image: This is the cover of Perryman's book, "The Making of History's Greatest Star Map." view more
Credit: Springer
From prehistoric times, mankind has looked up at the night sky, and puzzled at the changing positions of the stars. How far away they are is a question that has confounded scientists for centuries. Over the last few hundred years, many scientific careers – and considerable resources – have been devoted to measuring their positions and motions with ever increasing accuracy. And in the last two decades of the 20th century, the European Space Agency developed and launched the Hipparcos satellite to carry out these exacting measurements from space. The Making of History's Greatest Star Map, by Michael Perryman, one of the scientific leaders of the Hipparcos project, provides a captivating and highly readable account of history's greatest star-mapping venture.
What has prompted these remarkable developments? Why have governments been persuaded to fund them? What are scientists learning from astronomy's equivalent of the Human Genome Project? The Making of History's Greatest Star Map traces the history, explains why such enormous efforts are considered worthwhile, and interweaves these with a first-hand insight into the Hipparcos project. The involvement of amateur astronomers, the Hipparcos contributions to climate research, 'death stars' passing close to the Sun, and the search for extra-solar planets and even intelligent life itself, are some of the surprising facets of this unusual space mission.
Sir Martin Rees wrote, "The Hipparcos project was hugely important in mapping our Galaxy. This is a fascinating account of an important episode in astronomy, written by the scientist who played a pivotal role in the prolonged and often-frustrating series of steps that brought it to fruition, and eventually to a triumphant conclusion."
Michael Perryman has spent a career in space science focused on Europe's ambitious program to map the stars. For his scientific leadership of the Hipparcos project, the first star mapping program carried out from space and the greatest leap in accuracy in history, he was awarded the Prix Janssen of the French Astronomical Society in 1996, and the Academic Medal of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999.
Michael Perryman
The Making of History's Greatest Star Map
2010. 275 p. 202 illus., 100 in color. Hardcover €29.95, $29.95, £24.99
ISBN 978-3-642-11601-8