Customer Reviews

The de Vaucouleurs Atlas of Galaxies

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An important part of modern astronomy is the understanding of galaxies. And with so many (estimated at 40 billion) it is helpful to classify galaxies into types that can then be studied. In 1926 Hubble developed a classification system that has seen wide acceptance. In 1959 de Vaucouleurs published an extension to the Hubble system that gives greater emphasis to specific details not covered in the original Hubble system, some of which give more accurate recognition to details that have a bearing on the way galaxies evolve. This has become the most used Hubble derivative.

Although numerous catalogs have been published that describe the de Vaucouleurs system, no photo extensive atlas has been available to illustrate the de Vaucouleurs system until now.

This book has some 500 photographs of galaxies taken in blue light and modified to give a consistent brightness level. In addition it is an up to date reference on our understanding of the physical processes that underlie galaxy morphology.

The three authors all studied under or worked with de Vaucouleurs and have used his classification system for many years.

The title pretty much sums up my review. The book is just as it is described by the authors in the Preface and Introduction. It is unique among galaxy books and so really needs to be in the library of any galaxy researcher, amateur or professional.

The only real problem is one I've seen many times among Cambridge publications - their books often exhibit deplorable photo printing quality and this book is no exception. One can see that the originals have good quality but the result as Cambridge published them is a uniformly very low contrast, with no real darks or lights. The background sky around the galaxies is often a muddy gray where it should be quite dark, and many photos show some kind of hard-to-describe effect that almost looks like a printing defect - a rather 'splotchy', spotty appearance that is just not excusable from what should be a very fine publisher.

I now shy away from most all Cambridge books but this one is still worth having if you can find it at a good price as I did, from a reputable seller at a fraction of the retail price ($171 as of August 2010).