The 50 Best Sights in Astronomy and How to See Them: Observing Eclipses, Bright Comets, Meteor Showers, and Other Celestial Wonders

297 Pages·2007·8.17 MB·English

by  Fred Schaaf

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THE
50
BEST SIGHTS
IN ASTRONOMY
AND HOW TO
SEE THEM
Observing Eclipses, Bright Comets,
Meteor Showers, and Other
Celestial Wonders
Fred Schaaf
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Dedicated with love and gratitude to my sisters,
Pat and Joanne, and my brother, Bob.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2007 by Fred Schaaf. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
Wiley Bicentennial Logo: Richard J. Pacifico
Credits appear on page 273.
Design and composition by Navta Associates, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Schaaf, Fred.
The 50 best sights in astronomy and how to see them : observing eclipses, bright
comets, meteor showers, and other celestial wonders / Fred Schaaf.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-471-69657-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Astronomy—Observer’s manual. 2. Astronomy—Amateurs’ manual. I. Title.
II. Title: Fifty best sights in astronomy and how to see them.
QB63.S389 2007
520—dc22
2006036221
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Basic Information for Astronomical Observers 5
Field of View
180° (the Whole Sky) to 100° (Naked-Eye Scan)
Sight 1 The Starry Sky 13
Sight 2 Total Eclipse of the Sun 18
Sight 3 Meteor Shower or Storm 22
Sight 4 Fireball Meteor 28
Sight 5 The Northern Lights, or Aurora 32
Sight 6 Bright Satellite or Spacecraft 36
Sight 7 The Milky Way 40
Field of View
100° to 50° (the Widest Fixed Naked-Eye Field)
Sight 8 The Big Dipper and the North Star 47
Sight 9 The Orion Group of Constellations 51
Sight 10 The Summer Triangle Region 54
Field of View
50° to 15° (Moderately Wide Naked-Eye Field)
Sight 11 Venus and Mercury at Greatest Elongation 61
Sight 12 Venus, Jupiter, and Mars at Brightest 65
Sight 13 Bright Comet with Long Tail 69
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Sight 14 Sirius, the Brightest Star 77
Sight 15 Other Bright Stars 81
Sight 16 Orion 86
Sight 17 Other Prominent Constellations 92
Field of View
15° to 1° (Narrow Naked-Eye Field, Binoculars Field,
and Wide-Telescopic Field)
Sight 18 Total Eclipse of the Moon 101
Sight 19 Total Eclipse of the Sun Close-Up 108
Sight 20 The Moon at Full and Other Phases 111
Sight 21 Very Thin Crescent Moon 114
Sight 22 Lunar Conjunctions and Occultations 120
Sight 23 Planetary Conjunctions 127
Sight 24 Bright Comet Close-Up 134
Sight 25 The Hyades Star Cluster and Aldebaran 136
Sight 26 The Pleiades 139
Sight 27 Other Very Bright Large Open-Star Clusters 143
Sight 28 Orion’s Belt and Sword 146
Sight 29 Algol, Mira, and Other Dramatic Variable Stars 151
Sight 30 Novae, Supernovae, and Supernova Remnants 156
Sight 31 Starriest Fields 162
Sight 32 The Sagittarius Milky Way Region 165
Sight 33 The Great Andromeda Galaxy 170
Sight 34 The Realm of the Galaxies 175
Field of View
1° to 0.1° or Less (Medium to Narrow Telescopic Field)
Sight 35 Overall Telescopic Views of the Moon 181
Sight 36 Close-Up Views of Lunar Craters and
Other Features of the Moon 185
Sight 37 Sunspots and Other Solar Features 190
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Sight 38 Partial Eclipses of the Sun 195
Sight 39 Transits of Mercury and Venus 199
Sight 40 Venus Near Inferior Conjunction 202
Sight 41 Jupiter and Its Moons 207
Sight 42 Saturn and Its Rings and Moons 213
Sight 43 Mars at Closest in a Telescope 219
Sight 44 Uranus, Neptune, and Other Dim but
Important Worlds 226
Sight 45 A Colorful or Otherwise Striking Double Star 230
Sight 46 The Great Orion Nebula 237
Sight 47 A Rich Open Cluster 243
Sight 48 A Bright Globular Cluster 249
Sight 49 A Bright Planetary Nebula 254
Sight 50 A Bright and Structured Galaxy 258
Appendix A Total Solar Eclipses, 2008–2024 262
Appendix B Major Meteor Showers 263
Appendix C Total and Partial Lunar Eclipses, 2007–2017 264
Appendix D The Brightest Stars 265
Appendix E Transits of Venus and Mercury 266
Glossary 267
Sources 271
Photo Credits 273
Index 274
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wiley published four of my books. Now
this book marks a return for me to Wiley. Kate Bradford is the editor whom
I worked with on several of the past books and the person who acquired this
