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Nearest Star
How did the Sun form, and how and when will it die? What solar activity makes life on Earth possible? How does studying the sun help us understand the more exotic objects deep in the Universe?
Now in its long-awaited second edition, Nearest Star answers these questions and more. After the passing of a full 11-year solar cycle and the wild expansion in spacecraft technology between editions, the book is completely updated with information about new solar discoveries. Having observed the Sun using both ground-based and spaceborne instruments, the authors bring their extensive personal experience to this story, revealing what we have learned about phenomena from eclipses to neutrinos, space weather, and global warming.
The most complete and compelling guide to the Sun in years, this book is essential reading for anyone fascinated by cutting-edge solar science, the enigma of stars, and our place in the Universe.
Now in its long-awaited second edition, Nearest Star answers these questions and more. After the passing of a full 11-year solar cycle and the wild expansion in spacecraft technology between editions, the book is completely updated with information about new solar discoveries. Having observed the Sun using both ground-based and spaceborne instruments, the authors bring their extensive personal experience to this story, revealing what we have learned about phenomena from eclipses to neutrinos, space weather, and global warming.
The most complete and compelling guide to the Sun in years, this book is essential reading for anyone fascinated by cutting-edge solar science, the enigma of stars, and our place in the Universe.
330 pages, ebook
First published May 11, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 6, 2021
I'm a physicist by trade and read a LOT of planetary science, solar physics, and astrophysics books, of both technical and mainstream varieties. Many of the books in this genre attempt to toe the line between scientific completeness and broad reach. Many fail at this and are either much too dry to engage non-scientists or too oversimplified as to make scientists cringe. This book, however, strikes at excellent balance. It is very well-written as to engage scientists and non-scientists alike, has excellent photographs and charts to provide alternative visual illustration of the concepts, and is blessedly straightforward and brief. It is a gift to be able to distill such complex concepts as coronal mass ejection into concise and interesting nuggets as the authors have done here.
August 7, 2024
Aurinko on tänä kesänä suunnilleen tämänkertaisen, noin 11 vuotta kestävän auringonpilkkujakson huipussa. Tarkoitukseni oli kuvata Aurinkoa joka päivä, jos se vain suinkin on mahdollista, mutta kamerani hajosi liki pari kuukautta sitten, joten piti keksiä jotain muuta. Päätin sitten sivistää itseäni ja lopultakin lukea hyllyssäni jo lähes 20 vuotta odottaneen Leon Golubin ja hiljattain kuolleen Jay Pasachoffin teoksen Lähin tähtemme – tutkimuskohteena Aurinko. Useita pätkiä siitä olen aiemmin lukenut, mutta nyt siis luin sen ensimmäistä kertaa kokonaan.
Olisin halunnut pitää kirjasta paljon enemmän kuin lopulta pidin. Pettymyksen puolelle tämä siis valitettavasti jäi. Tyyliltään tämä on ihan OK – ei mitenkään mieleenpainuvaa, muttei huonoakaan. Asiallisen kuivakkaaksikin kirjaa voisi luonnehtia.
Ehkä suurin ongelma on kirjan hajanaisuus ja epätasaisuus. Esimerkiksi luvun Aurinkoluotaimet osuus tulevista luotainhankkeista on ihan kamalaa luettavaa tämmöisessä suurelle yleisölle tarkoitetussa kirjassa. Jos olisin aurinkotutkija, minun olisi toki syytä tietää, että Solar-B-luotaimessa on mm. ”SOT (Solar Optical Telescope): 0,5 metrin (20 tuuman) optinen aurinkokaukoputki, jossa on vektorimagnetografi, kapean spektrialueen kamera ja spektrometri fotosfäärin magneettikenttien havaitsemiseen 0,2 kaarisekunnin (150 kilometrsin) tarkkuudella.” Mutta tämmöiselle Auringosta kiinnostuneelle harrastajalle sivutolkulla tuollaista detaljitekstiä on kyllä ihan liikaa. Enkä tajua, miksi jopa värikuvaliitteen rajallista tilaa käytetään näyttämään jotain onnetonta tietokonepiirrosta samaisesta SOTista, sillä käytännössä kuvassa näkyy vain punainen putki. Himmeän nuoren Auringon ongelma – jolla on keskeinen merkitys paitsi Auringon kehityksen ymmärtämiselle, myös Maan geologiselle ja biologiselle historialle – sivuutetaan sitten vajaassa sivussa. En kykene ymmärtämään moisten painotusten perusteita.
