0 527 40984 5. This book continues the high quality of presentation and information that characterized the first edition. The information on films useful in astrophotography is updated and a number of figures replaced or corrected. The result is that a very interesting and informative book on a rather specialist subject is brought completely up to date. The text is extensively illustrated with diagrams and the high quality, photographs of monochrome images of astronomical bodies being rather better reproduced in this edition. The book is divided roughly equally into sections headed ‘Getting started’, dealing with photography of the easier subjects like the Moon and eclipses, with relatively simple equipment; ‘Advanced techniques’, describing both the optical and photographic requirements for photographing the more difficult subjects like planets and nebulae; and ‘Equipment and materials’, which includes an excellent review of the important properties of films useful in astrophotography. Useful appendices give sources of additional information, suppliers of film and equipment, exposure tables, film data, description and circuits for an electronic camera guidance system, and computer programs to supplement the tables in the text. The book remains one of the best introductions to astrophotography for amateur astronomers and photographers alike, and is highly recommended. G. S. Allbright Astrophysical C. R. Kitchin. Bristol. 1991. 7503 0737 6; 7503 0138 4.
Techniques. 2nd Edn. By Pp. 480. Adam Hilger, Hardback f67.50 ISBN 0 paperback f22.50 ISBN 0
There is a continuing need for a book on the basics of astronomical technology for both
amateur and professional astronomers. The jacket of this book promises ‘. a comprehensive and clearly understandable account of the instruments and techniques used in astronomy and astrophysics’. In many traditional areas the book does indeed provide a comprehensive review of the basic physics and optics of the topic. The book covers a very wide range of subjects from general optical imaging and spectroscopy to particle and gravitational wave detectors. In some cases the detail provided will be of interest only to designers of specific instruments such as spectrometers. It is useful to have a full account in some cases but a dozen pages on prism design is perhaps excessive. What is rather more of a problem is that the major technologies that are used for the great majority of nights on large optical telescopes, and are the focus of most of the research energies of today’s astronomers, are covered very lightly if at all. This is quite understandable if the technologies are particularly new and immature and therefore not ready for inclusion in a textbook, but this is not the case in several crucial areas. Specifically, photon-counting imaging systems merit only half a page even though most large U.K. telescopes use these frequently and one is a core instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope (not mentioned either). Charge-coupled devices are covered in eight pages with a lot of over-simplification. Infrared arrays get a quarter of a page and active and adaptive optics are not mentioned. All are areas that must be understood by astronomers wishing to design effective and competitive observing programmes today. This is, therefore, a useful reference book for amateurs and students alike. However, there are major gaps in its coverage of the more modern technologies, so that it really needs to be considerably updated to provide the comprehensive review that is still very much needed. Craig D. Mackay Observing the Sun. By Peter 0. Taylor. Cambridge University Press. 1991. Pp. 759. f 17.95, US $29.95 ISBN 0 527 40110 0. This book is a practical guide for observing the Sun optically and is directed towards the amateur astronomer. As a professional astronomer involved with satellite-based observations, I found the book very interesting and informative as I have not been involved with ground-based solar observations. As noted by the author, observing the Sun optically is relatively easy, although this does depend on where you may live (e.g. Hawaii or Britain). In the book, the author gently takes one through the sunspot numbering/classification system, including the historical aspects. There is also an important chapter on the type of instrument required, e.g. the telescope (reflector versus refractor), the all-important aperture filter (broad-band versus narrow band), etc. For the electronically minded, there is an interesting chapter towards the end of the
96
