Astronomy Books

I bought this book and sadly didn't read it for many months. I wish I had read a review like this and perhaps, would not have wasted time. Once I began, I breathed it in and hated having to put it down.

Dr. Ahmed writes about what he knows, as an astronomer about science and as a Muslim believer in one God, about his faith's tenets and history. All he requires from the reader is an open mind. Because of those two characteristics, he can and does explain Islam's perspective on science and religion. They are not at odds in a Muslim's worldview and have never been - he goes over the fascinating history of the Middle Ages, also, in which no tension existed between the Islamic faith and scientific achievement.

Very enjoyable to read, it's a fascinating journey into astronomical observations and stargazing history, and along the way you glean some important insights into how Muslim achievement has also shaped Western history. Without reading books such as these, from a Muslim scientist's perspective, you can not attain an understanding of the modern and empirical approaches to science that Islam's holy book, the Qur'an, established as a foundation of Muslim scientists' inductive research. A case in point is Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen in Latin), a Muslim optician/physicist who pioneered the scientific method in the 11th century; a new book by Bradley Steffens (available on Amazon) corroborates that Ibn al Haytham is one of the top 10 scientific geniuses in history! Now all we have to ask is why we are not taught about them?

This book is one of the best books I have ever read that explains science in terms of religion... This book exlpains how the religion of Islam has in its Holy Book the Quarn explained sciences that scientists have just recently discovered. This book shows how the 2000 year old Holy Book of Islam explains concepts of science, and politics, and many other important subjects. I definitly recommend this book to Muslims and Non-Muslims alike. For Muslims it will teach them how the Quran explains scientific phenomenons. For Non-Muslims it will show how the Quran indeed explains scientific concepts only recently discovered today. And will help give a better and more correct view of the religion of Islam.

My 15 month old loves Slimey. She loves to say "night-night, Slimey" and put him to bed in the little "spaceship" in the cover of the book. Then we yell, "wake-up, Slimey!" and she takes him out. It is too funny! She is just getting into playing along with the story. A very cute puppet and book! I'll be sorry when she outgrows Slimey. I've been scouring the internet for other Slimeys with no luck.

Slimey to the Moon is an excellent choice for young children. It is a cute short story filled with bright and colorful pictures. My 18 month old has not put it down since it arrived. A Slimey finger puppet also comes with the book which is great for kids to act out the story as the adult reads it.

written by an amateur. easy to read. easy to follow. gives a picture of what constellations "look" like. educational.

As in all other DK books, colored pictures, photographs, and high-quality gloss paper are found in this book. This book clearly gives a drawing of the constellations, a little history, where it is visible (latitudes), and at the very end, finishes it off with a map of all of the stars from both hemispheres, meaning that you can take this book anywhere in the world and use it! Plenty of information to be found in this book for star gazers. For pros, it's a great reference as it lists individual star names, also, like M2, etc.

Well, it is very comforting to know that the Universe will not end in a "big crunch" and that the Sun will not run out of hydrogen for another five billion years. But jokes aside, didn't you ever wanted to ask someone who knows about life universe and everything, and get a real answer illustrated with awesome pictures? Didn't you ever wanted to listen to someone telling the story of cosmos in a clear, understandable, yet scientific language with all the terminology and the buzz words? Didn't you ever try to read about latest discovery in astrophysics just to find out that the writer either overloads you with the facts that you would never understand anyway or tells it in such baby terms that you fall asleep before finishing the second sentence? For a person who has always been interested in the secrets of the Universe but never had enough time to keep up with the scientific news, for a person who wants to dazzle his kids with explanations how the stars work but realizes that the phrase "they are very hot" no longer cuts it, for a person like myself, this book is a real treasure. What made this book so unique is author's amalgamation of skills and experience. He is a talented artist, knowledgeable scientist, and a great writer with unbelievable access to the vast graphical material some of which he probably created himself during his association with Hubble and Chandra programs. This book should be in every household. It is a fantastic reference to the world around us from Sun to the back wall of the Universe and even beyond.

