Great Observatories of the World [Hardcover]

Serge Brunier (Author), Anne-Marie Lagrange (Author), Catherine Cesarsky (Foreword)

List Price:	CDN$ 69.95
Price:	CDN$ 47.38 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
You Save:	CDN$ 22.57 (32%)
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

Product Details

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Firefly Books; 1 edition (July 21 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1554070554
ISBN-13: 978-1554070558
Product Dimensions: 36.6 x 26.1 x 2.9 cm
Shipping Weight: 2.2 Kg
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,126,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

From Booklist

A tour of 56 professional astronomical observatories, this oversize album will bowl over readers. Although its text is predominantly descriptive of telescope technology, the balanced pictorial design expresses the ineffable majesty of modern telescopes. Photographs abound of the breathtaking mountain settings of many observatories, while sample images of celestial objects demonstrate the astonishing detail they are capable of resolving; several new telescopes are more powerful than even the Hubble Space Telescope. The French authors explain with crystal-clear diagrams the physical principles behind these increases in telescopic power, such as adaptive optics (mirrors that compensate for atmospheric turbulence). Presenting historical observatories such as Mount Wilson or Pic du Midi, Brunier and Lagrange explain how those observatories continue to be scientifically productive by exploring prospective areas of research for the next generation of ground- and space-based telescopes. However daunting its price, this alluring album, where seen, will be admired. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

The enthralling book will be a delight for both general readers and scientists alike. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. (S.A. Russell Gonzalez Choice 200607)

The selection of large-scale instruments featured here is impressive... the photography featured here is breathtaking. (David Tytell Sky and Telescope 200603)

Will bowl over readers... Photographs abound of the breathtaking mountain settings of many observatories. (Gilbert Taylor Booklist 20050901)

The history of each observatory and describe the telescopes they house. Full-color photographs of the sites, the telescopes. (Sara Rutter Library Journal 200511)

Beautifully illustrated essays. (Stephen Maran Air and Space Smithsonian )

The talk is techie, but the gizmos glorious. (David Elliott San Diego Union-Tribune )

The telescopes showcased here dramatically emphasize the complexity and remote geography linked to this science. (May Esteban Bloomsbury Review )

Less a pictorial essay on observatory placement and more a tome on workings and findings... travels the globe. (Globe and Mail )

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

Explore More
Concordance

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Share your experience with this product with others

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com ^(beta)

Amazon.com: 3.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A "coffee table" book for lovers of big telescopes, Jan 15 2006

By Ursiform - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Great Observatories of the World (Hardcover)

This book is an indulgence for those of us fascinated by big telescopes. It includes short discussions of each of the world's most important observatories, with brief technical interludes on topics like spectroscopy and adaptive optics. But this is not a book to read, it is a book to browse through, look at the pictures, and sample the text. The text certainly has its errors, such as substituting "millions" for "billions" in comparing the cost of space telescopes, and placing the date of the 3m Shane telescope as 1979 (it was competed in 1959 and renamed after Shane in 1977.) But we can overlook errors like this in a book designed for voyeurs. If big telescopes turn you on and you have a few extra dollars available, you'll probably like this book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great pictures and overall descriptions; lots of numeric errors, Jun 9 2007

By Luis F. Stevens "Astrodudes" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Great Observatories of the World (Hardcover)

This book is fun to read, and a lot can be learned from it, but beware of the numeric errors: do not trust dates, sizes, distances. Common errors include: billion sometimes means 10^9 and sometimes 10^12, distances to galaxies are completely wrong (e.g. 10 light years to M82), use of thousand instead of thousandths, and multiple others.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Observatories, So-so Photos, April 20 2011

By mr-peabody - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Great Observatories of the World (Hardcover)

Obviously no book that is only 240 pages long, and mostly photographs at that, can include all of the important observatories of the world. It is inevitable that some favorites will be omitted. But it is disappointing that more care was not taken with the photographs -- after all, this really is mostly a coffee-table picture book. Many of the photos are soft, and moreover suffer from shallow depth-of-field... critical parts of the photo are not even in focus.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews 3.2 out of 5 stars