The Making of History's Greatest Star Map

From prehistoric times, mankind has looked up at the night sky,, and puzzled at the changing positions of the stars. How far away they are is a question that has confounded scientists for centuries. Over the last few hundred years, many scientific careers u and considerable resources u have been devoted to measuring their positions and motions with ever increasing accuracy. And in the last two decades of the 20th century, the European Space Agency developed and launched the Hipparcos satellite, around which this account revolves, to carry out these exacting measurements from space.

What has prompted these remarkable developments? Why have governments been persuaded to fund them? What are scientists learning from astronomy's equivalent of the Human Genome Project? This book traces the subject's history, explains why such enormous efforts are considered worthwhile, and interweaves these with a first-hand insight into the Hipparcos project, and how big science is conducted at an international level. The involvement of amateur astronomers, and the Hipparcos contributions to climate research, 'death stars' passing close to the Sun, and the search for extra-solar planets and even intelligent life itself, are some of the surprising facets of this unusual space mission.

One of the defining points in the creative life of the human mind came about when the ancient Greeks realised that, through a combination of mathematical geometry and the devising of increasingly accurate instruments using 360| scales, it was possible to map the heavens. And from Hipparchus in 750 BC, to ESA's Hipparcos project in the late twentieth century, much of the history of astronomy has been about the increasingly refined measurement of stellar angles, and how we can use them to make sense of the cosmos. This splendid book provides a fascinating account of that intellectual journey, and the defining contribution of a remarkable space mission.-Allan Chapman

A fascinating and entertaining account of a unique space adventure. From the prologue, which captures the excitement of the satellite launch through to the final future-looking chapter, the book contains a delightful mixture of historical and technical fact, personal insight and intriguing detail - a reading pleasure throughout.uLennart Lindegren

A remarkable book, capturing a unique blend of humanism and science, related through the author's experience of research, technology, management, and human relations. The richness of science unveiled through the precise measurements of very small angles is amazing, and the chronicle is a masterpiece of astronomy.uRoger-Maurice Bonnet

For amateur astronomers who delight in exploring the night sky, here is the captivating and highly readable account of history's greatest star-mapping venture. Hipparcos demanded an almost unbelievable effort, scientific and technical. And who better to tell this story than the astronomer who orchestrated it all?uRoger Sinnott

The Hipparcos project was hugely important in mapping our Galaxy. This is a fascinating account of an important episode in astronomy, written by the scientist who played a pivotal role in the prolonged and often frustrating series of steps that brought it,to fruition, and eventually to a triumphant conclusion.uSir Martin Rees

Hipparcosis the first time since Sputnik in 1957 that a major new development in space science has come from outside the United States,"uFreeman Dyson, Princeton (Infinite In All Directions, 1988)

"The scientific impact of the Hipparcos mission is only now beginning to be felt. Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of this effort is the staggering degree of "cooperation required"uJanet Mattel, Director of the American Association of Variable. Star Observers (Sky & Telescope, July 1997)

"Our Galactic star precinct has just been well mapped for the first time, ready for a century of searching stars for the promise of life. A terabit of data from the European Space Agency satellite Hipparcos underlies a magnificent list of over a hundred thousand star distances of unprecedented accuracy out to nearly five hundred light-years.'uPhilip Morrison, MIT (Scientific American, February 1998)

"Hipparcos was one of our most distinctive all-European missions. No other space agency has attempted anything like it."uRoger-Maurice Bonnet, ESA Director of Science (Bern, May 1999)

"The bedrock of astronomy remains the compilation of what is out there...It is invidious to single out surveys which I find particularly impressive, but I make an exception for the Hipparcos astrometric satellite."uMalcolm Longair, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (Millennium Essay, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2001)

Michael Perryman has spent a career in space science coordinating Europe's ambitious programme to map the stars. For his scientific leadership of the Hipparcos project, the first star mapping programme carried out from space and the greatest leap in its accuracy in history, he was awarded the Prix Janssen of the French Astronomical Society in 1996, and the Academic Medal of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999. Between 2001-09 he was a Senior Advisor in the European Space Agency.