The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System [Hardcover]

Ronald Greeley (Author), Raymond Batson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 2002

Without sacrificing any of the detail or breadth of the full-size edition, the essential reference source for maps of every planet, moon, or small body investigated by NASA missions is now available in a convenient, portable format. Featuring over 150 maps, 214 color illustrations and a gazetteer that lists the names of all features officially approved by the International Astronomical Union, The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System includes the full range of information gathered from NASA missions throughout the Solar System. Compiled by the US Geological Survey, this atlas includes: -Geological maps -Reference maps -Shaded relief maps -Synthetic aperture radar mosaics -Color photo-mosaics that present the features of planets and their satellites This 'road map' of the solar system is the definitive guide for planetary science and should be part of every cartographers and astonomer's collection. Ronald Greeley is a Regent Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at Arizona State University. He is a team member of the Galileo mission to Jupiter and of the Mars Pathfinder lander. Greeley is currently a co-investigator for the European Mars Express mission. Raymond Batson spent his 35-year career with the United States Geological Survey. He has worked in terrestrial mapping and in lunar and planetary mapping. Batson served as co-investigator or team member on most NASA planetary missions, including the Apollo lunar lander missions, the Mariner Mars and Venus/Mercury mapping missions, the Viking 1 and 2 Mars mapping missions, the Voyager missions to the outer planets, and the Magellan Venus radar mapping mission.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The spectacular NASA Atlas of the Solar System, which came out in 1997, was priced beyond the reach of many libraries. Here is a more affordable alternative, offering the same content in a smaller format. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Beautiful maps...and full-color illustrations..." Library Journal

"This spectacular atlas of the solar system is both an atlas and a brief history of astronomy...Recommended for all libraries, especially public and academic." Booklist

"An excellent collection of systematic maps, photographs, and overviews of planets and major satellites...It is unique in scope and its use of uniform formats and consistent scales...highly recommended." Library Journal

"Clear a tray in your atlas case for this magnificent tribute to four decades of space exploration...This authoritative, eye-popping resource will be invaluable to libraries." School Library Journal

"Planetary scientists Greeley and Batson have done an excellent job." NZ Science Monthly (Aug 98)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 410 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1st edition (January 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052180633X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521806336
• Product Dimensions: 13.6 x 9.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,253,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully done, good to excellent coverage, October 28, 2002

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System (Hardcover)

As an amateur astronomer, my interest tends more to deep-sky objects rather than planetary astronomy, but I spent some time looking at this atlas, and it really is a striking catalog of our current knowledge of the solar system. The atlas contains beautiful closeups of every planet except Pluto, although the coverage for Venus isn't that extensive, but then since Venus is mostly clouds, I don't know how much would be served by that, unlike the cloud-cover of Jupiter, which shows many stable bands and also the pink and red spots. There are also maps of a number of the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, allowing you to see their heavily marred and cratered surfaces, which are very reminiscent of Mercury or our moon.

The atlas only contains maps for the large Galileian satellites of Jupiter and the same for the larger, closer moons of Saturn, but I don't know if this is because of limitations in the spacecraft that took the photos or the distances involved from the spacecraft to the moons. The maps of Mars are perhaps the most interesting in terms of surface details, and features like the enormous, 17-mile high and 400-mile across volcano, Nix Olympica, and the great gorge on Mars, really stand out. Another thing that was interesting was the discovery of the first asteroid with its own small planet. The atlas features over 150 maps, 214 color illustrations and a gazetteer. Overall, this is a stunning and beautifully done atlas of the solar system, which, despite its not being cheap, should still be of interest to amateurs and professionals alike.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good reference but a few glaring flaws, July 10, 2002

By 

Jason Perry (Tucson, AZ, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System (Hardcover)

The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System is a very good reference for those working with spacecraft. Spacecraft images don't come with names already on them and it is often difficult when looking at some MGS images which crater is which and what they are called. When it comes to most of the inner planets, and Saturnian, Uranian, and Neptunian moons, the coverage is quite good and very useful. However, I can't say the same for Venus and Jupiter's moons. While there is excellent coverage for Mars as far as number of sections, Venus is not covered as well even though we have similar scale maps. I agree with the authors that if the same scale was used for both, the Venus maps would take up a large number of pages. However, the same number of quadrants would have been nice. Secondly, the coverage of the Jovian moons is lacking. The maps are from the Voyager era and while that may not be as big of a problem for Ganymede or Callisto, it is a problem for Io and Europa. The coverage of Europa from Galileo has greatly improved over Voyager's coverage and an updated map would have been nice. Io's map is also from Voyager. The fact that much of the anti-jovian side has been covered in great detail by Galileo but it was not included in the atlas save a small image of that mosaic not incorporated into the map. in addition, surface changes in the 20 years between Voyager and Galileo have made the included map quite out of date.

Save those two flaws, it is a pretty good reference for those interested in the solar system.

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding Great grandfathers,s name on Mars, August 17, 2011

By 

EVR - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System (Hardcover)

We bought this beautiful atlas after we heard that a very large crater was named after my great grandfather. We found the crater in the atlas. Great photographs and maps.