David Levy's Guide to the Night Sky

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Paperback | 19 December 2001 | Edition Number 2

At a Glance

Paperback
372 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Dimensions(cm)
24.41 x 16.99 x 1.96

Paperback

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If, as Immanuel Kant once said, we are guided by the starry sky above and the moral law within, then, thanks to David Levy, we can now conceptualize Kant's adage at least half-way. David Levy's Guide to the Night Sky is designed to satisfy observers who have just become interested in the sky and want to navigate their way around it. By stirring the imagination and putting observation in a framework of personal adventure, Levy explains how to discover the Moon, planets, comets, meteors, and distant galaxies through a small telescope. Fully updated, the new edition includes:

A new section on the computer-controlled telescopes and how to use this new technology;

One new chapter on how charge-coupled devices (CCDs) have revolutionized the art of astronomical observation

An explanation of how a new variable star is discovered and studied, based on Levy's personal experience Levy explores topics as diverse as the features of the Moon from night to night; how to observe constellations from both urban and rural observation sites; how best to view the stars, nebulae, and galaxies; and how to map the sky. David H. Levy is one of the world's foremost amateur astronomers. He has discovered seventeen comets, seven using a telescope in his own backyard, and had a minor planet, Asteroid 3673 Levy, named in his honor. As a respected astronomer, he is best known for being the co-discoverer of the famous Shoemaker-Levy9 comet in 1994. Levy is frequently interviewed by the media and succeeded Carl Sagan as science columnist for Parade magazine. He has written and contributed to a number of books, most recently The Scientific American Book of the Cosmos (St. Martin's, 2000), Advanced Skywatching (Time Life, 2000), and Deep-Sky Companions (Cambridge, 2000).

Industry Reviews

'... a very good read and is certainly value for money.' Peter Mata, Spaceflight 'I would unhesitatingly recommend it to the novice astronomer starting out, or the advanced observer in need of some gentle encouragement.' Neil English, Astronomy Now '... essential reading when preparing for a night under the stars ... a book which should find a place on every astronomer's shelf, and in every astronomer's heart.' Astronomy & Space

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Non-Fiction Nature & The Natural World Popular Astronomy & Space Science Astronomy, Space & Time Astronomical Observation & Observatories Cosmology & The Universe Physics Applied Physics Astrophysics

