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

Description

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.

Review of the hardback: 'I am amazed by this book's completeness - it is really THE 'Hipparcos Encyclopedia'. Michael Perryman has done a tremendous work for which I have an enthusiastic admiration. Bravo, Bravo!' Jean Kovalevsky, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur and author of Fundamentals of Astrometry Review of the hardback: 'This is a very fine book, bound to become a classic on astrometry and its applications. It is comprehensive and meticulously correct in all details of content and form, so it appears after days of reading. That is of course what we could expect from this author, but to see the book in reality is a great pleasure. There is no equivalent in astrometric literature.' Erik Hog, ESA Science Team member for Hipparcos and Gaia satellites (1975 to 2007) Review of the hardback: 'The Hipparcos catalogue has completely redefined the discipline of astrometry and converted it into a new source of astrophysical information. This book summarizes, in an elegant and clear way, the whole legacy of the Hipparcos results. It helps to raise awareness for astrometry in the astrophysical community. Standing on the eve of the next-generation astrometric projects we should be grateful to the author for providing us with such a source of inspiration.' Sergei Klioner, Lohrmann Observatory, Dresden Technical University, and President of IAU Commission 52 'Relativity in Fundamental Astronomy' Review of the hardback: 'This book by Michael Perryman, one of the prime actors of the Hipparcos mission, is a very impressive presentation, putting into context all of the breakthroughs made using the Hipparcos and Tycho data. For the whole Hipparcos community, such an extensive review of the more than 2000 papers published from this pioneer satellite is very rewarding and it is a great pleasure for us to go through the many fields of application. This book is also a pressing invitation for all astrophysicists to use these unique data and to anticipate what will be obtained from the new generation of astrometric missions, especially Gaia, now in its phase of construction. A very inspiring gold-mine of information, to be read without restraint.' Catherine Turon, Observatoire de Paris and Hipparcos Input Catalogue Consortium Team Leader 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