Hubble: Imaging Space and Time
by David Devorkin
from National Geographic
In the spirit of National Geographic’s top-selling Orbit, this large-format, full-color volume stands alone in revealing more than 200 of the most spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope during its lifetime, to the very eve of the 2008 final shuttle mission to the telescope. Written by two of the world’s foremost authorities on space history, Hubble: Imaging Space and Time illuminates the solar system’s workings, the expansion of the universe, the birth and death of stars, the formation of planetary nebulae, the dynamics of galaxies, and the mysterious force known as "dark energy."
The potential impact of this book cannot be overstressed: The 2008 servicing mission to install new high-powered scientific instruments is especially high profile because the cancellation of the previous mission, in 2004, caused widespread controversy. The authors reveal the inside story of Hubble’s beginnings, its controversial early days, the drama of its first servicing missions, and the creation of the dynamic images that reach into the deepest regions of visible space, close to the time when the universe began.
A wealth of astonishing images leads us to the very edge of known space, setting the stage for the new James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2013. Find the stunning panoramic of Carina Nebula, detailing star birth as never before; a jet from a black hole in one galaxy striking a neighboring galaxy; a jewel-like collection of galaxies from the early years of the universe; and a giant galaxy cannibalizing a smaller galaxy.
Timed for the 2008 shuttle launch and coinciding with the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first telescope, Hubble: Imaging Space and Time accompanies a high-profile exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum and will be featured on the popular NASM website.
Harmonograph: A Visual Guide to the Mathematics of Music (Wooden Books)
by Anthony Ashton
from Walker & Company
The LabVIEW Style Book (National Instruments Virtual Instrumentation Series)
by Peter A. Blume
from Prentice Hall PTR
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Drawing on the experiences of a world-class LabVIEW development organization, The LabVIEW Style Book is the definitive guide to best practices in LabVIEW development.
Leading LabVIEW development manager Peter A. Blume presents practical guidelines or “rules” for optimizing every facet of your applications: ease of use, efficiency, readability, simplicity, performance, maintainability, and robustness. Blume explains each style rule thoroughly, presenting realistic examples and illustrations. He even presents “nonconforming” examples that show what not to do–and why not.
Coverage includes
- Significance of style: How good style improves quality and actually saves time over the full project life cycle
- Before you code: Configuring your LabVIEW environment, and organizing your files on disk and in the LabVIEW project
- LabVIEW project specifications: A specialized standard for specifying LabVIEW application requirements
- Efficient VI layout and development: front panel, block diagram, icons, and connectors
- Data structures: Choosing data types, efficient use of arrays and clusters, and special considerations with nested data structures
- Error handling strategies: Trapping and reporting errors for robust and reliable applications
- Design patterns: Standard VI architectures and application frameworks that promote good style
- Documentation: Essential rules for source code documentation and streamlining the process
- Code reviews: Enforcing a style convention using a checklist, the LabVIEW VI Analyzer Toolkit, and peer reviews
- Appendixes: Convenient glossary and style rules summary
This book will be indispensable to anyone who wants to develop or maintain quality LabVIEW applications: developers, managers, and end users alike. Additionally, it will also be valuable to those preparing for NI’s Certified LabVIEW Developer or Certified LabVIEW Architect exams, which contain significant content on development style.
Foreword by Darren Nattinger
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter 1 The Significance of Style
Chapter 2 Prepare for Good Style
Chapter 3 Front Panel Style
Chapter 4 Block Diagram
Chapter 5 Icon and Connector
Chapter 6 Data Structures
Chapter 7 Error Handling
Chapter 8 Design Patterns
Chapter 9 Documentation
Chapter 10 Code Reviews
Appendix A Glossary
Appendix B Style Rules Summary
Index
The NexStar User's Guide
by Michael Swanson
from Springer
Celestron’s NexStar telescopes were introduced in 1999, beginning with their first computer controlled "go to” model, a 5-inch. More models appeared in quick succession, and Celestron’s new range made it one of the two dominant manufacturers of affordable "go to” telescopes. Michael Swanson’s online discussions with literally thousands of NexStar owners made it clear that there was a desperate need for a book such as this - one that provides a complete, detailed guide to buying, using and maintaining NexStar telescopes. Although this book is highly comprehensive, it is suitable for beginners - there is a chapter on "Astronomy Basics” - and experts alike.
