Cambridge Illustrated Dictionary of Astronomy.

Cambridge Illustrated Dictionary of Astronomy

Jacqueline Mitton

Cambridge University Press

32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473

9780521823647, $35.00 www.cambridge.org 1-800-872-7423

Printed on high-quality glossy paper with 300 beautiful color illustrations and 20 new star maps by stellar illustrator Wil Tirion, Cambridge Illustrated Dictionary of Astronomy is a solid reference text accessible to readers of all backgrounds, from high school students to field professionals. Most of the 1300 entries are limited to roughly a paragraph in length, and range from named astronomical objects to space missions, brief biographical sketches of 70 key figures in the history of astronomy, explanations of acronyms and specialist terms, and more. "Dwarf Planet: A body in the solar system, traveling in orbit around the Sun and with enough mass to have a more-or-less spherical shape due its own gravity, but not massive enough to dominate the vicinity of its orbit to the extent that its influence has cleared away all or most of the smaller bodies there. The International Astronomical Union adopted this definition in 2006 following the discovery in 2003 of Eris, a Kuiper Belt object larger than Pluto. Eris and Pluto, being located in the Kuiper Belt, fall into this category as does the large asteroid, Ceres." A thoroughly cross-referenced, easy-to-use reference and resource highly recommended for astronomy teachers and enthusiasts--everywhere.