Venus

Rating:
Summary: Patrick Moore's Venus
Review: The Chinese called Venus Tai-pe or "the beautiful white one." Author Sir Patrick Moore calls Earth's "sister" planet the jewel of the sky, and a gem it is for anyone who has ever seen this planet through a telescope. This prolific writer and world-famous astronomer and TV science expert takes you on a guided tour of a place where the atmospheric pressure is terrible and the temperatures are scorching. This book is vastly different from his first book on this subject in 1954; "The Planet Venus" in which he stated the planet was in a Cambrian state and "will eventually develop more advanced life forms." Though admittedly wrong, Moore says Venus is still a fascinating world. "Recent orbiting spacecraft with radar imaging systems are turning up new and intriguing information about our nearest neighbor."
In the ensuing chapters, such as "Myth and Legends" Moore discusses the Maya civilization and their interest in Venus and considered her a major deity. They even developed a calendar based upon the movement of the planet. A more modern myth about Venus was Dr. Velikovsky's claim that Venus used to be comet. His 1939 book "Worlds In Collision" claimed that Venus was ejected from Jupiter and bounced around the solar system eventually settling in its near circular orbit it has today. During this game of planetary billiards Venus encountered the Earth causing a well-known biblical event; halting the Earth's spin long enough to part the Red Sea.
The fifth chapter "Venus Through the Telescope" is by far the best section of this work. Here displayed are some beautiful drawings of Venus by 18th century astronomer Francesco Bianchini including a map to which are drawn seas and continents. Bianchini's book was published in Latin but, according to Moore, he was insistent that it be translated into English and Springer Verlag published a version of the work. Another intriguing topic discussed here is the "enlightened" mountains seen by German astronomer Schroter, an observation that couldn't be confirmed by William Herschal. They were most likely a dark patch or streak seen on Venus. Percival Lowell, famous for his theories on Mars, recorded numerous streaks on Venus. But unlike his Martian canals he felt that these were natural markings, not artificial.
Whole chapters are devoted to the Ashen light of Venus and an elusive phantom "moon". Like the young crescent moon viewed in the early evening, the dark side of the moon will be lit by Earthshine. "A similar effect can be seen with Venus" even this author has seen this effect. Having viewed it since 1934, Moore even tried an experiment to hide the bright crescent. "I found as a rule it could still be seen shinning on its own." The belief that Venus possessed a satellite was held to be true by some 18th and 19th astronomers, but other astronomers too never verified this. Moore suggests that the "moon" may have been an uncharted star or perhaps for the earlier sightings the undiscovered planet Uranus.
And what would be a book about Venus without mentioning the big attraction coming up next years; the transit of Venus. Transits are rare, once in over a century, but are seen in pairs, separated by eight years. Discussed here are transits to come and Moore adds, "go forward to the year 3818 and they'll be a transit on Christmas Day."
The book is loaded with interesting facts and tidbits. There are allot of translations of historical astronomical works along with quotations through out the book. It has a gallery of photos from recent flybys and telescope and spectroscope views, which, along with computer-generated illustrations, help depict the latest ideas of what Venus looks like. Illustrations by Paul Doherty are realistic and exquisite. Moore ends the book with a "visual" descent through the clouds and down to the surface, soaring over peaks and deep craters.
The book "Venus" is quite enjoyable to read and to refer too. It would probably sit well with future young astronomers (8th grade level & up) that are truly interested in the planets, particularly Venus.