Mathematical Astronomy Morsels [Hardcover]

Jean Meeus (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 379 pages
• Publisher: Willmann-Bell (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0943396514
• ISBN-13: 978-0943396514
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,854,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding description of rare astronomical events, August 26, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Mathematical Astronomy Morsels (Hardcover)

If you are interested in observational astronomy, this book is for you. Its extensive listing and description of the rarest alignments, conjuctions, occulations, eclipses, transits, etc., are embodied under one cover. Written with clarity that grade 10 or higher can easily understand. A must have library addition!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More exposition on rarer events than Meeus' algorithms book, August 23, 2008

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mathematical Astronomy Morsels (Hardcover)

The author's book Astronomical Algorithms is all about the precise steps you take to perform certain calculations in astronomy that are rather common with little explanation on how the results were formulated.
This book takes a more conversational approach than that book, since the events being described are rare. It might be retitled "Odd occurrences in Astronomy and the Mathematics Behind Them". Don't get me wrong, there are precise algorithmic steps given here, there is just more conversation along the way. You can tell that the author has a real love of his subject matter. The following is the table of contents for the book:

Notes on Dates and Time Reckoning
THE MOON
1. The Instantaneous Lunar Orbit
2. The Extreme Values of the Distance of the Moon to the Earth
3. The Distribution of the Moon's Perigee and Apogree Distances
4. What is the Mean Value of the Earth-Moon Distance?
5. Extreme Declinations of the Moon
6. The Librations of the Moon
7. Months With Five Lunar Phases
ECLIPSES AND OCCULTATIONS
8. The Number of Eclipses in a Year
9. Solar Eclipses: Some Periodicities
10. Curious and Interesting Facts About Solar Eclipses
11. Regions of Visibility of Solar Eclipses
12. When is the Northern Limit the Southern One?
13. The Frequency of Total and Annular Solar Eclipses for a Given Place
14. Total and Annular Solar Eclipses in Close Succession at a Given Place
15. Nearly-Zenithal Central Solar Eclipses
16. Curious and Interesting Facts About Lunar Eclipses
17. Total Penumbral Lunar Eclipses
18. The Half-Saros
19. Series of Occultations
20. Occultations of Bright Stars by the Moon
21. Series of Occultations of Saturn
22. Occultations of Bright Stars by the Eclipsed Moon
23. Occultations of Planets by the Eclipsed Moon
24. Occultations of Planets by the Eclipsed Sun
25. Occultations of Bright Stars by Planets
PLANETARY MOTIONS
26. The Barycenter of the Solar System
27. On the Passages of Earth in Perihelion
28. Periheloids and Apheloids
29. A Periodicity of 179 Years?
30. Planetary Quadrants and Planetary Sectors
31. How Often are the Planets Aligned?
32. On `Remarkable' relations between the Mean Motions of the Planets
33. Ceres and Pallas, and Other Couples
34. Seneca, Orthos, and Quetzalcoatl
35. Defining Asteroids of the Apollo and Amor Types
36. The Periodic Comet Encke and Jupiter
37. The Orbital inclinations of the Four Galilean Satellites
PLANETARY PHENOMENA
38. Planetary Motions: Approximate Periodicities
39. Opposition Loops
40. Opposition Places
41. Triple Conjunctions
42. Planetary Groupings
43. Periodicities in the Phenomena of the Satellites of Jupiter
44. Jupiter and Triple Shadow Phenomena
45. Jupiter Without Satellites
ON THE CELESTIAL SPHERE
46. Heliacal Rising and Settings
47. The Positions of Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Ceres at their Discovery Dates
48. Ecliptic and Galactic Equator
49. The Equinoctial and Solstitial Points and the Constellations
50. The Declination of Polaris
51. Alpha is Not Always the Brightest
STATISTICS, ETC.
52. The Mean Frequency, Yes, but
53. Statistics: Danger!
54. Sunspots and the Weather
55. Solar Activity and the Brightness of Lunar Eclipses
VARIATIONS
56. The Equation of Time
57. About the Equinoxes and the Solstices
58. The Weekday of Christmas Day
59. The Distribution of Easter Sundays
60. The Date of Easter - Some Interesting Data
61. Rounding Numbers
62. Predicting Sunspot Activity
INDEX

This book is more about amazing your friends and confounding your enemies with your knowledge of odd bits of astronomy than solving common problems. A very enjoyable read.