Dictionary of Minor Planet Names [Hardcover]

Lutz D. Schmadel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2000 | ISBN-10: 3540662928 | ISBN-13: 978-3540662921 | Edition: 4th

Until recently, minor planet name citations were scattered in the astronomical literature, and the origin of many names remained obscure. The IAU Commission 20 in 1988 established a study group to elucidate the meanings of asteroid names. Later on the author continued in collecting and indexing all new relevant data. In addition to being of practical value for identification purposes, the collection provides a most interesting historical insight into the work of those astronomers who over two centuries vested their affinities in a rich and colourful variety of ingenious names, from heavenly goddesses to more prosaic constructions. This fourth, revised and enlarged edition will include a CD-ROM.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Fifth Edition, is the official reference for the field of the IAU, which serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and any surface features on them. The accelerating rate of the discovery of minor planets has not only made a new edition of this established compendium necessary but has also significantly altered its scope: this thoroughly revised edition concentrates on the approximately 10,000 minor planets that carry a name. It provides authoritative information about the basis for all names of minor planets. In addition to being of practical value for identification purposes, this collection provides a most interesting historical insight into the work of those astronomers who over two centuries vested their affinities in a rich and colorful variety of ingenious names, from heavenly goddesses to more prosaic constructions. The fifth edition serves as the primary reference, with plans for complementary booklets with newly named bodies to be issued every three years.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1319 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 4th edition (April 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3540662928
• ISBN-13: 978-3540662921
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.5 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,026,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing else like it, but..., July 14, 2001

By 

Cathy (Fort Bragg, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (Hardcover)

This edition has some truly serious typos -- it omits entire lines here and there! I have a previous edition (the Second) which includes the omitted lines, and which is, overall, a much nicer book -- but, alas, the new edition was essential since so many new asteroids have been found. This edition (the Fourth) has almost twice the number of asteroids (10,666) as are in the Second (5,655), although many of the newer ones are still unnamed. It may well be the last one-volume edition, as more asteroids are being found all the time; or maybe they will go entirely to CD-ROM. The CD-ROM that is included with this book is just the book on CD-ROM, and its design is somewhat lacking. It has a "lite" version which is fairly easily usable (although if you stop a search in the middle, you may have to close the program and re-open it) and a full version, which requires you to download additional software from an internet website in order to use it. It's helpful that the CD has a search feature, so you can search the text of the whole book, but the search feature does not add anything else to the basic text-searching capability -- that is, it doesn't include categories or any other ways to search. For example, if you wanted to find all the asteroids named after musicians, and put "musician" into the search engine, you would miss Segovia, since the text only has "guitarist", and many other musicians for similar reasons; this limitation holds true for all types of searches. If you want a dictionary of minor planet names, this is probably your only choice, and I am glad it exists, and would buy it again -- it is really a great reference, and fascinating for general browsing as well as for astronomical purposes -- but it could definitely stand some improvements.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A waste of time, March 2, 2002

By 

K. Yeung - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (Hardcover)

Asteroids are being numbered at a rate of thousands per month now. It is simply too costly to spend [money] in a book that become out dated the minute it was printed.

The book also contain a more updated CD but it contain so much error. This book is a waste of time.