Kirjassa myös kerrotaan paljon ilmastonmuutoksesta. Toki asia on äärimmäisen tärkeä ja Auringon toiminnan ja sen erilaisten jaksollisuuksien ymmärtäminen on siinä ihan keskeistä, mutta silti kyseinen luku on minusta väärässä kirjassa. Luku ei edes ole kovin hyvä, sillä esimerkiksi pienen jääkauden esittely maailmanlaajuisena ilmiönä on harhaanjohtavaa.
Ja mieluummin olisin lukenut enemmän (ja parempaa tekstiä) Auringosta kuin lukua avaruussäästä. Avaruussää on lähtöisin Auringosta, mutta se kuitenkin on pitkälti on geofysiikkaa. Sitäpaitsi avaruussää on niin laaja kokonaisuus, että siitä on Ursalta saatavissa ihan oma kirjansakin.
Golubin ja Pasachoffin kirjassa myös hypitään minusta turhan paljon edestakaisin. Vaikkapa koronan massapurkauksista puhutaan kahdessa kohdassa, noin 140:n sivun välein. Kummassakaan kohdassa ei kuitenkaan minusta ole oikein kunnon esitystä eri syntyhypoteeseista.
Lähin tähtemme on väriliitettä lukuun ottamatta painettu tavalliselle bulkkipaperille. Sen myötä diagrammit ja piirrokset toimivat riittävän hyvin, mutta valokuvat ovat väistämättä kovin suttuisia. Tätä olisi voinut yrittää kompensoida kuvien kokoa suurentamalla, mutta valitettavasti useat oleellisetkin mustavalkovalokuvat ovat suunnilleen postimerkin kokoisia. Sellaisissa kuvissa olevien tekstien lukeminen on monesti työn ja tuskan takana (esim. kuva 6.22 s. 181, tai kirjaimellisesti kuva postimerkistä s. 78).
Sekin häiritsee, että amerikkalaisproffien kirjassa ei ole vaivauduttu käyttämään säännönmukaisesti SI-yksiköitä. Nanometrien ohella myös ångströmit kulkevat mukana, ja kilometrien rinnalla ovat mailit. Lähinnä tuo on vain laiskuutta. Helsingin Sanomissa julkaistun avaruussäätutkija Heikki Nevanlinnan kirjoittaman kirja-arvion mukaan amerikkalaiset vetävät kirjassaan myös reilusti kotiinpäin, sillä eurooppalaistutkijoiden panos Auringon ymmärtämisessä sivuutetaan monesti lähes kokonaan. Itse en asiaa tunne, mutta on helppo uskoa Nevanlinnaa.
Tuukka Perhoniemen käännös on ihan mukiinmenevä. Joitain lapsuksia on, esimerkiksi murto- ja desimaaliosien sekoittaminen (kuva 4.4 s. 134), maaperästä puhuminen silloin kun pitäisi puhua kallioperästä, El Niñon rinnastaminen eteläiseen oskillaatioon (s. 243), jne. Eivät nuo isommin haittaa, mutta helpostihan ne sieltä olisi pois saanut jos olisi viitsinyt. Ja miksi kirjassa puhutaan koko ajan englantilaisittain auringonpilkkusyklistä, kun se vakiintuneesti ainakin suomenkielisisessä kansantajuisessa tietokirjallisuudessa on ollut vähintään 1970-luvulta asti ”auringonpilkkujakso”?
Kirjassa on toki runsaasti hyvääkin ja opin kaikenlaista uutta Auringosta, kuten olin toivonutkin. Olisin vain halunnut oppia enemmän, ja mielelläni olisin lukenut vähän hallitumman kokonaisuuden. Nyt tästä jäi vähän huonosti kustannustoimitetun sekasotkun tuntuma.