Foreword	p. xv
Preface to the first edition	p. xvii
Preface to this edition	p. xix
Acknowledgments	p. xxii
Getting started
First night out	p. 1
Discover the sky	p. 2
Aspects of the sky	p. 3
Magnitudes	p. 4
The Big Dipper key	p. 4
The Milky Way	p. 6
The planets	p. 7
Celestial co-ordinates and measurements	p. 7
The star charts	p. 9
Starry, starry skies...	p. 26
Without a telescope	p. 27
Lights	p. 28
Haloes	p. 28
Aurora borealis and australis	p. 28
Zodiacal light and Gegenschein	p. 33
Artificial satellites	p. 34
The planets	p. 34
Diversity of the stars	p. 35
The Sun	p. 37
The Moon	p. 38
Mercury	p. 38
Planets in daylight	p. 38
Variable stars	p. 40
Deep sky objects	p. 41
Searching	p. 42
Meteors	p. 43
Showers	p. 44
Showers month by month	p. 45
Observing procedure	p. 50
Single observer	p. 50
Group observing	p. 51
Hints	p. 52
Fireballs	p. 54
Choosing a telescope	p. 55
Binoculars	p. 57
Anticipating problems	p. 58
Telescopes	p. 59
Refractor	p. 59
Reflector	p. 61
Compound telescopes	p. 61
Eyepieces	p. 61
Mounts	p. 62
Why not make your own?	p. 62
Extremes	p. 64
Telescopes, advanced	p. 65
How to use electronic telescopes	p. 66
Recording your observations	p. 67
Moon, Sun and planets
The Moon	p. 73
Why observe the Moon?	p. 74
The phases	p. 75
Training project	p. 75
Day to day notes	p. 77
Moon II: advanced observations	p. 86
Crater drawing program	p. 86
Drawing a feature	p. 86
A note about notes	p. 89
Photographing the Moon	p. 89
At the prime focus	p. 91
Lunar transient phenomena	p. 92
Suspect areas	p. 93
Notes on advanced projects	p. 94
Lunar height measurements	p. 95
Viewing difficult features	p. 96
The Sun	p. 97
Observing the Sun is dangerous	p. 99
Observing projects	p. 101
Daily sunspot count	p. 101
Other features on the Sun	p. 106
Disk drawings	p. 106
Detailed drawings	p. 108
Photographs	p. 109
Advanced work: hydrogen-alpha filters	p. 110
Jupiter	p. 110
Jupiter and its moons	p. 111
Seeing	p. 111
The face of Jupiter	p. 113
Drawing Jupiter	p. 114
Full disk drawings	p. 115
Specific regions	p. 116
The Galilean satellites	p. 119
A comet strikes Jupiter	p. 119
Saturn	p. 123
Historical perspective	p. 124
The rings	p. 124
The globe	p. 125
Drawing Saturn	p. 126
A cloudy night experiment for clubs	p. 126
Actual drawing	p. 127
Estimating conspicuousness	p. 127
Estimating intensity	p. 127
The moons	p. 129
Titan	p. 129
Iapetus	p. 130
Phoebe	p. 130
Mars	p. 131
Observing Mars	p. 133
Drawing Mars	p. 135
Kinds of changes to expect	p. 136
Surface features	p. 137
The atmosphere	p. 140
Phobos and Deimos	p. 141
Mars thought	p. 143
The retrograde motion of Mars, by Leo Enright	p. 143
Five planets worth watching	p. 149
Venus	p. 149
Observing Venus	p. 150
Advanced observing	p. 150
Ashen light	p. 152
Transits	p. 152
Mercury	p. 153
Observing Mercury	p. 153
How the outer planets were discovered	p. 154
Discovery I: Uranus	p. 154
Discovery II: Neptune	p. 155
Discovery III: Pluto	p. 157
Observing Uranus	p. 158
Observing Neptune	p. 160
Observing Pluto	p. 160
Minor bodies
Asteroids	p. 163
Historical perspective	p. 163
Naming of asteroids	p. 165
Observing asteroids	p. 166
Kinds of asteroids	p. 166
Observing asteroids	p. 166
A life list of asteroids	p. 167
Asteroid occultations	p. 167
Physical observations	p. 170
A photometric study of some asteroids	p. 170
Comets	p. 172
Comets, clouds, and variable stars	p. 172
Comet observers	p. 174
What is a comet?	p. 175
Families of comets	p. 175
Groups of comets	p. 175
Observing comets	p. 176
How to estimate the brightness of a comet	p. 177
The coma	p. 179
Comet hunting	p. 180
Procedures for hunting	p. 182
Sun vicinity	p. 183
Twilight horizon	p. 183
A group search program	p. 183
Hunting with a telescope	p. 184
Search procedures	p. 184
Appropriate times	p. 185
Discovery	p. 186
