Astronomical Applications of Astrometry
Ten Years of Exploitation of the Hipparcos Satellite Data

An authoritative account of the contributions to science made by the Hipparcos satellite, for astronomers, astrophysicists and cosmologists.

Michael Perryman (Author)

9780521514897, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 December 2008

692 pages
25.3 x 19.3 x 3.6 cm, 1.61 kg

Review of the hardback: 'The book is carefully presented and structured, very well documented with plenty of references, and complete with indices and appendices covering numerical quantities, acronyms, and a welcome author gallery. I also appreciated the reproduction of many illustrations and tables, as well as the use of inserts on specific themes.' The Observatory

The Hipparcos satellite, developed and launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1989, was the first space mission dedicated to astrometry - the accurate measurement of positions, distances, and proper motions of stars. Amongst the key achievements of its measurements are refining the cosmic distance scale, characterising the large-scale kinematic motions in the Solar neighbourhood, providing precise luminosities for stellar modelling, and confirming Einstein's prediction of the effect of gravity on starlight. This authoritative account of the Hipparcos contributions over the following decade is an outstanding reference for astronomers, astrophysicists and cosmologists. It reviews the applications of the data in different areas, describing the subject and the state-of-the-art before Hipparcos, and summarising all major contributions to the topic made by Hipparcos. It contains a detailed overview of the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues, their annexes and their updates. Each chapter ends with comprehensive references to relevant literature.

1. The Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues
2. Derived catalogues and applications
3. Double and multiple stars
4. Photometry and variability
5. Luminosity calibration and distance scale
6. Open clusters, groups and associations
7. Stellar structure and evolution
8. Specific stellar types and the ISM
9. Structure of the Galaxy
10. Solar System and exo-planets
Index.

Subject Areas: Astrophysics [PHVB], Astronomy, space & time [PG]