On tämä huomattavasti tyhjää parempi, mutta pitäisi varmaan vertailun vuoksi lukea 20 vuotta tuoreempi suomalaistutkijoiden kirja Aurinko – tuttu ja tuntematon tähtemme.
3+/5
Olisin halunnut pitää kirjasta paljon enemmän kuin lopulta pidin. Pettymyksen puolelle tämä siis valitettavasti jäi. Tyyliltään tämä on ihan OK – ei mitenkään mieleenpainuvaa, muttei huonoakaan. Asiallisen kuivakkaaksikin kirjaa voisi luonnehtia.
Ehkä suurin ongelma on kirjan hajanaisuus ja epätasaisuus. Esimerkiksi luvun Aurinkoluotaimet osuus tulevista luotainhankkeista on ihan kamalaa luettavaa tämmöisessä suurelle yleisölle tarkoitetussa kirjassa. Jos olisin aurinkotutkija, minun olisi toki syytä tietää, että Solar-B-luotaimessa on mm. ”SOT (Solar Optical Telescope): 0,5 metrin (20 tuuman) optinen aurinkokaukoputki, jossa on vektorimagnetografi, kapean spektrialueen kamera ja spektrometri fotosfäärin magneettikenttien havaitsemiseen 0,2 kaarisekunnin (150 kilometrsin) tarkkuudella.” Mutta tämmöiselle Auringosta kiinnostuneelle harrastajalle sivutolkulla tuollaista detaljitekstiä on kyllä ihan liikaa. Enkä tajua, miksi jopa värikuvaliitteen rajallista tilaa käytetään näyttämään jotain onnetonta tietokonepiirrosta samaisesta SOTista, sillä käytännössä kuvassa näkyy vain punainen putki. Himmeän nuoren Auringon ongelma – jolla on keskeinen merkitys paitsi Auringon kehityksen ymmärtämiselle, myös Maan geologiselle ja biologiselle historialle – sivuutetaan sitten vajaassa sivussa. En kykene ymmärtämään moisten painotusten perusteita.
Kirjassa myös kerrotaan paljon ilmastonmuutoksesta. Toki asia on äärimmäisen tärkeä ja Auringon toiminnan ja sen erilaisten jaksollisuuksien ymmärtäminen on siinä ihan keskeistä, mutta silti kyseinen luku on minusta väärässä kirjassa. Luku ei edes ole kovin hyvä, sillä esimerkiksi pienen jääkauden esittely maailmanlaajuisena ilmiönä on harhaanjohtavaa.
Ja mieluummin olisin lukenut enemmän (ja parempaa tekstiä) Auringosta kuin lukua avaruussäästä. Avaruussää on lähtöisin Auringosta, mutta se kuitenkin on pitkälti on geofysiikkaa. Sitäpaitsi avaruussää on niin laaja kokonaisuus, että siitä on Ursalta saatavissa ihan oma kirjansakin.
Golubin ja Pasachoffin kirjassa myös hypitään minusta turhan paljon edestakaisin. Vaikkapa koronan massapurkauksista puhutaan kahdessa kohdassa, noin 140:n sivun välein. Kummassakaan kohdassa ei kuitenkaan minusta ole oikein kunnon esitystä eri syntyhypoteeseista.
Lähin tähtemme on väriliitettä lukuun ottamatta painettu tavalliselle bulkkipaperille. Sen myötä diagrammit ja piirrokset toimivat riittävän hyvin, mutta valokuvat ovat väistämättä kovin suttuisia. Tätä olisi voinut yrittää kompensoida kuvien kokoa suurentamalla, mutta valitettavasti useat oleellisetkin mustavalkovalokuvat ovat suunnilleen postimerkin kokoisia. Sellaisissa kuvissa olevien tekstien lukeminen on monesti työn ja tuskan takana (esim. kuva 6.22 s. 181, tai kirjaimellisesti kuva postimerkistä s. 78).
