The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stars [Hardcover]

Written for a broad audience by a noted astronomer, this encyclopedia begins with an overview of the stars and constellations and then proceeds to chapters covering the location of stars, magnitudes, cosmic distances, the galaxy in motion, spectra, stellar properties, types of stars, the sun, and stellar evolution. Although equations and technical language geared to subject specialists are employed when appropriate, the encyclopedia is generally written at a level accessible to a dedicated student.

Each chapter contains several entries ranging in length from a paragraph to several pages. Examples of specific entries include Forms , Open clusters Associations , and Globular clusters in the chapter "Star Clusters and Associations," and Supergiants Super novae, The remains and Synergy in the chapter "High-Mass Evolution." Sidebars provide interesting highlights; for example, we learn that an estimate of our galaxy's mass can be found by a simple application of Kepler's third law; life on Earth is likely to be impossible in several billion years as the sun brightens in luminosity; there is sound in space; a burst of gamma rays smacks Earth about once a day. Beautiful color photographs, collected from observatories and photographers worldwide, provide visual interest. Descriptive graphs and tables supplement the text. Surprisingly, there is no large map of the constellations. A 10-page index provides subject access to the contents. Appendixes consist of the Messier Catalogue of star clusters and nebulae, the 51 brightest stars, stars within four parsecs (that is, 13 light years) of Earth, the chemical composition of the sun, and a look at the galactic anticenter.

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Stars provides an authoritative, comprehensive reference to the unfolding mysteries of stellar science. There are no other recent encyclopedias devoted to this topic. It is highly recommended for academic and special libraries. Nancy Cannon
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"A valuable resource."
Library Journal

"Provides an authoritative, comprehensive reference to the unfolding mysteries of stellar science. There are no other recent encyclopedias devoted to this topic." -- Booklist

"Detailed...vivid photos and graphs help the reader along."
Science News

"The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Stars provides an authoritative, comprehensive reference to the unfolding mysteries of stellar science. There are no other recent encyclopedias devoted to this topic. It is highly recommended for academic and special libraries."
American Reference Books Annual

'... the book ... contain[s] a myriad of information about stars that Kaler has been gathering throughout his entire career ...[the book] contains more than 230 images, including color photographs, graphs, tables and sidebars. The photographs were gathered from observatories and private photographers around the world.' - News Bureau, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

'This book covers the whole of stellar astrophysics and summarizes this wide field in a lucid and concise style ... the book is very readable ... The more detailed part of the book follows with a description of stellar spectra and how they reveal the temperature, pressure, and chemical abundance within a star's atmosphere. This leads to the observed H-R diagram. The most important radiation laws are described ... The coverage of atomic physics includes the Maxwellian velocity distribution, the Bohr model of the atom, and Grotrian diagrams. ... The book concludes with star formation and evolution, and these chapters pull together much of the material in the earlier part of the book. ... There are many, well-designed diagrams to explain the text, the majority taken from earlier books by the author.' - The Observatory

'... a good, readable, generally non-mathematical account of our current knowledge of stars and how that knowledge has been gained from the earliest of times to the present day ... At £35 the book is very good value and it is a first-rate explanation of astronomy and astrophysics ...' - Astronomy Now

'The structure of the book is cleverly arranged to allow the author to expound a story within each section ... [Dr Kaler's] relaxed conversational style carried the reader along through even difficult concepts ... highly recommended to all serious amateur astronomers as an indispensable reference book ... I believe that it will become the most widely read of this author's considerable popular output.' - Astronomy & Space

'...large glossy, and full of colour pictures and diagrams. ...The myriad explanations of astronomical phenomena make the methods and results discussed absolutely clear. The book shares with Stars and their Spectra Kaler's incredibly detailed HR diagrams, including most starts mentioned by name in the book. ...For the serious amateur astronomer who wants to seriously delve into how we know what we know about starts, The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Stars would be an excellent place to start. In fact, when I finished reading it, I started right over at the beginning, as there is much more information there than can be easily absorbed in one pass.' - American Association of Variable Star Observers Bookstore

"...quite arguably the crown jewel of Kaler's popular works...the book's organization makes it easy to find and explore any topic...For the serious amateur astronomer, it's an indispensable reference on all things stellar. For the armchair observer it's a joy ride to the stars to be savored one topic at a time." --Sky & Telescope