Launching the elec-
Good Mouse
Clicking
Astronomers Computer
Companion
Jeff Foust and Ron Lafon (No Starch Press, 1999).
474 pages and CD-ROM. ISBN 1-886411-22-0.
$39.95, paperbound. Available from Sky Publishing.
Review by Stuart J. Goldman
I
ts a book. Its a CD-ROM. Its an
electronic book. The trinary nature of
Astronomers Computer Companion is
just one aspect of what makes it such a
complete reference or as complete as
reasonably possible given that, at some
point, the publisher had to burn the CD
and print the book.
Upon giving it the in-the-bookstore
flip examination one can see that the text
resembles most other Internet-user guides:
page after page of Internet links illustrat-
ed with screen captures. But delving into
the text reveals more than just URLs.
About half the book is a basic astronomy
tutorial, with 13 chapters providing a
short overview of topics from the Sun
and Moon to quasars and cosmology.
The Web links and software examples
provide the jumping-off point for the
reader to explore further.
The next section leads with synopses
of software, grouped by type. Many of
the programs are provided on the in-
cluded packed CD-ROM. Astronomers
Computer Companion has an edge over
David Ratledges Software and Data for
Practical Astronomers (S&T: June 1999,
page 89) because the CD includes pro-
grams for Macintosh users. Perhaps one
of the most appreciated elements in the
appendix of software descriptions is that
the authors provide installation instruc-
tions for everything on the CD. The ex-
perienced computer user may not need
this, but considering that programs can
come packaged in different ways (ready
to run by clicking, as a self-contained in-
staller, or as a ZIP archive), the guide will
undoubtedly be valued by novices.
Of course, theres more to the Internet
than Web sites. Jeff Foust and Ron Lafon
explore other online aspects of astrono-
my, such as discussion areas, mailing lists,
and chat rooms. The text claims to de-
This guide to electronic astronomy provides software and Internet
resources for armchair astrophysicists and experienced observers.
scribe the good, bad, and ugly sides of
astronomy newsgroups, but I thought the
last two categories were glossed over. The
strength of the newsgroups is free discus-
sion; however, thats also the ugly part,
because messages based on ignorance,
steeped in biases, and full of misinfor-
mation thrive there. The texts section
on electronic mailing lists is surprisingly
short. This wouldnt be so bad if the pri-
mary reference noted in the text to search
for other mailing lists the Liszt direc-
tory at www.liszt.com offered more
than 10. Theres a more complete list
more than 70 at S&Ts mailing-list
page (www.skypub.com/resources/links/
lists.html).
Other chapters discuss computer-
controlled telescopes and charge-coupled
devices (CCDs). Unfortunately, this book
was published too soon to include the
Meade ETX/Autostar and Celestron
NexStar instruments. The main text con-
cludes with resources for research-ori-
ented information for amateur astron-
omers.
The last third of the book consists of
the appendixes, in which the authors de-
scribe the contents of the CD: 31 pro-
grams for DOS/Windows, 28 programs
for MacOS, 148 images, and 37 anima-
tions.
The entire text of the book is also
on the disc in the form of a Portable
Document Format (PDF) file, viewable
with the included Adobe Acrobat Reader
(for both Windows and MacOS). This is
perhaps the best way to explore the
2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
tronic-book version
of Astronomers Com-
puter Companion not
only displays the en-
tire text of the print-
ed version but also
provides live Web
links. In some cases,
installing a program
on the disc is as sim-
ple as clicking on the
red link in the de-
scription.
text. As you page
through the chapters
electronically, every
Web address is a live
link. If youre con-
nected to the Inter-
net, these sites are
just a click away.
However, some
URLs have unfortu-
nately changed since
publication. Updates
to the addresses in the book are on the
publishers Web site (www.nostarch.com/
acc_updates.htm). As of late April, there
were already 112 revised or dead links
noted. The electronic book also directly
connects you to the software on the CD.
You can run many of the program in-
stallers by clicking on them from within
the PDF document.
My only criticism of significance is
that several of the illustrations are
wrong. For example, the main text and
the caption explain that Figure 2.4 is a
satellite image of Oklahoma City, but in-
stead its a view of Volgograd, Russia.
Later in the book, Figure 15.1 is repro-
duced twice, once (correctly) at the be-
ginning of Chapter 15, and once (mis-
takenly) toward the end of Chapter 16,
where Figure 16.9 should have been.
Nevertheless, the result is a valuable
resource that will serve a broad au-
dience. Astronomers Computer Compan-
ion may be best utilized as a reference
for students seeking information for an
astronomy project. Intermediate ama-
teurs will benefit from the abundance of
software pointers and samples as they
look for the right software to aid in ob-
serving.
Sky & Telescope July 2000 71