about Uranus as a physical planet. It is written in most of its parts by the experts who generated much of the knowledge in the first place, the Voyager experimenters. Furthermore, it will be a long time before there will be another visit to Uranus so the book will become dated only very slowly. The information is collected in five sections - magnetosphere, satellites, rings, atmosphere, and interior, with an excellent introduction and overview by the two scientific editors, Jay Bergstralh and Ellis Miner, themselves major contributors to knowledge about Uranus. The organisation and standard of production, overseen as before by Mildred Shapley Matthews, are well up to the standards we have come to expect from the University of Arizona series on the Solar System. Magnificent. F. W. Taylor Astrophotography for the Amateur. Rev. Edn. By Michael Covington. Pp. 168. Cambridge University Press. 1991. Hardback f25.00, US $44.50 ISBN 0 521 41305 2; paperback f 13.95, US $16.95 ISBN 0 527 40984 5. This book continues the high quality of presentation and information that characterized the first edition. The information on films useful in astrophotography is updated and a number of figures replaced or corrected. The result is that a very interesting and informative book on a rather specialist subject is brought completely up to date. The text is extensively illustrated with diagrams and the high quality, photographs of monochrome images of astronomical bodies being rather better reproduced in this edition. The book is divided roughly equally into sections headed ‘Getting started’, dealing with photography of the easier subjects like the Moon and eclipses, with relatively simple equipment; ‘Advanced techniques’, describing both the optical and photographic requirements for photographing the more difficult subjects like planets and nebulae; and ‘Equipment and materials’, which includes an excellent review of the important properties of films useful in astrophotography. Useful appendices give sources of additional information, suppliers of film and equipment, exposure tables, film data, description and circuits for an electronic camera guidance system, and computer programs to supplement the tables in the text. The book remains one of the best introductions to astrophotography for amateur astronomers and photographers alike, and is highly recommended. G. S. Allbright Astrophysical C. R. Kitchin. Bristol. 1991. 7503 0737 6; 7503 0138 4.
Techniques. 2nd Edn. By Pp. 480. Adam Hilger, Hardback f67.50 ISBN 0 paperback f22.50 ISBN 0
There is a continuing need for a book on the basics of astronomical technology for both
amateur and professional astronomers. The jacket of this book promises ‘. a comprehensive and clearly understandable account of the instruments and techniques used in astronomy and astrophysics’. In many traditional areas the book does indeed provide a comprehensive review of the basic physics and optics of the topic. The book covers a very wide range of subjects from general optical imaging and spectroscopy to particle and gravitational wave detectors. In some cases the detail provided will be of interest only to designers of specific instruments such as spectrometers. It is useful to have a full account in some cases but a dozen pages on prism design is perhaps excessive. What is rather more of a problem is that the major technologies that are used for the great majority of nights on large optical telescopes, and are the focus of most of the research energies of today’s astronomers, are covered very lightly if at all. This is quite understandable if the technologies are particularly new and immature and therefore not ready for inclusion in a textbook, but this is not the case in several crucial areas. Specifically, photon-counting imaging systems merit only half a page even though most large U.K. telescopes use these frequently and one is a core instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope (not mentioned either). Charge-coupled devices are covered in eight pages with a lot of over-simplification. Infrared arrays get a quarter of a page and active and adaptive optics are not mentioned. All are areas that must be understood by astronomers wishing to design effective and competitive observing programmes today. This is, therefore, a useful reference book for amateurs and students alike. However, there are major gaps in its coverage of the more modern technologies, so that it really needs to be considerably updated to provide the comprehensive review that is still very much needed. Craig D. Mackay Observing the Sun. By Peter 0. Taylor. Cambridge University Press. 1991. Pp. 759. f 17.95, US $29.95 ISBN 0 527 40110 0. This book is a practical guide for observing the Sun optically and is directed towards the amateur astronomer. As a professional astronomer involved with satellite-based observations, I found the book very interesting and informative as I have not been involved with ground-based solar observations. As noted by the author, observing the Sun optically is relatively easy, although this does depend on where you may live (e.g. Hawaii or Britain). In the book, the author gently takes one through the sunspot numbering/classification system, including the historical aspects. There is also an important chapter on the type of instrument required, e.g. the telescope (reflector versus refractor), the all-important aperture filter (broad-band versus narrow band), etc. For the electronically minded, there is an interesting chapter towards the end of the