Sekin häiritsee, että amerikkalaisproffien kirjassa ei ole vaivauduttu käyttämään säännönmukaisesti SI-yksiköitä. Nanometrien ohella myös ångströmit kulkevat mukana, ja kilometrien rinnalla ovat mailit. Lähinnä tuo on vain laiskuutta. Helsingin Sanomissa julkaistun avaruussäätutkija Heikki Nevanlinnan kirjoittaman kirja-arvion mukaan amerikkalaiset vetävät kirjassaan myös reilusti kotiinpäin, sillä eurooppalaistutkijoiden panos Auringon ymmärtämisessä sivuutetaan monesti lähes kokonaan. Itse en asiaa tunne, mutta on helppo uskoa Nevanlinnaa.
Tuukka Perhoniemen käännös on ihan mukiinmenevä. Joitain lapsuksia on, esimerkiksi murto- ja desimaaliosien sekoittaminen (kuva 4.4 s. 134), maaperästä puhuminen silloin kun pitäisi puhua kallioperästä, El Niñon rinnastaminen eteläiseen oskillaatioon (s. 243), jne. Eivät nuo isommin haittaa, mutta helpostihan ne sieltä olisi pois saanut jos olisi viitsinyt. Ja miksi kirjassa puhutaan koko ajan englantilaisittain auringonpilkkusyklistä, kun se vakiintuneesti ainakin suomenkielisisessä kansantajuisessa tietokirjallisuudessa on ollut vähintään 1970-luvulta asti ”auringonpilkkujakso”?
Kirjassa on toki runsaasti hyvääkin ja opin kaikenlaista uutta Auringosta, kuten olin toivonutkin. Olisin vain halunnut oppia enemmän, ja mielelläni olisin lukenut vähän hallitumman kokonaisuuden. Nyt tästä jäi vähän huonosti kustannustoimitetun sekasotkun tuntuma.
On tämä huomattavasti tyhjää parempi, mutta pitäisi varmaan vertailun vuoksi lukea 20 vuotta tuoreempi suomalaistutkijoiden kirja Aurinko – tuttu ja tuntematon tähtemme.
3+/5
January 7, 2014
A very good book explaining the most important aspects of solar physics in an accessible way, from the problem of the solar neutrinos to the climate change.
October 8, 2020
The Nearest Star: The Surprising Science of our Sun, 2nd Edition by Leon Goulb and Jay M Pasachoff is a comprehensive look at our sun. Goulb is a Senior Astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and has been studying the sun since the mid-1970s Skylab missions. Pasachoff is the Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy at Williams College. He has been on fifty-eight solar eclipse expeditions He his the author of the the undergraduate text book, The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millennium. He has received the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society and the Jules Janssen Prize from the Societe Astronomique de France.
The Nearest Star is a comprehensive look at our sun for the layman. The authors keep the math to a minimum and stress why studying our sun is important in learning about stars. Special consideration is given to the outer atmosphere of the sun, since it is the only place we can study a star's outer atmosphere. Although some book is easy to follow other parts, particularly the parts about the corona and neutrinos, tend to go deeper into science than the average reader may be ready for.
There is plenty of good information and interesting information about the sun that most people probably haven't heard before. The sun is so dense that it takes 100,000 years for a light to move from the core of the sun to the surface. Studying the sun presents some challenges. A reflector telescope can receive 50,000 watts per square meter. Even if the mirror absorbs (rather than perfectly reflecting) a few percent of this energy the heat will be enough distort the mirror. One way to solve this problem is the Vacuum Tower Solar Telescope. The entire telescope is a vacuum chamber floating in a bath of mercury to reduce vibrations. The latest satellite efforts to study the sun are also covered in detail along with the different methods of observation from visible light to x-rays.
The Nearest Star is a very comprehensive look at out sun although parts may be above the non-science minded. There is also a nice tie into the earth and the effect the sun and changes the sun has on our planet. Ice ages, different layers of the atmosphere, and the Van Allen Belts are covered. One of the most frightening aspects of the sun in ancient times, a solar eclipse, now turns out to be the best time to study the sun.
Reading this book is the most that I have learned about astronomy since college and maybe even more than I learned in six semester hours of astronomy classes. I grew up in the 1970s reading about all new discoveries from the probes we landed to Mars and the Voyagers that are long gone. I have always been science minded and for me to find something that I actually learn from with resorting to mind bending mathematics is a rare thing. The Nearest Star does an excellent job at presenting the latest scientific information in a manner that a non-scientist can understand.
