The hundred greatest stars by James Kaler, Copernicus Books, $32.50, ISBN 0387954368 Reviewed by Patrick Moore
MOST people know about Sirius, Canopus and Antares, but not everyone will be familiar with EG 129, HZ 21 and Polaris Australis, the dim star close to the south pole of the sky.
Enter The Hundred Greatest Stars by James Kaler, professor of astronomy at the University of Illinois. Following a very clear general introduction to stellar astronomy, Kaler embarks on an informative tour through his hundred favourite stars, each given a page of text with an appropriate illustration on the facing page.
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From supergiants such as VV Cephei, the largest star known, to very young stars such as T Tauri (still varying irregularly in brightness as it approaches stability), violently explosive stars (DQ Herculis, which flared up from obscurity to naked-eye visibility in 1934), and tiny, incredibly dense neutron stars (The Black Widow, remorselessly destroying its luckless companion star), Kaler covers all kinds. Take the weird SS 433, whose high-speed jets are likened to 鈥渁 berserk lawn sprinkler鈥�, stars which are known to be attended by planets (Epsilon Eridani, one of our nearest neighbours), stars associated with black holes, and fast-moving stars. There is plenty of variety, and the hundred stars have been well selected.
The really clever aspect of the book is that as well as describing the hundred stars, often bringing out aspects which are unfamiliar, Kaler succeeds in giving an excellent broad survey of recent developments in stellar astronomy. As is to be expected, the text is immensely authoritative, and misprints are rare. The illustrations are beautiful, ranging from skilful diagrams to images from the Hubble Space Telescope.
鈥淭o the community of amateur astronomers鈥� is the dedication at the beginning of the book, but the text is so well written that it will appeal as much to the beginner as to the more serious student. All in all, this is one of the most interesting and enjoyable books I have read for a long time.