The Universe in a Mirror: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It
by Robert Zimmerman
from Princeton University Press
The Hubble Space Telescope has produced the most stunning images of the cosmos humanity has ever seen. It has transformed our understanding of the universe around us, revealing new information about its age and evolution, the life cycle of stars, and the very existence of black holes, among other startling discoveries. The Universe in a Mirror tells the story of this telescope and the visionaries responsible for its extraordinary accomplishments.
Robert Zimmerman takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most ambitious scientific instruments ever sent into space. After World War II, astronomer Lyman Spitzer and a handful of scientists waged a fifty-year struggle to build the first space telescope capable of seeing beyond Earth's atmospheric veil. Zimmerman shows how many of the telescope's advocates sacrificed careers and family to get it launched, and how others devoted their lives to Hubble only to have their hopes and reputations shattered when its mirror was found to be flawed. This is the story of an idea that would not die--and of the dauntless human spirit. Illustrated with striking color images, The Universe in a Mirror describes the heated battles between scientists and bureaucrats, the perseverance of astronauts to repair and maintain the telescope, and much more. Hubble, and the men and women behind it, opened a rare window onto the universe, dazzling humanity with sights never before seen.
This book tells their remarkable story.
The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
by Dava Sobel
from Walker & Company
Dava Sobel's Longitude tells the story of how 18th-century scientist and clockmaker William Harrison solved one of the most perplexing problems of history--determining east-west location at sea. This lush, colorfully illustrated edition adds lots of pictures to the story, giving readers a more satisfying sense of the times, the players, and the puzzle. This was no obscure, curious difficulty--without longitude, ships often found themselves so far off course that sailors would starve or die of scurvy before they could reach port. When a nationally-sponsored contest offered a hefty cash prize to the person who could develop a method to accurately determine longitude, the race was on. In the end, the battle of accuracy--and wills--fought between Harrison and arch-rival Maskelyne was ruthless and dramatic, worthy of a Hollywood feature film. Longitude's story is surprising and fascinating, offering a window into the past, before Global Positioning Satellites made it look easy. --Therese Littleton
A fully illustrated edition of the international best-seller Longitude.
The Illustrated Longitude recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the greatest scientific problem of the eighteenth and three prior centuries: determining how a captain could pinpoint his ship's location at sea. All too often throughout the ages of exploration, voyages ended in disaster when crew and cargo were either lost at sea or destroyed upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of nations hung on a resolution to the longitude problem.
To encourage a solution, governments established prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of £20,000-- truly a king's ransom-- was offered by Britain's Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment-- from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton-- had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. By contrast, John Harrison imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that told perfect time at sea, known today as the chronometer. Harrison's trials and tribulations during his forty-year quest to win the prize are the culmination of this remarkable story.
The Illustrated Longitude brings a new and important dimension to Dava Sobel's celebrated story. It contains the entire original narrative of Longitude, redesigned to accompany 183 images chosen by William Andrewes-- from portraints of every important figure in the story to maps and diagrams, scientifc instruments, and John Harrison's remarkable sea clocks themselves. Andrewes's elegant captions and sidebars on scientific and historical events tell their own story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Sobel's memorable tale.
Handbook of Usability Testing: Howto Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests
by Jeffrey Rubin
from Wiley
Whether its software, a cell phone, or a refrigerator, your customer wantsno, expectsyour product to be easy to use. This fully revised handbook provides clear, step-by-step guidelines to help you test your product for usability. Completely updated with current industry best practices, it can give you that all-important marketplace advantage: products that perform the way users expect. Youll learn to recognize factors that limit usability, decide where testing should occur, set up a test plan to assess goals for your products usability, and more.
The Riddle of the Compass: The Invention that Changed the World
by Amir D. Aczel
from Harvest Books
Principles of Instrumental Analysis (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series)
by Douglas A. Skoog
from Brooks Cole
This text is written for a course that deals with the principles and applications of modern analytical instruments. Emphasis is placed upon the theoretical basis of each type of instrument, its optimal area of application, its sensitivity, its precision, and its limitations. The text also introduces students to elementary integrated circuitry, microprocessors and computers, and treatment of analytical data.
LabVIEW 8 Student Edition
by n National Instruments Inc.
from Prentice Hall
The defacto industry standard for test, measurement, and automation software solutions. LabVIEW 8 delivers the graphical programming capabilities that allow users to design programmable software solutions to problems and lab experiments. This version includes new chapter covering LabVIEW MathScript and an upgrade to Chapter 11 Analysis to reflect 150 new and enhanced analysis VIs. A new Appendix has been added to include exciting innovative developments with Sound Card API, LabVIEW Project and Shared Variables For electrical engineers, and those involved in measurement and instrumentation.
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