The Smithsonian Intimate Guide to the Cosmos is an informative and engaging read that is more like a personal tour through the Universe with author Dana Berry as our guide. Backed by stunning images, we begin our tour in our own solar system as Barry guides us from there as we pass by the Alpha Centauri system, monstrous black holes, star clusters, and meteors as we drift towards the moment of the Big Bang and the creation of the universe. Barry is an excellent guide and you don't have to know a lot about science/astronomy (or even like it) to be awed and amazed at the wonders of the universe and our place in it. Besides offering an amazing tour Barry also discusses the possibility of life in the universe (how should we communicate with aliens?), spaceflight, how our universe may not be the only one (there may be up to nine others co-existing with ours), the ultimate fate of humans and our home planet and how the universe may one day all end. Though earth may be but a small planet that orbits around a rather average star in the suburbs of the Milky Way, it is still awe-inspiring to learn more about the wonders of the Universe and both its possible origins and ultimate fate. Through astronomy we learn a little more about ourselves. I highly recommend Intimate Guide to the Cosmos to anyone, its engaging and informative and a enlightening read. Here are the chapters:

Chapter 1 - Our Place Among the Stars
Chapter 2 - Earth and Environs
Chapter 3 - Is There Life in Outer Space?
Chapter 4 - Other Planets, Other Suns
Chapter 5 - The Milky Way and Beyond
Chapter 6 - The Starry Messengers
Chapter 7 - The Big Picture

"Solar Sailing" is the most comprehensive book yet written on solar sailing. This is suggested by the introduction, which gives the history of solar sailing, discusses the basic principles, summarizes the topics of the rest of the book, and concludes with a rich list of references to further material. What follows are six more chapters that delve into the topics of solar sailing: solar radiation pressure, design, orbital mechanics, non-Keplerian orbits, mission applications, and laser sailing. In addition to being an excellent resource on both basic and advanced solar sailing principles, "Solar Sailing" also provides the very latest information on mission applications which are under study right now in chapter 6, like the Geostorm mission for early detection of geomagnetic storms and the sun-synchronous Mercury orbiter. Chapter 3, in addition to discussing solar sail design, describes several historical solar sail designs, mostly from the race to the moon and Mars proposed for the early 1990's.

Each chapter begins with an introduction to the concepts, then discusses them in increasing detail, starting with basic concepts that a beginner or enthusiast can use, and ending with topics that are useful for a detailed engineering analysis. A Equations are provided at every level, so a reader can immediately begin using the material in the book to study solar sailing for themselves. For example, the chapter on radiation pressure begins with a the history of the topic and quantum and electromagnetic explanations for light pressure. Following this are increasingly detailed discussions of the force acting on a solar sail, ranging from perfectly flat and reflective sails and treating the sun as a point, to radiative transfer methods for treating the sun as a disk-shaped light source and curved sails with imperfect reflection.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in solar sailing, from beginners to professionals. Although some of the material in this book can be found in other sources, like technical journals, this book organizes the information in a form that is immediately useful, and covers the basics required to understand the more advanced topics.

This is an excellent book on solar sailing. What I like best about it is that it gives not only useful results for several mission application case studies but the means to derive those results for oneself.

The book begins with a history of the topic and some possible applications, as well as some brief comparisons with other forms of propulsion and a couple of important performance metrics (in particular, the characteristic acceleration). Next is a discussion of radiation pressure, where we start by being carefully walked through the calculation of the force on a perfectly reflecting sail. That gets us in the right mood to examine radiative transfer methods, effects of a non-zero area for the solar disc, and solar sail force models for realistic sails.

After that, McInnes discusses solar sail design parameters, sail materials, sail structures, and sail configurations. That includes an excellent introduction to packing, deployment, and control issues.

Now we get to my favorite chapters: solar sail orbital dynamics, for both Keplerian and non-Keplerian orbits (both Sun-centered and planet-centered). The whole point of using solar sails is to make good use of a small but constant thrust, so a main application is to "levitate" the orbit above the Sun or above a planet. McInnes examines the characteristics, controllabilty, and stability of some of these orbits. And he then obtains results for orbits near Lagrange points (both planetary and lunar).