book and my next, The Brightest Stars(due out from Wiley next year). I wish
to thank Kate so much for playing this role and for being continually support-
ive and helpful over the years.
In the first phase of working on The 50 Best Sights in Astronomy, my editor
was the congenial Teryn Johnson. In the next stage, my editor was Christel
Winkler, who was patient and understanding under trying circumstances. I
wish to give my deepest thanks to her for her tremendous and conscientious
efforts to keep this book on schedule. Another person I want to thank for her
hard and vital work on this book is editorial assistant Juliet Grames.
The photographers and artists who have contributed to this book are
many, and their additions have been crucial.
The largest number of diagrams and maps were supplied by two old
friends of mine: Guy Ottewell and Doug Myers. Their work is always unique
and brilliant.
Vital maps were also provided by Robert C. Victor and D. David Batch,
who produce the Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar. The Sky Calendar is a
wonderful resource for all knowledge levels of skywatchers as well as for
teachers. It is available from the Abrams Planetarium, Michigan State Uni-
versity, East Lansing, Michigan 48824. You can also check out the associated
Skywatcher’s Diary at www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/diary.html.
The largest number of photographs by far were provided by Johnny
Horne. I’ve enjoyed the originality of Johnny’s amazing work for many years
and relied on him for some comet images a decade ago. But it was this
current book—and the 2004 transit of Venus—that got me back in touch
with him.
An old friend who provided both photos and sketches was Ray Maher.
Other good friends who were photo contributors include Steve Albers, Nel-
son J. Biggs Sr., and Chuck Fuller. Akira Fujii, Richard Yandrick, and Shahriar
Davoodian supplied several of this book’s most stunning images, for which I
thank them.
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Introduction
The idea of this book is really quite simple. I’ve chosen the fifty best
sights based on my own lifetime of passionately seeking astronomical
wonders. I try to present them here through vivid detail and concise observ-
ing instructions.
Nothing could be more clear and simple, nor, if you wish to seek the very
heart of astronomy, any more desirable. This book offers to those seeking the
thrills of the heavens the most instant and immediately powerful gratification
of that desire possible from pages. It is, after all, astronomy honed down to
the most exciting experiences. Armchair astronomers will find all they need
to enjoy the heavens. Most people, however, will be motivated to action. They
will, I hope, be inspired, more electrifyingly than would otherwise be possi-
ble, to get out and experience these wonders for themselves.
A remarkable thing about The 50 Best Sights in Astronomyis that no one seems
to have ever had this idea for a book before. Why did I stumble on the idea
when other people didn’t? I’ll offer my explanation in a moment.
First, I’d like to mention something else about this book that I think is
original and that you may find interesting. I’m talking about the criterion I’ve
used for determining the order in which the sights should be discussed. My
criterion is the width of the field of view necessary to enjoy the sight best.
The order is from the widest to the narrowest view. The first sight is that
of the entire starry sky on a clear night, preferably with no interfering moon-
light or city light pollution. This is a scene at least 180° wide—the angular
span of the entire dome of the sky. Of course, it’s not really possible to be so
precise as to determine that a slightly larger field of view is needed for enjoy-
ing a bright star in its stellar setting as compared to a bright planet in its own
setting. So the book is divided into sections by width of field. The first section
includes sights that require a field ranging from that of the entire sky down
to 100° wide—a broad naked-eye scan. Each succeeding section zooms far-
ther in until we start looking at the magnified but also much narrower views
available through binoculars. And then the final section contains sights that
are the most magnified and narrow of all the ones viewed through telescopes.
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