Customer Reviews

Textbook on Spherical Astronomy

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If you are interested in any subject of position astronomy (motion of the moon, stellar navigation, astrometry, etc.) you must stat by reading this book. Eventhough it is basically a reviewed old text, it is still the most concise and complete reference on the area.

It contains from the basic formulas of spherical trigonometry to the full explanation of the conditions necesary to observe a solar eclipse, or principles of star parallax measurement, for example.

I think this book is useful not only for amateur and pro astronomers, but also for undergraduate mathemathicians and physicists, and even for highschoolers.

Textbooks that remain in print for more than a few years with their contents essentially intact are a rare commidity nowadays. The fact that this little book has been around for almost 75 years in essentially its same form for such a period is a testament both to the timelessness of the material it contains and to the expository abilities of its author.

Written by William Marshall Smart, a prominent British professor of astronomy and a prolific writer on the subject, it covers almost all aspects of positional astronomy, including the geometry of the celestial sphere, co-ordinate systems, measurement of time, precession, nutation, aberration, reduction of astronomical photographs, and even eclipses and occultations. Written in Smart's pedantic but eminently readable style, it is easily consumed in a few days or even hours by anyone with a working knowledge of college algebra, trigonometry, and elementary calculus. No other work on the subject has surpassed it for clarity and rigor. Consider that another of Smart's books, "Celestial Mechanics" (Longmans, 1953; reprinted 1960), is so revered that it now sells for several hundred dollars or more on the used book market (despite its rather common availability).

After Smart's death in 1975, revisions for "Spherical Astronomy" were undertaken by R. Green (author of a separate book on the subject) in order to keep it up-to-date with current astronomical practice, mainly in the area of accurate timekeeping in the face of the variable rate of rotation of the earth.

A classic little book whose reading (and re-reading) is like sipping a fine old Claret from the wine cellar.

I've used this book many years ago. In it learned lots on interesting things, including the forecast of solar eclipses and occultations of stars and other bodies by the Moon, planets, asteroids, etc.

I have in my bookshelf many other spherical astronomy books, most of them newer, but I always use Smart's book.

Long ago I lost my copy of the original book and felt really sad. Thanks God there is this a reedition of that clasic.

Congratulations for that, good books should never die.

I'm a student of astronomy, and for last 2 years I've used this book for my main reference. It covers every aspect of spherical astronomy from the very beginnings: Basic concepts in mathematics (the spherical triangle) and its formulas. And then it slowly advances to more practical topics in astronomy: the coordinate system of astronomy and its transformation from one system to another, the reduction in object's position: refraction and aberration, timekeeping system (calendar included), planetary and solar motion, calculating eclipses (lunar and solar) and occultations, and even more interesting topics: astrophotography (if you want to photograph the skies, it helps to know something about spherical astronomy). In short, this books covers all aspect of spherical astronomy and it's application. Furthermore, this book has a variety of problems at the end of each chapter, from theoretical, proofing formula, to practical. The only weakness of this book is the lack of solution for some problems. But this book is still the best. It's amazing for a book written in 1926!

Very nice. Takes you back to the "Romper Room" or Kindergarten of astronomy. Book allows you plenty of "breathing room" in mastering the building blocks of today's more complicated concepts by thoroughly explaining material. Nothing is left to "guess work." This book should be a "tool" in everyone's "toolbox."

I was new to Spherical Astronomy and I wanted a good textbook like book that would cover all the basics and move on to a few complex examples. I was pleasantly surprised with Smart's excellent book. It has good diagrams and excellent explanations. It is written with little jargon and it is precise and accurate enough for a good college primer. The cover is not the same as the picture on Amazon. It has been updated somewhat since Smart wrote the book, but it isn't the latest book, and does not cover more complex spherical questions. All in all it is a great introduction to the field, and I couldn't think of a better book on the subject.