Inter-University Centre For Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, India

542 BOOK REVIEWS
only; the book deserves to be more widely read and so I hope a paperback will also
be available.
Inter-University Centre for J. V. NARLIKAR

Astronomy and Astrophysics,
Pune, India
Cesare Barbieri, Jürgen H. Rahe, Torrence V. Johnson and Anita M. Sohus (eds.),
The Three Galileos: The Man, The Spacecraft, The Telescope, Astrophysics and
Space Science Library, Vol. 220, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The
Netherlands, 480 pp., 1997, hardbound Dfl. 325.00/US $185.00/GB £110.00,
ISBN 0–7923–4861–3.
The book presents the minutes of a conference held to honor the memory of Galileo
Galilei, the scientist who was the first to make telescopic astronomical observations
and thereby revolutionized the conception of science. The spacecraft now study-
ing Jupiter and its satellites has been named after him, as has the Italian national
telescope. The conference focused on these historical and scientific aspects of the
greatest Italian astronomer. The section regarding Galileo the man considers the
meaning of its discovery and offers a historical analysis of the Padua area where
Galileo was living at the time of his studies. The second section gives a complete
and update overview of the space mission around the most complex and interesting
planet of the Solar System. The last part of the book is devoted to a description of
the new national Italian telescope that will come into use at the end of 1998. In the
Appendix, the speeches given during the visit to Pope John Paul II are presented;
these reveal current Vatican thinking regarding science.
Istituto di Astronomia dell’Università C. B LANCO

di Catania, Italy
Sidney van den Bergh, Galaxy Morphology and Classification, Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, Cambridge, 111 pp., 1998, hardback GB £19.95, ISBN 0–521–
62335–9.
At the basis of virtually every comparitive or statistical study lies a classification

scheme. In the absence of definite knowledge of galaxy formation and evolution,
galaxies in the Universe are almost invariably classified by their morphological
characteristics, starting with the pioneering and still generally used classification
scheme put forward by Edwin Hubble. Although the Hubble classification has been
BOOK REVIEWS 543
extremely useful, the actual variety of galaxy types poses problems, especially for
the classification of galaxies in rich clusters and galaxies observed at large red-
shifts. Later schemes, such as those proposed by de Vaucouleurs, Elmegreen, Van
den Bergh, and Morgan, attempt to address these problems, usually by introducing
multi-parameter classifications. In this nice little book, an old hand in the field con-
cisely and thoroughly discusses the strong and weak points of the various schemes.
This is followed by chapters devoted to particularly interesting or problematical
cases: Bars, Elliptical Galaxies, SO Galaxies, Dwarf Spheroidals, Low Surface
Brightnesss Galaxies, Active Galaxies, and more general chapters on evolution
and computer classification. The book is devoted exclusively to classification of the
optical morphology. By only briefly touching upon radio and infrared properties,
the author somewhat shortchanges the subject of active galaxies in particular.
Notwithstanding this minor criticism, the book is extremely useful to advanced
students entering the field of extragalactic astronomy; it serves as an excellent
basis or adjunct to any course taught on this subject. In addition, even the expert
researcher in the field will find much to reflect upon, as well as many intriguing
challenges for further fundamental research.
The book is very well produced with a good choice of tables and figures. An
extensive reference list, object index and subject index complete this commendable
work.
Sterrewacht Leiden, F. P. I SRAEL

Leiden, The Netherlands
J. Moen, A. Egeland and M. Lockwood (eds.), Polar Cap Boundary Phenomena,

NATO Science Series: C Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 509, Kluwer
Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 452 pp., 1998, hardbound
Dfl. 340.00/US $184.00/GB £115.00, ISBN 0–7923–4976–8.
The book is a collection of the invited talks and some selected research reports
presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute held at Longyearbyen, Svalbard,
June 4–13, 1997.
The role of the polar cap and its boundary is a very substantial one in solar-
terrestrial physics. Several definitions for the polar cap boundary exist, and there
is much experimental uncertainty, temporal variability, and questionable theoreti-
cal significance. A host of observations, using both ground based and spacecraft
methods, have appeared recently. Thus this ASI was very timely.
A total of 31 papers is published here, plus a summary by Lockwood, Fuselier,
Walker, and Soraas. From that summary, “A number of general scientific themes
ran throughout most of the ASI sessions. They were: the outer magnetospheric
border – the bow shock, the magnetosheath and the magnetopause; how the inter-

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542 BOOK REVIEWS

Inter-University Centre for J. V. NARLIKAR

Istituto di Astronomia dell’Università C. B LANCO

At the basis of virtually every comparitive or statistical study lies a classification

Sterrewacht Leiden, F. P. I SRAEL

J. Moen, A. Egeland and M. Lockwood (eds.), Polar Cap Boundary Phenomena,

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