| Book Name: | The Facts On File Space and Astronomy Handbook |
| Category: | Aerospace Engineering |
| Free Download: | Available |
The Facts On File Space and Astronomy Handbook
Book Description:
Written by the author of several other books on space, this handbook is designed for a general audience. It is organized into four sections: a 1,200-entry glossary, 400 short (one sentence to one paragraph in length) biographies; a 45-page chronology of 8,000 years of discoveries in astronomy and space science; and 17 pages of charts and tables. The glossary provides brief descriptions or definitions for terms such as Blastoff, Extraterrestrial Catastrophe Theory, Gemini Project, Galactic Cannibalism, Habitable Payload, Orion Nebula, Planck’s Radiation Law, and Zenith. Biographies include well-known people such as Galileo Galilei, John Glenn, and Sally Ride, as well as some that one would not expect to find in an astronomy resource, for example, the Italian artist Giotto, who witnessed the 1301 passage of Halley’s comet and depicted it in a fresco. Charts and tables cover topics such as stellar spectral classes, an Apollo Project summary, and planets’ physical and dynamic properties. Appendices provide a short bibliography and Web sites. The index to this handbook could use some improvement. Some index entries—such as those for astronauts and stars—have long lists of page references. Many users would not have the time or patience to go through this number of undifferentiated connections. Topics covered by the charts and tables are not uniformly included in the index. A few black-and-white line drawings and photographs supplement the text. Cross-references link entries to related entries. The Space and Astronomy Handbook is a good resource for libraries that need a short, up-to-date book on this subject.
Table of contents :
Contents……Page 6
Introduction……Page 10
Section One Glossary……Page 12
Section Two Biographies……Page 160
Section Three Chronology……Page 236
Section Four Charts & Tables……Page 290
Appendix A……Page 328
Appendix B……Page 330
Index……Page 336
The Facts On File Space and Astronomy Handbook
Author(s): Joseph A., Jr. Angelo
Series: Science Handbook
Publisher: Facts on File, Year: 2009
ISBN: 9780816073887