The naming of comets	p. 188
Deep sky
Double stars	p. 191
Mizar	p. 191
Historical notes	p. 192
Nature of doubles	p. 193
Observing double stars	p. 194
Recording your observations	p. 195
Doubles as optical tests	p. 196
The Tombaugh-Smith seeing scale	p. 196
Advanced work	p. 198
Variable stars	p. 199
The AAVSO	p. 200
Eclipsing binaries	p. 201
Cepheids	p. 202
Long period stars	p. 202
Semiregular stars	p. 203
Cataclysmic variables	p. 206
T Tauri	p. 207
Naming of variables	p. 207
How to observe a variable star	p. 208
Suggested frequency of observation	p. 210
Northern summer program	p. 210
Northern winter program	p. 211
A selection of variable stars	p. 211
Searching for novae and supernovae	p. 216
Neutron star song	p. 222
TV Corvi: A variable star adventure	p. 223
The deep sky	p. 225
The New General Catalogue	p. 226
Open clusters	p. 226
Globular clusters	p. 229
Diffuse nebulae	p. 232
Planetary nebulae	p. 235
Supernova remnants	p. 237
Galaxies	p. 237
Quasars	p. 238
Telescope and sky	p. 239
For a city sky	p. 239
For a dark sky	p. 242
Messier hunting	p. 245
Messier marathons	p. 258
The sky on film	p. 262
Star trails	p. 264
The Sun	p. 266
Moon and planets	p. 266
Photographs by projection	p. 266
Guided astrophotography	p. 267
Camera support	p. 267
What you need	p. 267
Aligning the polar axis	p. 269
Setting up the picture	p. 270
Focusing	p. 270
Ready!	p. 271
Some advanced ideas	p. 271
Copying	p. 271
Hypersensitizing	p. 271
Processing film	p. 272
Some hints	p. 273
The electronic revolution, part 1: CCDs	p. 275
Connecting a CCD to a computer	p. 277
Observing with CCDs	p. 277
Focusing	p. 278
Taking the image	p. 278
Flat fielding	p. 279
Image manipulation	p. 279
The electronic revolution, part 2: Astrometry	p. 280
Some background	p. 281
Observing the object	p. 282
Measuring positions the classical way	p. 282
Using CCDs	p. 283
Special events
Solar eclipses	p. 285
Alignments	p. 286
Solar eclipses and the public	p. 286
Eye protection	p. 287
The saros cycle	p. 289
Partial eclipses	p. 290
Total eclipses	p. 290
Photographing a solar eclipse	p. 291
Other activities	p. 293
Annular eclipses	p. 294
Enjoy it!	p. 295
Lunar eclipses and occultations	p. 295
Lunar eclipses	p. 296
Shadows	p. 296
Things to do	p. 297
Penumbral eclipses	p. 300
Thought	p. 300
Lunar occultations	p. 301
Grazing occultations	p. 302
Occultations of planets	p. 304
Occultations by planets	p. 304
Murphy's Law and occultations	p. 304
A miscellany
Passing the torch	p. 309
Schools	p. 309
Methods of teaching	p. 310
The planets	p. 310
Daytime observing	p. 311
Observing the Sun	p. 312
Venus	p. 312
Observing the Moon	p. 313
Night observing	p. 313
Meteors, and learning through research	p. 314
Closing thought	p. 314
The poet's sky	p. 318
My favorite objects	p. 323
The Moon	p. 323
The Sun	p. 324
Jupiter	p. 324
Saturn	p. 324
Algol	p. 325
V Hydrae	p. 325
TV Corvi	p. 326
47 Ursae Majoris	p. 326
Wendee's star	p. 326
Eta Carinae	p. 327
Wendee's Ring	p. 327
Equuleus S	p. 328
IC 1396	p. 328
NGC 1931	p. 328
M17: The Omega Nebula	p. 329
Messier 31	p. 329
Messier 51: The Whirlpool Galaxy	p. 329
NGC3621: The Frame Galaxy	p. 330
The Hydra Trio: Larry, Mo and Curly	p. 330
Nanette's River	p. 330
Resources	p. 331
Societies	p. 331
Lunar and planetary	p. 331
Variable stars	p. 331
Occultations	p. 331
Photometry	p. 332
Deep sky	p. 332
Light pollution	p. 332
Sun	p. 332
Three other organizations	p. 333
Literature	p. 333
Observing assistance	p. 333
Star atlases	p. 334
Historical	p. 334
Solar system	p. 335
Deep sky	p. 335
General assistance	p. 336
For children	p. 336
Magazines	p. 336
Index	p. 339
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

David Levy's Guide to the Night Sky

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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