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Summary
Summary
The Cambridge Planetary Handbook is an invaluable reference text, bringing together key facts and data on the planets and their satellites, discoverers and researchers. It summarises many centuries' worth of data, from the earliest observations of the planets through to the most recent spaceprobe findings. The author discusses the history, mythology and theories of the main objects in our solar system, and provides a comprehensive information section with accurate and up-to-date data on the planets. The book contains excellent photography and explanatory illustrations, along with numerous historical drawings from Galileo, Huygens, Herschel and other astronomers. This book is a must for all astronomy enthusiasts, as well as academic researchers, students and teachers. Those unfamiliar with the sky will find this a user-friendly guide written in clear, non-technical language.
Author Notes
Michael E. Bakich has a BS in Astronomy from Ohio State University and an MA in Planetarium Education from Michigan State University. He currently resides in EI Paso, Texas, where he is a writer, a planetarium consultant, and also leads tours to see eclipses and astroarchaeological sites.
Reviews 2
Booklist Review
Combining both recent knowledge and historical background about the planets of the solar system, this source will be a valuable addition to the astronomy collections of both academic and public libraries. The author also wrote The Cambridge Guide to the Constellations (Cambridge, 1995). The book is arranged in two parts. Part one presents planetary data, such as atmospheric pressure, composition, and future conjunctions and transits. Part two contains a summary on each planet, including its moons. These summaries cover cloud and atmospheric conditions, surface features, historical early ideas about each planet, and recent discoveries from the Hubble Space Telescope and other data collected in the "late 1990s." The planetary information is supplemented by historical photographs, illustrations, and portraits. Appendixes provide very brief biographies of selected astronomers and a glossary. The handbook is well suited for amateur astronomers and students of astronomy. Readers with less technical background may need to refer to a scientific dictionary, and professional astronomers may find the coverage too popular. This title makes a nice companion to Encyclopedia of the Solar System [RBB Mr 15 99]. For instance, The Cambridge Planetary Handbook provides data on the surface gravity of the planets, while Encyclopedia of the Solar System provides a discussion of Newton's laws of motion and the universal law of gravity.
Choice Review
Bakich's handbook contains extensive numerical data on the planets and their satellites, and enriches and expands the tabular material with a description of each planet, giving the historical background and the current state of understanding. The text is well organized, with excellent summaries of the major observational advances interspersed with notes on the work of the scientists who have contributed to the studies. A nice feature is the chronology given for each planet. But the absence of more satellite images, especially for the inner planets and Jupiter, is disappointing, and it would have been appropriate in a handbook to include maps identifying prominent surface features discussed in the text. The failure to include a chapter on minor planets and asteroids is surprising. The tabular material is organized so as to facilitate the comparison among the planets of a given quantity (for example, orbital period). The book is suitable for the lay reader who wants to have details of the solar system at hand, or for an undergraduate interested in planets. The professional can satisfy the need for a specific number by consulting an authoritative compendium such as Allen's Astrophysical Quantities by C.W. Allen, ed. by Arthur N. Cox (4th ed., 2000). General readers; lower-division undergraduates. ; National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Table of Contents
| Preface | p. vii |
| Acknowledgements | p. ix |
| Part 1 Lists | |
| Planets | |
| Albedo | p. 5 |
| Angular size | p. 6 |
| Atmospheric composition | p. 7 |
| Atmospheric pressure | p. 10 |
| Brightness and size of the Sun from each planet | p. 11 |
| Brilliancy at opposition | p. 12 |
| Cloud features | p. 13 |
| Constellations visited by the Moon and planets | p. 14 |
| Density | p. 15 |
| Distances from Earth | p. 16 |
| Distances from Sun | p. 17 |
| Eccentricity | p. 18 |
| Escape velocity | p. 19 |
| Future dates of conjunction | p. 20 |
| Future dates of opposition | p. 24 |
| Future significant alignments | p. 26 |
| Future transits | p. 29 |
| Inclination of orbit | p. 30 |
| Magnetic field strength and orientation | p. 31 |
| Mass | p. 34 |
| Named features on the planets and the Moon | p. 35 |
| Names of the planets, Sun and Moon around the world | p. 44 |
| Oblateness | p. 46 |
| Orbital period | p. 47 |
| Orbital velocity | p. 48 |
| Rotational period | p. 49 |
| Rotational velocity (equatorial) | p. 50 |
| Size | p. 51 |
| Solar irradiance | p. 52 |
| Speed of light travel times | p. 53 |
| Surface gravity | p. 54 |
| Synodic period | p. 55 |
| Temperature range | p. 56 |
| Tilt of axis | p. 57 |
| Volume | p. 58 |
| Wind speeds | p. 59 |
| Satellites | |
| Albedo | p. 63 |
| Density | p. 65 |
| Discoverers and dates of discovery | p. 67 |
| Distance from planet | p. 69 |
| Eccentricity | p. 71 |
| Inclination of orbit | p. 73 |
| Mass | p. 75 |
| Orbital period | p. 77 |
| Size | p. 79 |
| Part 2 Planets | |
| Mercury | p. 83 |
| Venus | p. 105 |
| Earth | p. 134 |
| Mars | p. 165 |
| Jupiter | p. 203 |
| Saturn | p. 232 |
| Uranus | p. 261 |
| Neptune | p. 276 |
| Pluto | p. 297 |
| Appendix A Short biographies of some astronomers | p. 310 |
| Appendix B Unit conversion table | p. 315 |
| Glossary | p. 316 |
| References and sources | p. 334 |
| Index | p. 335 |