Sky & Telescope - December 2020 - 57

BOOK REVIEW by Nick Kanas

All the Right Stuﬀ
LUNA COGNITA: A Comprehensive Observer's Handbook of the Known Moon (3 vols.)
Robert A. Garﬁnkle
Springer, 2020
1,680 pages, ISBN 978-1-4939-1663-4
US $89.99, hardcover.

It is the very error of the moon,
She comes more nearer earth than
she was wont,
And makes men mad.
- William Shakespeare, Othello
THE MOOR OF VENICE alludes here to
a belief in Shakespeare's day that the
Moon could cause actual madness, but
you will become a savvy "lunatic" if you
read this tour de force by lunar cognoscente Robert Garﬁnkle. Enhanced with
95 tables and more than 1,300 ﬁgures,
this three-volume set is more compendium than handbook. Spanning science
to photography, it's a must-read for
every serious observer of the Moon.
Volume 1 sets the table: mythology
and lore; mechanics and formation of
the Earth-Moon system; descriptions of
lunar features and geological periods;
history and operation of the telescope;
history and tips regarding lunar photography; and information on reading
Moon maps.

The last six chapters of Volume 1
and the ﬁrst nine of Volume 2 give full
descriptions via text and photographs
of lunar features observable throughout
each night of the lunar cycle, from one
New Moon to the next. The information is precise, relevant for observers,
and includes interesting supplementary
material, such as whom lunar features
are named for and depictions of such
features on drawings and old maps.
The remaining chapters of Volume 2
discuss a variety of specialized topics:
observing special features, from dark
halo craters to lunar domes; making
measurements, e.g., shadow lengths
and photometric assessments of brightness; producing drawings of lunar
elements; and observing Moon occultations and lunar and solar eclipses. I
especially enjoyed the sections on lunar
transient phenomena and the history of
solar eclipses.
Volume 3 consists of 17 appendices.
These include ephemerides of lunar
data and deep-sky objects occulted by
the Moon; catalogs of lunar features
and spaceﬂights to the Moon; lists of
publishers and observing organizations;
and tables for lunar and solar photographers. There's also a section describing different cultural lunar mansion
systems - ancient divisions in the sky
based on the roughly 28-day lunar cycle.
The volume concludes with a complete
glossary, bibliography, and indices based
on topics, proper names, lunar features,
and mythology.
Each chapter opens with a quote
involving the Moon (say, from Shakespeare); includes a section on names
introduced in the chapter that pertain
to relevant lunar constituents; and concludes with an image, such as a picture
of Moon-crossed lovers from antique
European postcards.

Throughout, many useful ﬁgures
accompany the text. As an amateur
astronomer, I especially liked Figure
4.10, which shows how the Moon is
oriented in an eyepiece based on the
observing instrument and setup - for
example, binoculars, refractor, or
Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with or
without a star diagonal.

This wonderful set has something
for every observer. It's beautifully
published, with quality printing,
good photos, and solid binding.
A book of this size is bound to have a
few glitches (such as Figure 6.1, which
has East and West labels reversed).
But overall the ﬁgures are coherent
and helpful adjuncts to the text. As an
antiquarian celestial map enthusiast, I
found the descriptions and illustrations
of old maps in Section 3.4 ("Selenography and the History of Lunar Nomenclature") and in relevant sections elsewhere to be complete and informative.
This wonderful set has something for
every observer. Although one could use
the books during an observing session,
I would imagine turning to them more
while planning for a night's work, or
even the day after observing to expand
my knowledge of what I had seen. Altogether, the set is beautifully published,
with quality printing, good photos, and
solid binding. At $90 for the set, it's a
real bargain.

¢ NICK KANAS is a professor emeritus
at the University of California, San Francisco, and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He's been an amateur
astronomer for more than 60 years.
We reviewed his book Star Maps in the
August issue.
sk yandtelescope.org * DECEMBER 2 02 0

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