The Nearest Star is a comprehensive look at our sun for the layman. The authors keep the math to a minimum and stress why studying our sun is important in learning about stars. Special consideration is given to the outer atmosphere of the sun, since it is the only place we can study a star's outer atmosphere. Although some book is easy to follow other parts, particularly the parts about the corona and neutrinos, tend to go deeper into science than the average reader may be ready for.
There is plenty of good information and interesting information about the sun that most people probably haven't heard before. The sun is so dense that it takes 100,000 years for a light to move from the core of the sun to the surface. Studying the sun presents some challenges. A reflector telescope can receive 50,000 watts per square meter. Even if the mirror absorbs (rather than perfectly reflecting) a few percent of this energy the heat will be enough distort the mirror. One way to solve this problem is the Vacuum Tower Solar Telescope. The entire telescope is a vacuum chamber floating in a bath of mercury to reduce vibrations. The latest satellite efforts to study the sun are also covered in detail along with the different methods of observation from visible light to x-rays.
The Nearest Star is a very comprehensive look at out sun although parts may be above the non-science minded. There is also a nice tie into the earth and the effect the sun and changes the sun has on our planet. Ice ages, different layers of the atmosphere, and the Van Allen Belts are covered. One of the most frightening aspects of the sun in ancient times, a solar eclipse, now turns out to be the best time to study the sun.
Reading this book is the most that I have learned about astronomy since college and maybe even more than I learned in six semester hours of astronomy classes. I grew up in the 1970s reading about all new discoveries from the probes we landed to Mars and the Voyagers that are long gone. I have always been science minded and for me to find something that I actually learn from with resorting to mind bending mathematics is a rare thing. The Nearest Star does an excellent job at presenting the latest scientific information in a manner that a non-scientist can understand.
November 18, 2017
Maybe 2.5 stars. Interesting in parts, kind of exasperating in others and a some unnecessary lecturing on how to cure global warming.
October 24, 2023
Good book
February 4, 2015
The 380,000,000,000,000,000,000 megawatt furnace…
In the excitement of modern cosmology - when we can see back almost to the Big Bang itself, when we are discovering exoplanets with the capacity to sustain life, when mankind has just taken its first tentative robotic steps beyond the solar system - it can be easy to forget how much there still is to learn about the objects closer to hand. In this book, the authors set out to explain what we know, and what we don’t, about our own star, the Sun, and about its effects on us in the past, present and future. Originally published in 2001, this 2014 edition has been fully updated to take account of the most current knowledge on the subject. The book is presented as a series of eight chapters, each looking at a separate aspect of the science of the Sun.
The first three chapters provide a general introduction to the Sun, explaining its origins and impact on the development of life here on Earth. The authors don’t just tell us what we know, however; they also tell us how we know it, showing how the science has gradually developed from naked eye observations through to the hugely sophisticated and complex space observatories we have become almost blasé about today. This is quite a technical book in parts, so there’s a lot of information on how these machines are built and controlled, even down to the size of lenses and lengths of exposures in the photography of the Sun. The fourth chapter takes us one step further, explaining the development of scientific methods to allow us to ‘see’ those things beyond our visual capacity and ‘look’ inside the Sun.
The four remaining chapters each look in depth at a separate subject: eclipses, space missions, the effects of the Sun on Earth climate, and space weather. As is often the case with scientific books, the authors’ desire to inspire enthusiasm for their subject comes through very clearly in these chapters. As well as describing the complexities of cutting edge solar physics, they take the time to describe, for example, how an amateur photographer should go about getting the best photos of an eclipse with standard equipment. Solar winds, auroras, carbon-dating, even how winds are affected by the Sun, influencing trade routes throughout history – all of these diverse subjects and more find a place in here. And in the chapter on Earth climate, they explain some of the science that allows scientists to differentiate between the natural effects of solar cycles and the actions of mankind on the current trend of global warming.
