The latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy appeared at the start of 2012. It contains some 4,300 entries on all aspects of
astronomy, astrophysics, and space science, written by a team of specialist
contributors, both amateur and professional, under my editorship.
The size of the Dictionary has steadily grown since it was first published in 1997, when it contained
nearly 4,000 entries. A heavily revised version appeared in 2003 in which the
number of entries increased to over 4,000. In 2004 that revised edition was
reprinted with further updates, mostly concerning space missions and
observatories.
A second edition of the Dictionary was published in September 2007. For this, all entries were reviewed by a team
of specialists, mostly different from those who had written the original
entries. A new departure for this edition was the inclusion of URLs of
websites, notably for space missions, observatories, various other
institutions, and online catalogues. This 2007 second edition incorporated over
160 new entries, although some minor ones, particularly for small planetary
satellites, were deleted.
The current printing is a revised version of the second edition, reset and with
a new cover. It introduces over 50 new entries and a new table of planetary
data, while nearly 500 other entries have been revised and updated. In this
edition the URLs have been moved to a dedicated web page which also includes links to over 100 illustrations.
Updates, additions and corrections to the 2012 edition will appear here as
necessary. OUP’s online edition of the book is updated to incorporate these changes.
Addenda and corrigenda
European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT): diameter of main mirror is now reduced to 39.3 m, with nearly 800 segments each
1.4 m wide.
gravitational force: in the equation, subscripts and superscripts should not be italic.
Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL): launched 2011 September.
James Webb Space Telescope: now scheduled for launch in 2018 or later.
Juno mission: launched 2011 August.
Kaguya (formerly Selene): impacted Moon 2009 June.
Lalande: second forename is Jérôme.
LISA Pathfinder: launch is now planned for 2014.
Mars Science Laboratory: launched 2011 November.
Phobos-Grunt: launched 2011 November but failed to leave transfer orbit.
trojans: first Earth Trojan discovered by WISE in 2011
Have you found anything that needs changing? If so, please send me an email.
Ian Ridpath
ian @ ianridpath.com
Page last updated 2012 January.