Astronomy Books

I've read many books of this genre and I rate this one of the best. If you truly want to understand what's going on read this book.

The book `Galactic Astronomy: Structure and Kinematics', by Dimitri Mihalas and James Binney, is a classic, basic text for those interested beyond the basic level of what a galaxy is and how it is structured.

This is a revision of a text first written in 1967 -- as scientific advances have proceeded at an ever increasing speed, this text too is lacking in many of the most recent discoveries and interpretations. However, it still provides a significant introduction to many basic ideas and patterns that have not changed over time. There has been a follow-up by James Binney and Michael Merrifield published recently.

Galactic astronomy, with the increasing understanding of large-scale physics and the increasing data from telescopes, both visual and extra-visual, has made great strides in understanding the composition, motions and developments of galaxies -- not only spiral galaxies such as our own, but other galactic shapes and structures, too. This book addresses the structure and kinematics. A word of explanation: kinematics is the study of motion without reference to the forces which cause the motion -- dynamics addresses that, and that is not included in this text, but rather left for a second volume.

This volume begins with a basic overview of the our conception of our own galaxy, giving a brief historical overview of explanations about the Milky Way and how this developed into the idea of a disc of stars; the recognition of our Sun being not in the centre but rather in a more unremarkable spot on one of the arms of the galaxy; the increasing knowledge from better and better observational data of the number of stars and other constituents of the galaxy, and the plotting of movement of individual stars and the collective motion of the galaxy. With the additional charting of dark matter, globular clusters, and other pieces, an increasingly accurate portrait of our home galaxy has been made.

The volume then gives a 'refresher' on astronomical terminology and concepts as related to galactic astronomy. Positions and coordinate systems, motions, measurements using parallax, stellar spectra, magnitudes and colours, energy distributions, and a refresher on the cataloguing system help to put the rest of the text in perspective. Particularly as galaxies are primarily made up of stars, the physical properties stars--masses, evolution, types of stars--are examined in detail, along with information about interstellar absorption and other galactic constituents.

Then, galactic astronomy begins in earnest, with a discussion of the distribution of stars and other elements in our own galaxy. Methods of star counting, apparent versus real distribution of stars and elements, distribution in the disc and distribution in the spheroidal component, as well as stellar populations are covered. From here, a description of other types of galaxies (morphology, magnitudes, distances, spectrophotometric properties) enlarges the ideas of galactic ideas. In examining other galactic types, Mihalas and Binney give a cautionary tale, one that is true in observational astronomy generally -- one thing may look like another, even with the most sophisticated of measuring tools. People may make assumptions about observational data trends that can skew large-scale ideas of the entire universe.

`Biases of the kind...may affect our understanding of the Universe in two important ways. (1) We may be unaware of the existence of numerous compact galaxies or diffuse, faint galaxies, which together might contribute significantly to the mass density and dynamics of the Universe, and which might feature prominently in the world views of observers whose skies are either darker or less hazy than our own. (2) We may seriously misjudge the nature and size of 'normal' galaxies.'

While our data today is yet again much better than that used when this text was compiled, these caveats are still of importance, as the hunt for dark matter, less luminous objects, and hidden material still continues.

In discussing the kinematics, the motion of galaxies, Mihalas and Binney begin with solar and stellar motions, and then proceed from there. Using relative parallax measurements and motion around the galactic centre, they proceed to describe the kinematics of stars both in the disk and the halo (the spheroidal-component), also observing the varying velocities. Estimation and application of general rotation laws from our own galaxy to other galaxies is a rather difficult one to observe, given the continuing difficulties of pinpointing individual constituents in vastly distant galaxies for measurement.

This is a book on how galaxies are, and some basic information about the motion of galaxies. A follow-up volume, published in 1987, dealt with galactic dynamics. Many questions remained unanswered at the time of publication, and still remain unanswered. However, for the serious astronomer (amateur or professional -- and astronomy is one of the few sciences in which to be an amateur is a respected status), this book gives insight and information on a fascinating branch of the study of the universe. Intended for late undergraduate and graduate-level study.

James Blish (1921-1975) was a well known sci-fi writer. Here we have a very representative collection of short tales; this is the original Signet edition from 1959, collected from stories printed in sci-fi magazines between 1953 and 1959.

These narrations have the very special "flavor" of the `50s that I fondly remember from my teens.

There are several typical products of the "Cold War Era" stories; "Tomb Tapper" is one of them and the weakest of the collection.
"The King of the Hill" also pertains to this kind, but is far more interesting, dealing with people under stress and how they channel it.
"To Pay the Piper" here again we are presented a "Cold War Era" scenery with Hot War still raging after fifty years.

