The Practical Astronomer, 2nd Edition

266 Pages·2017·68.12 MB·English

by  Will Gater

PRACTIC AL

THE
ASTRONOMER
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PRACTIC AL

T H E
ASTRONOMER
WILL GATER AND ANTON VAMPLEW
CONSULTANT JACQUELINE MITTON
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CONTENTS
This revised edition
Senior editor Peter Frances
Editors Frankie Piscitelli, INTRODUCTION 6
Miezan van Zyl
US editor Kayla Dugger
Designer Mark Lloyd
1 UNDERSTANDING THE UNIVERSE 8
Managing editor Angeles Gavira Guerrero
Managing art editor Michael Duffy
THE UNIVERSE 10
Jacket designer Mark Cavanagh
Pre-production producer David Almond THE NAKED-EYE SKY 12
Senior producer Anna Vallarino THE PLANETS 14
Associate publisher Liz Wheeler
WHAT IS A STAR? 16
Art director Karen Self
Publishing director Jonathan Metcalf OBSERVING STARS 18
NEBULAE 20
Produced for Dorling Kindersley by
STAR CLUSTERS 22
GALAXIES 26
www.cobaltid.co.uk
DIVIDING LIGHT 28
Editors
Marek Walisiewicz, Kati Dye,
Louise Abbott, Sarah Tomley, Robin Sampson 2 LOOKING UP 30
Art Editors THE MOTION OF THE SKIES 32
Paul Reid, Lloyd Tilbury, Darren Bland,
THE SKY AS A SPHERE 36
Claire Dale, Rebecca Johns
NAVIGATING THE NIGHT SKY 40
First American Edition, 2010 OBSERVING CONDITIONS 44
This edition published in the United States in 2017 by
DK Publishing, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
Copyright © 2010, 2017 Dorling Kindersley Limited 3 OBSERVING AND RECORDING 46
DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC
17 18 19 20 21 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PREPARING TO OBSERVE 48
001–288775–Nov/2017
USING BINOCULARS 50
All rights reserved.
TELESCOPE OPTICS 52
Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no
part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced TELESCOPES AND MOUNTS 54
into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), BUYING AND SETTING UP 58
without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. GO-TO TELESCOPES 62
Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. ASTROIMAGING 66
A catalog record for this book
is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4654-4513-1
DK books are available at special discounts when purchased
in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational
use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets,
345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
[email protected]
Printed and bound in China
A WORLD OF IDEAS:
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
www.dk.com
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4 PATHFINDERS 70 5 THE SOLAR SYSTEM 172
THE CONSTELLATIONS 72 OUR VIEW OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM 174
MAPPING THE CONSTELLATIONS 74 OBSERVING THE PLANETS 176
SKY MAPS 76 MERCURY AND VENUS 178
URSA MAJOR 82 MARS 180
STARHOPPING FROM THE PLOW 84 JUPITER 182
URSA MINOR AND DRACO 86 SATURN 184
CASSIOPEIA 88 URANUS AND NEPTUNE 188
CEPHEUS AND CAMELOPARDALIS 90
DWARF PLANETS AND ASTEROIDS 190
CANES VENATICI 92
THE SUN 192
BOOTES AND COMA BERENICES 94
THE MOON 196
VIRGO 96
COMETS AND METEORS 200
CORONA BOREALIS AND SERPENS CAPUT 98
ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA 202
OPHIUCHUS AND SERPENS CAUDA 100
LYRA AND HERCULES 102 OTHER LIGHTS IN THE SKY 204
CYGNUS 104
STARHOPPING FROM THE SUMMER TRIANGLE 106
6 STAR CHARTS 206
AQUILA 108
VULPECULA 110 USING THE STAR CHARTS 208
PEGASUS AND PISCES 112 MONTHLY STAR CHARTS 210
STARHOPPING FROM THE SQUARE OF
PEGASUS 114
ANDROMEDA 116 7 REFERENCE 234
ARIES AND TRIANGULUM 120
REFERENCE TABLES 236
PERSEUS 122
ALMANAC 244
AURIGA 124
GLOSSARY 252
TAURUS 126
GEMINI 128
LEO AND CANCER 130
MONOCEROS AND CANIS MINOR 132 INDEX 254
ORION 134 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 263
STARHOPPING FROM ORION 136
CRUX 138
STARHOPPING FROM CRUX 140
CENTAURUS 142
CARINA 144
VELA 148
DORADO 150
TUCANA 152
PAVO 154
LIBRA AND HYDRA 156
PUPPIS 158
CANIS MAJOR 160
CETUS AND NORMA 162
AQUARIUS 164
CAPRICORNUS AND SCUTUM 166
SAGITTARIUS 168
SCORPIUS 170
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INTRODUCTION Humans have gazed up at the sparkling stars since
time immemorial, trying to understand this immense,
untouchable extension of our natural surroundings.
In ancient times, the unknowable nature of space
was cause for both wonder and fear. Eclipses were
viewed with terror: why was the Sun slowly
disappearing, the sky darkening, and the air turning
colder? Even now, ancient superstitions remain in
many cultures around the world regarding eclipses
and comets. It seems that no matter how much
science and technology demystifies space, the
human consciousness continues to be fascinated by
it. Our interests fall across many disciplines: as well
as exploring the chemistry and physics of the stars
and galaxies, we are looking for answers to more
philosophical questions about the beginning of the
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Universe and the possibility of life beyond our you’ll be looking at, such as planets, stars, and
planet. And always we are aware of the sheer nebulae, and shows how to navigate around the
beauty of the Universe’s celestial objects—many night sky, treating it as a sphere. This is followed
of the images taken by telescopes such as Hubble by practical considerations when buying and using
are breathtakingly artistic. telescopes, together with information on sketching
Whatever your reason for wanting to stargaze, and astrophotography to help you record your
your starting point is to find out what there is to observations. The book then focuses on what you
see, when to look, and how to find it. Of course will be seeing, providing maps of the constellations,
space does not always play a set-timetable game; starhopping charts, and detailed information on the
a comet, for example, can appear unexpectedly in planets and stars of our own galaxy. Once you get
the sky, but there are a multitude of astronomers started, you’ll be surprised at how much you can
with telescopes trained on the skies every night find and understand in the night sky. Within just a
who will quickly alert the world about the event short time you will be able to find planets, identify
via the Internet. This book will help you become a stars, track movements, find constellations, and
valuable part of that astronomical community. The even begin starhopping from one constellation to
first part of the book explains the kinds of objects another. Good luck on your stargazing quest.
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