Few books in any field do as good a job at getting the reader up to speed on a topic. A person who has completed this book ought to be able to delve into any of the most recent literature in the field without fear.

it's excellent but no cd included

For a science that has been studied for as long as there have been humans around to look at the sky, astronomy is rapidly changing. That has resulted in this the fifth edition of this book. Dr. Seeds treats Astronomy almost like a revival preacher. He clearly loves the subject and this comes through in his writing. More than anything else he wants the students to learn a bit about astronomy but to come away clearly knowing the basic principles of the scientific method and perhaps, hopefully seek a career in science.

The book is printed like a high end coffee table book. Brilliant pictures, beautiful printing, and backed up with enough text to explain what is going on. Dr. Seeds has written several astronomy texts. He has had time and feedback from them so that his explanations of fairly complex things such as Einstein's General Theory of Relativity make it seem simple.

This book is primarily on the solar system, but it gets out enough to cover the rest of the galaxy just enough to let you know just how big the universe is.

Finally, visit SETI@Home and let your computer search for signs of extraterresterial intelligence.

Finalmente un libro completo sulla propulsione a razzo a propellente solido, in 600 pagine di libro vengono trattati molti argomenti, ed in modo professionale, con metodologie molto moderne, come ad esempio l'uso di modellazioni del grano di propellente con programmi agli elementi finiti; con l'uso dei computer si possono così simulare sollecitazioni interne del grano e l'erosione interna del canale. Alcuni capitoli sono dedicati allo studio dei propellenti dal punto di vista chimico, e ci sono considerazioni riguardo agli sviluppi futuri di questo tipo di propulsione. Consiglio l'opera solamente a "veri" appassionati della razzopropulsione per almeno due motivi: il primo perchè i problemi vengono trattati con soluzioni prettamente "industriali" con l'uso di materiali e tecniche di uso non tradizionale per gli amatori. Il secondo di carattere economico....... lascio a voi la scelta. Luca Musolesi

I received this book as a gift many years ago as I made my transition from simple engineer to an analyst of CAD/PAD devices. If you are interested in propellants you can find many rare references and very good working closed form solutions. A majority of the work comes out of Europe so those of us in the US will be pleasantly surprised at what we can find. One word of caution to the user who has been educated with Sutton - the derivations are different and tend to be stretched out over the chapters but are very useful. For anyone in the field of rocket propulsion the "red-book" must be in your library. If you are in CAD/PAD or gun propulsion the propellant information is good -keep it with your Corner or Hunt as a key reference, most everything is steady-state.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who is interested in both the U.S. and Soviet space programs. It has many tid-bits of obscure information that will suprise almost anyone.
Anyone interested in the history of two countries' space program will not be disappointed with this book.

The Space Almanac should be rated a 100,000 star book. It has info on everything space and astronomy related.

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by astronomy, and this was my favorite book to check out from our local library. I loved staring at all the big, colorful pictures and reading all the facts about stars, moons, planets, and galaxies. Now, I'm in college, and I'm majoring in astrophysics. I'm certain that this book was one of the things that pushed me in the direction of wanting to be an astronomer. It's a wonderful, comprehensive introduction to the subject, with pages dealing with all of the planets, the sun, stars and their life-cycles, galaxies, space travel, and life in the universe. I'd highly recommend it to any budding astronomers.

I gave this book as a gift for my son when he was 4 years old and he loved it from the very first moment... It features great ilustrations and simple yet interesting text for all ages... It is a great book for any parent whose child is beginning to ask questions about the universe...

For those who can't afford a personal trip to the space station, this book provides excellent views of our planet from space. The photographs cover almost the whole globe and are very high quality.

Spacecam: Photographing The Final Frontier From Apollo To Hubble provides a visual exploration of Earth and deep space as seen from a variety of mediums: from the eyes of astronauts, satellites, space telescopes, and NASA probes. Lovely color photos on every page pack in what astronauts and probes see in space; from images of Earth to other worlds. There have been many other astronomy photo books published over the years, but most have a more singular focus: Hubble, Earth-from-Moon, etc. Spacecam is the most multi-faceted collection of them all.