Popular science books have to tread a fine line between being so simplified that they irritate anyone with any level of scientific education or being so ‘sciency’ that they lose the novice completely. This book steps over that line several times in the direction of too sciency for this uneducated reader. While the authors carefully avoid bringing in too many mathematical formulae etc., they do use fairly technical language a lot of the time and though they are very good at explaining a technical term on first usage, they then assume the reader will remember that concept chapters later. I don’t know about other casual science readers but I really don’t take in scientific concepts that easily and found that more and more I was having to backtrack or go to the (very useful) glossary of terms at the back – or, being something of a lazy reader, beginning to skip the passages that would have required too much work. That’s not a fault of the book – I would not for one moment suggest that all science books should be written simplistically enough for the novice. But I would say that this book is probably more suited to someone with an existing familiarity with physics to at least high school standards. I was a little hampered by the fact that in the ARC copy I was given to review many of the graphs were not included – I would think they would probably have been very helpful in clarifying some of the more complex stuff. (Why do publishers give out ARCs of scientific books before they are complete? I find that nearly as baffling a concept as relativity.)
Having said all that, despite getting lost along the way a few times, I learned a lot from the book and on the whole found it an enjoyable and very informative read. So highly recommended to anyone with a reasonable basic knowledge of physics or to anyone who, like me, is happy to skim through the more difficult bits and enjoy the rest. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Cambridge University Press.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
In the excitement of modern cosmology - when we can see back almost to the Big Bang itself, when we are discovering exoplanets with the capacity to sustain life, when mankind has just taken its first tentative robotic steps beyond the solar system - it can be easy to forget how much there still is to learn about the objects closer to hand. In this book, the authors set out to explain what we know, and what we don’t, about our own star, the Sun, and about its effects on us in the past, present and future. Originally published in 2001, this 2014 edition has been fully updated to take account of the most current knowledge on the subject. The book is presented as a series of eight chapters, each looking at a separate aspect of the science of the Sun.
The first three chapters provide a general introduction to the Sun, explaining its origins and impact on the development of life here on Earth. The authors don’t just tell us what we know, however; they also tell us how we know it, showing how the science has gradually developed from naked eye observations through to the hugely sophisticated and complex space observatories we have become almost blasé about today. This is quite a technical book in parts, so there’s a lot of information on how these machines are built and controlled, even down to the size of lenses and lengths of exposures in the photography of the Sun. The fourth chapter takes us one step further, explaining the development of scientific methods to allow us to ‘see’ those things beyond our visual capacity and ‘look’ inside the Sun.
The four remaining chapters each look in depth at a separate subject: eclipses, space missions, the effects of the Sun on Earth climate, and space weather. As is often the case with scientific books, the authors’ desire to inspire enthusiasm for their subject comes through very clearly in these chapters. As well as describing the complexities of cutting edge solar physics, they take the time to describe, for example, how an amateur photographer should go about getting the best photos of an eclipse with standard equipment. Solar winds, auroras, carbon-dating, even how winds are affected by the Sun, influencing trade routes throughout history – all of these diverse subjects and more find a place in here. And in the chapter on Earth climate, they explain some of the science that allows scientists to differentiate between the natural effects of solar cycles and the actions of mankind on the current trend of global warming.
Popular science books have to tread a fine line between being so simplified that they irritate anyone with any level of scientific education or being so ‘sciency’ that they lose the novice completely. This book steps over that line several times in the direction of too sciency for this uneducated reader. While the authors carefully avoid bringing in too many mathematical formulae etc., they do use fairly technical language a lot of the time and though they are very good at explaining a technical term on first usage, they then assume the reader will remember that concept chapters later. I don’t know about other casual science readers but I really don’t take in scientific concepts that easily and found that more and more I was having to backtrack or go to the (very useful) glossary of terms at the back – or, being something of a lazy reader, beginning to skip the passages that would have required too much work. That’s not a fault of the book – I would not for one moment suggest that all science books should be written simplistically enough for the novice. But I would say that this book is probably more suited to someone with an existing familiarity with physics to at least high school standards. I was a little hampered by the fact that in the ARC copy I was given to review many of the graphs were not included – I would think they would probably have been very helpful in clarifying some of the more complex stuff. (Why do publishers give out ARCs of scientific books before they are complete? I find that nearly as baffling a concept as relativity.)
Having said all that, despite getting lost along the way a few times, I learned a lot from the book and on the whole found it an enjoyable and very informative read. So highly recommended to anyone with a reasonable basic knowledge of physics or to anyone who, like me, is happy to skim through the more difficult bits and enjoy the rest. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Cambridge University Press.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
August 13, 2016
The sun is, for us here on Earth, the most important star: the one that dominates our world, essential to our lives, as well as what will ultimately destroy our planet.
Golub and Pasachoff lay out not just our knowledge of our star, but how we gained that knowledge. It has been a long process, gaining speed only in the last couple of centuries, and a far more convoluted path than at first glance it might appear. That's because the Earth and Sun interact, and it isn't always apparent what the cause of a particular effect is. Climate in particular is the product of a number of interacting and chaotic causes. Our orbit is elliptical, not circular; the Earth precesses on its axis; the Sun itself has cycles, the eleven-year sunspot cycle as well as other, longer cycles--and once we know all this, there's still more to understand.
We look at the Sun, and we see a great, glowing ball. It doesn't look complicated at all. Yet even before we had more advanced instruments, eclipses and the telescope let us discover and begin to study the photosphere of the Sun. The authors make the tale of how we made crucial discoveries, as well as the substance of those discoveries themselves, exciting and compelling.
The subject matter is at times demanding, but the writing is clear and understandable.
Recommended for anyone who enjoys good science writing.
I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
Golub and Pasachoff lay out not just our knowledge of our star, but how we gained that knowledge. It has been a long process, gaining speed only in the last couple of centuries, and a far more convoluted path than at first glance it might appear. That's because the Earth and Sun interact, and it isn't always apparent what the cause of a particular effect is. Climate in particular is the product of a number of interacting and chaotic causes. Our orbit is elliptical, not circular; the Earth precesses on its axis; the Sun itself has cycles, the eleven-year sunspot cycle as well as other, longer cycles--and once we know all this, there's still more to understand.
We look at the Sun, and we see a great, glowing ball. It doesn't look complicated at all. Yet even before we had more advanced instruments, eclipses and the telescope let us discover and begin to study the photosphere of the Sun. The authors make the tale of how we made crucial discoveries, as well as the substance of those discoveries themselves, exciting and compelling.
The subject matter is at times demanding, but the writing is clear and understandable.
Recommended for anyone who enjoys good science writing.
I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
July 17, 2014
The sun, our ally in the stars, is explained in an intriguing and mostly understandable way. I did read this book in smaller chunks of information in order to fully be able to understand all the information that was given.
Leon Goulb and Jay M. Pasachoff an astrophysicist and astronomer answer many fascinating questions about the origin, activity and purpose of the sun. Written in a style that presents all the scientific information you need with pictures, charts, graphs and data, but still understandable enough for someone without a strong scientific background to understand. In Nearest Star we learn what the sun is made of and how it came to be. Most amazing is how the Earth is at just the right place in our solar system to reap the most benefits of our sun. Also, how long the sun will be able to support life on Earth as we know it, a comforting yet terrifying fact.
Other interesting things explored are the phenomenon of the northern lights and insights into global warming.
A perceptive read for anyone interested in the science of the sun or wanting to know more about how our solar system works.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review
Leon Goulb and Jay M. Pasachoff an astrophysicist and astronomer answer many fascinating questions about the origin, activity and purpose of the sun. Written in a style that presents all the scientific information you need with pictures, charts, graphs and data, but still understandable enough for someone without a strong scientific background to understand. In Nearest Star we learn what the sun is made of and how it came to be. Most amazing is how the Earth is at just the right place in our solar system to reap the most benefits of our sun. Also, how long the sun will be able to support life on Earth as we know it, a comforting yet terrifying fact.
Other interesting things explored are the phenomenon of the northern lights and insights into global warming.
A perceptive read for anyone interested in the science of the sun or wanting to know more about how our solar system works.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review
August 11, 2016
While not the best book out there on our sun, this one was fairly well done. It's worth a look and would make a nice addition to a library with other sources to complement. It could use some polish to make it a better read with additional sun related facts. I received an evaluation copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion and review. In no way has this influenced our opinion. Read more reviews, author interviews and enter giveaways on my blog.
May 30, 2008
A very good book for skimming because its divided up into sections pretty well. Read what catches your fancy!
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