Description: Requiring no advanced knowledge of mathematics or physics, this Encyclopedia brings together current scholarly thinking and the state of the art of astronomy in over 300 carefully researched and easy-to-grasp essays -- each written and signed by an expert. Major entries explore the historical development of the major fields of astronomy: astro-physics, celestial mechanics, solar system astronomy, and the study of variable stars, comets, double stars, and nebulae. Experts discuss the growth of astronomy in nations and regions: United States, Latin America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand. There are biographies of important individuals and histories of landmark institutions.

Illustrated entries by leading experts on the development of astronomical instrumentation range from the astrolabe to the Hubble Space Telescope. Historians of science discuss important topics in the social history of astronomy, such as the history of amateurs, literature and astronomy, women in astronomy, astronomy and the Roman Catholic Church, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
-- Covers astronomy from early cultures to the present
-- Includes more than 300 authoritative essays
-- Contains biographies of important individuals and histories of landmark institutions
-- Explores the historical development of the major fields of astronomy
-- International entries chart astronomy in Latin America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States

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