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Long before Galileo published his discoveries about Jupiter, lunar craters, and the Milky Way in the Starry Messenger in 1610, people were fascinated with the planets and stars around them. That interest continues today, and scientists are making new discoveries at an astounding rate. Ancient lake beds on Mars, robotic spacecraft missions, and new definitions of planets now dominate the news. How can you take it all in? Start with the new Encyclopedia of the Solar System, Second Edition.
This self-contained reference follows the trail blazed by the bestselling first edition. It provides a framework for understanding the origin and evolution of the solar system, historical discoveries, and details about planetary bodies and how they interact-and has jumped light years ahead in terms of new information and visual impact. Offering more than 50% new material, the Encyclopedia includes the latest explorations and observations, hundreds of new color digital images and illustrations, and more than 1,000 pages. It stands alone as the definitive work in this field, and will serve as a modern messenger of scientific discovery and provide a look into the future of our solar system.
· Forty-seven chapters from 75+ eminent authors review fundamental topics as well as new models, theories, and discussions
· Each entry is detailed and scientifically rigorous, yet accessible to undergraduate students and amateur astronomers
· More than 700 full-color digital images and diagrams from current space missions and observatories amplify the chapters
· Thematic chapters provide up-to-date coverage, including a discussion on the new International Astronomical Union (IAU) vote on the definition of a planet
· Information is easily accessible with numerous cross-references and a full glossary and index
Very high quality and a lot of detail
| Customer Rating:  | This book isn't what I think of when I hear the word encyclopedia. Rather than short superficial articles, it's a collection of 47 detailed chapters covering everything I would imagine most people would want to know about the solar system. I only read two-thirds of the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed the parts I read.
This is a high level view of the parts of the book that I read. The book opens with three chapters covering the solar system as a whole. This is followed by chapters covering the Sun, each of the planets (some planets with multiple chapters), Pluto, an overview of the planetary satellites, chapters for several of the bigger satellites (the Moon, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan and Triton), meteorites, asteroids, comets and the Kuiper belt.
Although the chapters were written by different authors, the quality was uniformly high. The text was well written and as far as I can tell very complete. There were also many informative diagrams and photos. Many of the photos were quite stunning. One example is the photos of a patch of Europa's ridged plains, the details were incredible. Another nice feature is that the book justifies how we know what we know, for instance it explains the reasons it's believed that some planetary satellites have liquid water under the surface.
This book is also fairly up-to-date. One of the main requirements I had for buying this book was that it included the information gather by Huygens on Titan. I wouldn't have minded a few more pictures from Titan's surface. Obviously in a dynamic field like this no book is completely up-to-date.
I didn't think there were any significant problems with the book. One word of caution is that there may be more details here than some potential readers might want. To fully understand all the material in the book one would have to understand basic Newtonian mechanics, some electromagnetism and a little bit of chemistry. Even without this background one could still understand the vast majority of the book. Although the chapters were written by different authors the amount of repetition is pretty small.
Just to be complete I'll outline the contents of the third of the book that I didn't read. Although these parts looked good from a quick glancing through, I didn't read them in detail (I do hope to have the time to do this later) and can't comment on them. They are solar system dust, four chapters on viewing the solar system in the non-visible spectrum (x-ray, ultraviolet, infrared and radio), ground based telescopes, planetary radar, remote chemical sensing, regular and chaotic motion in the solar system, impacts, volcanism, astrobiology, exploration missions and extrasolar planets.
In summary, I think this is an excellent book covering a huge amount of material, often in great detail, on the solar system. I would expect it covers just about everything potential readers would want to know. |
Outstanding...
| Customer Rating: | This review refers to the 2nd Edition. The book is comprehensive and current (as of November 2006). Pluto, for example, is classified as a dwarf planet and its two recently discovered satellites are discussed.
The only criticism is that the metric system is utilized for ALL measurements. It would be very helpful to have U.S. measurements in parentheses next to their metric counterparts, since many potential buyers of this book may not be scientists or college/grad. school science majors.
Overall, the book is outstanding in every other respect and fully worthy of five stars. James. |
An excellent layman's reference to solar system astronomy
| Customer Rating: | | Don't buy this book thinking it will be an entertaining reference for your twelve-year-old nephew who enjoys astronomy. This hefty tome is more akin to a college-level textbook than an encyclopedia. If you want to get a detailed, but not overly technical, overview of modern solar system science, this is the book for you. |
A legacy!
| Customer Rating: | | Following a thematic progression, ranging outward from the Sun to other planetary systems, the Encyclopedia of the Solar System details the dynamics of motions and rotations, solar wind, planetary, geologic, and atmospheric conditions, as well as other processes in the formation of planets, satellites and the smaller bodies of our planetary environment. The Encyclopedia covers the latest observations employing planetary radar, radio, infrared, and ultraviolet wavelengths. Features convenient glossaries of technical terms, over 700 illustrations, numerous color plates, extensive cross-referencing throughout, further readings, useful appendices, and a comprehensive 4,500 entry index. Readers and web denizens like me will particularly appreciate the convenience of using the accompanying website (academicpress.com/solar) to link to related on-line resources. Keep watching the sky! |
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