Scientific American The Amateur Astronomer (Scientific American (Wiley))

539 Pages·2000·7.01 MB·English

by  Scientific American

title: The Amateur Astronomer
author: Carlson, Shawn.
publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (US)
isbn10 | asin: 0471382825
print isbn13: 9780471382829
ebook isbn13: 9780471436997
language: English
subject Astronomy--Amateurs' manuals.
publication date: 2001
lcc: QB63.A23 2001eb
ddc: 520
subject: Astronomy--Amateurs' manuals.
Page iii
S A
CIENTIFIC MERICAN
The Amateur Astronomer
Edited by Shawn Carlson
Page iv
Copyright © 2001 by Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Illustrations 11-1 and 11-2 copyright © 1990 and 12-1, 25-1, and 26-1
copyright © 2001 by Michael Goodman
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except
as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States
Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the
Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-
copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive,
Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests
to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions
Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York,
NY 10158-0012, [phone], fax [phone], email:
[email protected].
The publisher and the author have made every reasonable effort to
ensure that the experiments and activities in this book are safe when
conducted as instructed but assume no responsibility for any damage
caused or sustained while performing the experiments or activities in
the book. Parents, guardians, and/or teachers should supervise young
readers who undertake the experiments and activities in this book.
This title is also available in print as ISBN: 0-471-38282-5 (pbk. :
acid-free paper)
For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at
www.Wiley.com

Page v
CONTENTS
Foreword vii
Introduction ix
Part 1
Telescope Making
1. A Simple Telescope for Beginners 3
2. How to Grind, Polish and Test an Aluminum Telescope 18
Mirror
3. The Behavior of the Telescope-maker's Pitch 28
4. The Dall-Kirkham Telescope 34
5. Principles of Erecting Telescopes 41
6. Powerful Pocket Telescopes 45
7. A Novel Refracting Telescope 49
8. "Off-Axis" Reflecting Telescopes 58
9. Steady Telescope Mountings 65
10. Two Amateur-Built Radio Telescopes 72
Part 2
The Sun
11. How to Observe and Record Sunspots Safely 87
12. Sun of a Gun 95
13. A Coronagraph to View Solar Prominences 99
14. Two Spectroheliographs to Observe the Solar Disk 105
Part 3
The Earth, Moon, and Satellites
15. A Pendulum That Detects the Earth's Rotation 121
16. Observing Changes on the Moon 130
17. Curious Amateur Observations of the Moon 135
18. A Pauper's Guide to Measuring Latitude 143
Page vi
19. Precision Geolocation Using Lunar Occultation 147
20. Sundial Potpourri 155
21. How to Study Artificial Satellites 167
22. Predicting Satellite Orbits 176
Part 4
The Planets, Comets, and Stars
23. Amateur Observations of Jupiter 189
24. Predicting Planetary Alignments 194
25. Catch a Comet by Its Tail 203
26. A Picture-Perfect Comet 207
27. A Device to Simulate Planetary Orbits 212
28. An Astrophysical Laboratory in Your Backyard 216
29. An Ocular Spectroscope 225
30. Monitoring Variable Stars 228
Glossary 235
Further Reading 249
Contact List 255
Index 257
Page vii
FOREWORD
The Amateur Scientist
The present volume, titled The Amateur Astronomer, is intended to be
the first of a series of books that will derive from the longest running
column in Scientific American, now and for the past 50 or so years
known as "The Amateur Scientist." The origin of "The Amateur
Scientist" goes back to a column first published in May 1928 and
written by Albert G. Ingalls. It was called then "The Back Yard
Astronomer." His first sentence in that new column declared: ''Here
we amateur telescope makers are, more than 3000 of us, gathered
together in our own back yard at last." At the top of the page is an
illustration of the "Back Yard," with an amateur astronomer at work,
apparently drawn by one Russell W. Porter, then considered a mentor
of telescope makers throughout the land. Porter declared that the name
of the new column, contracted to "Backyard Astronomer," conferred
an honorary B.A. degree on all its readers.
In April 1952 the column extended its coverage to include the work of
amateurs in all branches of science, in addition to telescope making
and astronomy. As a fisherman, one of my favorite pieces in July of
that year is on the May fly, to which I have referred a number of
frustrated participants in the sport. Although in 1952 it was virtually
impossible to determine how many people spent leisure time in the
pursuit of scientific study and experiment, one survey in Philadelphia
determined that 8000 laymen in that city, known for some of
Benjamin Franklin's most significant scientific discoveries, were
actively engaged in amateur science, and that 700 of the group had
made contributions important enough to warrant attention from
various scientific professionals.
The column continued under Mr. Ingalls' leadership (and under
several titles mostly related to astronomy) for 27 years, until his
retirement in May 1955, at which time responsibility for the column
was turned over to
Page viii
C. L. Stong who continued to widen the breadth and depth of
coverage. Stong died in 1976, and a new columnist, Jearl Walker, was
appointed. As discussed in the following Introduction by Shawn
Carlson, the character of the column changed under the editorship of
Walker to focus more on understanding the principles of physics, his
own field, as demonstrated in everyday life and less on interesting
scientific devices within the grasp of the amateur scientist. Walker
retired in 1990, and after a period of discontinuous publication, "The
Amateur Scientist" was turned over to Shawn Carlson in 1995.
Happily to all of us at the magazine it is once again attracting an
increasing readership of informed and interested "amateurs," who can
now supplement their reading of the column and activities stemming
therefrom with an increasing number of Web sites, including our own
(www.sciam.com). Dr. Carlson has our heartfelt gratitude for putting
"The Amateur Scientist" back on course.
I am often asked about the readership of Scientific Americanwho these
readers are and where their interests lie. My strong suspicion is that
most of these inquiries come from potential readers who for one
reason or another have not yet made the leap. Summarizing our
readership in a brief reply is very difficult, because the population is
very large and very diverse and includes secret clusters of people who
would not normally be identified as amateur scientists. If pressed for a
brief reply, however, I often mention that my image of a reader of
Scientific American is someone whose favorite fantasy on a rainy
Saturday afternoon is to read "The Amateur Scientist" and to plan a
future experiment.
JOHN J. HANLEY
CHAIRMAN EMERITUS
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC.