The Hundred Greatest Stars.JAMES B. KALER Like snowflakes snowflakes small patches of gray or white hair acquired after birth. Skin color is unchanged. See also achromotrichia, vitiligo. , stars are individuals--there are as many different kinds of stars as there are points of light in the night sky. Kaler profiles 100 of his favorites. His criteria sound like those of a beauty pageant pageant, modern dramatic spectacle or procession celebrating a special occasion or an event in the history of a locality. In medieval times the word pageant had meant the wagon or the movable stage on which one scene of a mystery or miracle play was performed. : attractiveness and charm. These selections illustrate the diversity of stars by pointing out the vast range of configurations in which they exist and their wide variety of shapes, sizes, and ages. Alphabetically listed profiles detail the stars' names, resident constellations, apparent brightness as viewed from Earth, distance, luminosity luminosity, in astronomy, the rate at which energy of all types is radiated by an object in all directions. A star's luminosity depends on its size and its temperature, varying as the square of the radius and the fourth power of the absolute surface temperature. , and significance. Glorious color images A (digital) color image is a digital image that includes color information for each pixel. For visually acceptable results, it is necessary (and almost sufficient) to provide three samples (color channels accompany each entry and give readers a visual perspective on Kaler's choices. Copernicus, 2002, 213 p., color photos, hardcover, $32.50. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion