The Flammarion book of astronomy

About this book

Bk. I: The earth. The earth in the heavens -- How the earth rotates round itself and revolves around the sun -- How the earth revolves round the sun -- the fourth motion of the earth -- Perturbations of the earth and motion of the sun in space -- Theoretical and experimental proofs of the motions of our globe -- The earth as a planet -- The earth and its origins -- bk. II: The moon. The earth's satellite -- The phases of the moon -- The motion of the moon around the earth -- The moon's effects on the earth -- Physics of the moon -- Eclipses -- bk. III: The sun. The sun's empire -- How the distance, size and mass of the sun are measured -- Survey of solar physics -- The photosphere -- Atoms and spectrographs -- The message of the solar spectrum -- Eclipses of the sun -- The chromosphere and prominences -- The corona -- The sun and the earth -- Inside the sun. Bk. IV: The planets. Real and apparent motions -- The planet Mercury -- The planet Venus -- The planet Mars -- The minor planets -- Jupiter, the giant planet -- Saturn -- Uranus -- The frontiers of the solar system -- bk. V: Comets, meteors and meteorites. Comets in human history -- The motion of comets in space -- The constitution of comets -- Meteors and meteorites -- Bk. VI: The sidereal universe. The constellations -- The measurement of stellar positions -- The brightness and number of the stars -- The distances of the stars -- The proper motions of the stars -- Double stars -- Stellar spectra -- Radial velocities, spectroscopic binaries -- Eclipsing binaries -- The diameters, masses and brightnesses of stars -- variable stars -- Novae and supernovae -- The planetary nebulae, the Wolf-Rayet stars -- Star clusters -- The constitution, chemistry and evolution of the stars -- The diffuse nebulae -- Radio astronomy -- The galaxy -- Extragalactic nebulae -- bk. VII: The instruments of astronomy -- bk. VIII: Artificial satellites and space vehicles. Elements of extra-terrestrial ballistics -- One step: rockets -- Artificial satellites -- Space probes -- The prospect before us: astronautics -- Some astronomical data.