Space, the final frontier, has piqued the imagination of people for
millennia. Written by the author of several other books on space and
astronomy at a level accessible to the general reader, this one-volume
encyclopedia provides current, authoritative information.
The approximately 3,000 alphabetically arranged entries range in length
from a single sentence to several pages. Sample entries include Alvarez,
Luis Walter; Apollo Project; Astrochimp(s); Big bang (theory); Collins,
Eileen Marie; Copernicus, Nicholas; Cosmology; Extraterrestrial
civilizations; National Solar Observatory; Radio astronomy; Robotics
in space; Rocketry; Sun; Unidentified flying object (UFO); and Voyager
spacecraft. Fifteen special essays cover topics beyond the nuts and
bolts. We learn that, just like the poets have proclaimed, we really
are made of stardust; Walt Disney popularized the idea of space travel;
satellites function as switchboards in the sky; and people of the Earth
have unintentionally been leaking radio frequency signals into
the galaxy since the middle of the twentieth century.
Appendixes include a bibliography of print resources, an extensive
listing of Web sites, a lengthy chronology of significant events in
space and astronomy, a table of basic planetary data, and a 13-page
table on how planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and other celestial
objects are named. A well-constructed index provides subject access
to the contents. About 200 black-and-white line illustrations and
photographs supplement the text.
This work provides more in-depth coverage of topics than the Firefly
Encyclopedia of Astronomy (2004), although the Firefly volume uses
color illustrations and photographs to supplement the text and therefore
has more visual appeal. The four-volume Encyclopedia of Astronomy and
Astrophysics (Institute of Physics, 2001), written for an academic and
professional audience, is a far more comprehensive (and therefore more
expensive) set and is particularly suited for academic and large public
libraries. The Facts On File encyclopedia is recommended for libraries
in need of a general encyclopedia on space and astronomy.
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