"Common Time" is an excellent account about the consequences of piloting a starship faster than light. A kind of tale that the reader regrets it's only a short story, bursting with interesting issues that may deserve a full length novel to develop them completely.
"Nor Iron Bars" is situated is the same universe as "Common Time" telling about a new flying method... and its consequences. This is a great story!

"A Work of Art" explores a recurrent sci-fi theme: what happens when a persona is revived into a new body by scientific method?

"Beep" is a very good story about communications, intelligence services and being able to know the future.
In "This Earth of Hours" Blish is at his best, unbounded, he describes a far future universe with intricate new social forms and puzzling aliens.

I wholeheartedly recommend this collection to sci-fi lovers!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

I gave this book 5 starss for its good look into galaxies, what they look like the different types. This book is good for childeren who are interested in space and want to learn more about galaxies. This book is definently for kids, or adults who know just about nothing of galaxies. It gives you a good look at all the different kinds of galaxies and the diffent forms they come in. I think that this book is great for all the people out there who have no idea what a galaxy is made of or how hey formed into what they are today. If you are really interested in learning things about space, I recomend the book stars. It tells you just about everything you need to know about stars and what they are made of. There are many other space books out there that will teach you just about everything you need to know. This book is good for just aobut everybody who is just start to learn.Over all this is a good book to have even if youre not interested in space, it still has great pictures to hang on the wall.

This volume develops galaxy formation as a consequence of the first Big Bang fireball phase transition He++ to He+, which depressurized the Big Bang fireball, allowing gravitation to fragment out material lobes of galactic dimensions. That is, the galaxies formed at the time the first complete atoms with electron hulls were formed. The analysis proceeds from 2 different angles, on the one hand from an analysis of binding energies applied to gravitationally bound clouds of material at the transition temperature, and on the other hand from a consideration of the Jeans length pressure waves in the plasma created by the He++ to He+ pressure jog. Both approaches yeild compatible galactic models, with the dynamical-theory-of-gasses approach pioneered by Jeans supplying the best results, including the expectation radius of a spiral galaxy and the structure laws for the barred spirals and all other galaxies with internal structure that has a regular form.

Spinrad is the man on galaxies--a life's work is before you from the preeminent researcher on distant objects.

Drake says that Galileo aimed to replace the primacy of the philosophical quest for the truth with the scientific quest. Drake pictures Galileo as one who understands that Science does not bring absolute truth but closer approximations to truth. He sees the hostility to Galileo as having come not so much from the church as from contempoary philosophers. As the book- jacket states ' in a startling reintepretation of evidence, the hypothesis is here advanced that Galileo in his struggle for freedom of scientific inquiry was mainly concerned not to promote Copernicanism as such, but to prevent responsible theologians from risking the Church's future credibility by taking up a position on any scientific matter at all." So the consquence of Galileo's action was a final parting of the paths of science and philosophy.

The wonderful illustrations and photographs keep your attention on each page and lead to more discussion. Galileo's ideas are put into context with the religious and scientific climate of his time with lots of references to other historical figures. I can't wait to get other books in the series.

The Copernican model of the universe was at first little more than a mathematical theory, enabling Copernicans to avoid clashes with the church by arguing, as Osiander did in his preface to De Revolutionibus, that "it is not possible to know the true case of the motions of the heavenly bodies, it is only possible to invent theories which will account for the past motions and predict future ones" (p. 29). Of course, no real scientist ever believed that nonsense. Mathematical and empirical truth is one, as noted, for example, by Kepler: "Never have I been able to assent to the opinion of those people ... who try to prove that the hypotheses admitted by Copernicus may be false and that, nevertheless, true phenomena may be deduced from them ... I do not hesitate to declare that everything that Copernicus gathered a posteriori and proved by observation could without any embarrassment have been demonstrated a priori by means of geometrical axioms" (p. 34). Be that as it may, the rules of the game changed with the invention of telescopes, which lead to the discovery of much empirical support for the Copernican theory, such as for instance Galileo's discovery of the phases of Venus. "One problem which the Copernican system posed was that it predicted that Venus should be at some times sixteen times nearer the earth than at others. ... When Galileo turned his telescope to Venus he was able to discern that the planet's appearance varied between a long thin crescent and a small disc---the barely variant brightness of Venus was accounted for by the exhibition of phases, a 'new' face coinciding with a position close to the earth and a 'full' phase with a distant position" (p. 21, two typos corrected). So now Galileo could claim with confidence that the Copernican system did indeed describe reality, whereupon he was attacked by the church, of course. He defended himself in his Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, from which we read excerpts on pp. 36-51. On empirical evidence Galileo notes in passing that "in order to banish the [Copernican theory] from the world ... it would be necessary not only to prohibit the book of Copernicus ... but to ban the whole science of astronomy. Furthermore, it would be necessary to look at the heavens, in order that they might not see Mars and Venus sometimes quite near the earth and sometimes very distant ... as well as many other sensory observations which can never be reconciled with the Ptolemaic system in any way, but are very strong arguments for the Copernican. ... [T]o prohibit the whole science would be to censure a hundred passages of holy scripture which teach us that the glory and greatness of Almighty God are marvellously discerned in all his works and divinely read in the open book of heaven" (pp. 45-46). This is all Galileo has to say on empirical evidence in his long letter. He focuses instead on trying to beat the church at their own game, quoting St. Augustine and St. Jerome and arguing that "in expounding the Bible if one were always to confine oneself to the unadorned grammatical meaning, one might fall into error" because "propositions uttered by the Holy Ghost were set down in that manner by the sacred scribes in order to accommodate them to the capacities of the common people, who are rude and unlearned" (pp. 36-37), a principle which he immediately abandons to argue that Joshua's stopping of the sun, read literary, makes more sense in the Copernican system that in the Ptolemaic because, supposedly, "just as if the motion of the heart should cease in an animal, all other motions of its members would also cease, so if the rotation of the sun were to stop, the rotations of the planets would stop too" (p. 49), for which there was of course no evidence whatsoever. "But Galileo, who came so close to discovering the law of inertia, knew better than anybody that if the earth suddenly stopped dead in its track, mountain and cities would collapse like match-boxes ... Joshua would have destroyed not only the Philistines, but the whole earth" (Koestler, p. 54). So why did Galileo resort to such nonsense arguments instead of bringing the battle into the area of empirical science? Presumably because he knew he would have lost there. "If he had talked to the point, instead of around it, he would have had to admit that Copernicus' forty-odd epicycles and eccentrics were not only not proven but a physical impossibility...; that the absence of an annular parallax ... weighted heavily against Copernicus; that the phases of Venus disproved Ptolemy, but not Herakleides or Tycho" (Koestler, p. 53). It is thus absurd to conclude, as Morphet does, that while "superficially, at least, Galileo was defeated by the Inquisition" it is still "clear to all of us that his science survived" in that "the empirical method has ousted a priori argument and religious revelation" (p. 58). The essence of science, the real reason for believing Copernicus, was not empirical evidence but the trust in reason and mathematics expressed by Kepler above. Galileo, on the other hand, chose to defended himself with pseudo-scientific arguments and did this so poorly that he was deservedly defeated and had to retract his case in public. Some hero.

I am normally sceptical of history (or any other) books that cite that mountebank Michel Foucault with approval, as Rivka Feldhay does early in this book. However, this proved to be a magnificent exception. Dr Feldhay's fresh look at the Galileo affair is a work of original scholarship and great erudition. She challenges the familiar triumphalist account given by most historians of science, which offers as its sole explanatory key the conflict between courageous empiricism and authoritarian obscurantism. Importantly, she does so without a trace of the science-bashing to which lesser students of the history and philosophy of science are sometimes given.

Drawing on her profound knowledge of Thomist philosophy and of the academic and cultural milieu in Counter-Reformation Europe, Dr Feldhay resituates the Galileo trials in the midst of an intellectual turf war between the Dominicans and the Jesuits. None of the protagonists, including Galileo, comes out the story looking especially heroic. The story is one of immensely sophisticated and learned men who were misled by their own institutional, personal and scholastic rivalries and by epistemological confusion over the nature of scientific hypotheses into a foolish, unnecessary and short-sighted condemnation of Copernicanism and silencing of Galileo. In doing so, they not only distorted the teachings of the Council of Trent on the intepretation of scripture, they also did lasting damage to the vibrant school of Catholic, mostly Jesuit, astronomy. Tragically, the popular understanding of the Galileo story persists to this day as emblematic of the supposed conflict between faith and reason.

If the book has one flaw, it is that it assumes the reader is well acquainted with the facts of the Galileo trials. However, as someone who has no particular familiarity with the Galileo case, I can still unreservedly recommend the book as a fine exercise in intellectual history.

[Readers of this book may be also be interested in Richard J. Blackwell's 'Galileo, Bellarmine, and the Bible' (1991 University of Notre Dame Press), which includes the complete translated texts of several of the documents discussed by Dr Feldhay.]