Atlas of the Universe [Hardcover]

Patrick Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 13, 1998

Put the Universe at your fingertips with this dramatic and comprehensive look at the sky. Richly illustrated with hundreds of recent photographs and images from ground-based telescopes, the Hubble Space Telescope, and interplanetary spacecraft, Atlas of the Universe is a definitive reference to the stars, the planets and their moons, and the universe. In addition to a beautiful and informative portrait of the cosmos, this book provides superb star charts with sound advice on practical observing. The book guides its reader through the universe in seven sections: exploring the universe, the solar system, the Sun, the stars, the universe, star maps, and practical astronomy. In addition to a beautiful and informative portrait of the cosmos, this book provides superb star charts with sound advice on practical observing. This is a highly suitable guide for amateurs with telescopes who want to explore the richness of astronomical knowledge and to learn the beauty of the night sky. Patrick Moore is one of the world's outstanding popularizers of astronomy and can count fifty years of experience presenting astronomy to general readers. His extensive body of work includes Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars (Cambridge 1989 and 1996) and The Cambridge Guide to Stars and Planets (1997).

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There are many atlases showing features on the surface of the earth, but this book is the only one (in late 1998, at least) to cover the whole universe. Patrick Moore, who has hosted BBC Radio's popular The Sky at Night program for more than 40 years, gives straightforward, though not simplistic, explanations of astronomical objects of every order of magnitude. He includes charts of every mapped body in the solar system (except Earth), as well as maps and guides to every constellation.

Throughout this encyclopedic work, Moore emphasizes information likely to be useful to amateur astronomers. He provides better coverage of comets and variable stars than do most general works, for instance, because these are areas where amateurs can make important observations. Although he includes a number of gorgeously colored pictures from the Hubble space telescope and other top-flight observatories, Moore retains a focus on what you yourself might be able to see. An excellent single-volume reference, Atlas of the Universe is also a good starting point for your own exploration of the heavens. --Mary Ellen Curtin

From Library Journal

British astronomy popularizer Moore has added yet another volume to his amazingly prolific output, this time a new edition of a reference work first published in 1970 and last completely revised in 1988. At that time, Moore wrote that a full revision would be necessary "before 2000," and the time has now arrived. With such developments as great new telescopes, Mars landings, the space shuttle, Voyager 2 flybys, and missions to Halley's Comet, so much has happened in astronomy in the last decade that this new edition (published last year in Britain as Philip's Atlas of the Universe) is as welcome as it is timely. Like its predecessors, the new edition follows the pattern of a general historical overview, followed by individual sections on the solar system, the sun, the stars, the structure of the universe and our galaxy's place in it, and over 20 useful star maps, all incorporating the newest scientific data. Recommended especially for public libraries and academic libraries collecting undergraduate-level astronomical materials, although those having any of the earlier editions will appreciate the usefulness of this new work.?Donald J. Marion, Univ. of Science & Engineering Lib., Minneapolis
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Rev Sub edition (October 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521642108
• ISBN-13: 978-0521642101
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,630,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brief comment, February 26, 2006

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Philip's Atlas of the Universe (Hardcover)

The great Sir Patrick Moore has done more to popularize astronomy and to explain the mysteries of the universe to us mortals than probably any other professional astronomer in history. I was weaned on his books as a junior high school student back in the mid 60s, and I continued to be a fan of his books for the next two decades, minoring in astronomy in college partly as a result of his influence (back in the days when no-one bothered to minor in things :-)).

This book is an updated version of his original book from 1970. It includes the Voyager photos of the planets and their moons that benefitted from those probes and with additional text discussing those developments. Revised material on deep space objects like galaxies and quasars is also included, since much as been learned in the past 30 years on those topics, as well as on cosmology in general.

Moore's prose reminds me of the old days of reading his books, as it hasn't changed much in 40 years. It may sound a little old-fashioned stylistically to today's ears but there is no better writer and explainer on the subject of astronomy today just as he was 40 years ago. I'm glad to find Moore is still working, and also, I noted he's been knighted in the intervening years since I last read any of his books. Here's to Moore and his contribution to science writing and to bringing astronomy to the masses.