Your Guide to the Sky

by Shaffer, Rick; Baker, Rodney G.

• ISBN13: 9781565656529
• ISBN10: 1565656520
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-06-01
• Publisher: Lowell House

Summary

The simplest, clearest, and best book written on the night sky for beginning astronomers, this guide includes easy-to-follow maps and a month-by-month guide to stargazing. "A lively guide to what's in the sky and how to see it".--"Astronomy" magazine.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	vii	(1)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	viii
CHAPTER 1 Introduction	1	(3)
1.1 What It Takes to Learn the Sky	1	(1)
1.2 The Standard Warnings	1	(1)
1.3 How This Book Is Arranged	2	(1)
1.4 If You're in a BIG Hurry, What to Read First	3	(1)
CHAPTER 2 How the Sky--and the Maps--Are Arranged	4	(14)
2.1 How the Earth Is Laid Out	4	(2)
2.2 Relating the Earth to the Celestial Sphere	6	(1)
2.3 How the Earth "Makes the Sky Move"	6	(3)
2.4 Showing the "Round" Sky on a Flat Page	9	(1)
2.5 Using the Maps to Find the Stars	10	(6)
2.6 Your First Night Under the Stars	16	(2)
CHAPTER 3 The Path of the Sun, Moon, and Planets Through the Sky--the Ecliptic	18	(14)
3.1 Why the Ecliptic Is "Tilted"	18	(3)
3.2 Motion of the Sun Along the Ecliptic	21	(1)
3.3 Motion of the Moon Along the Ecliptic	21	(5)
3.4 Motion of the Planets Along the Ecliptic	26	(3)
3.5 Mini-almanac (and Almanacs in General)	29	(1)
3.6 Using the Maps and Mini-almanac to Find the Planets	29	(3)
CHAPTER 4 Techniques for Viewing the Sky	32	(29)
4.1 A Very Short Primer on Light	32	(2)
4.2 About Your Eyes	34	(3)
4.3 How a Telescope Works	37	(14)
4.4 Mounting a Telescope So It Can Move About the Sky	51	(4)
4.5 How to Purchase a Good Telescope	55	(1)
4.6 A Telescope for Each Eye--Binoculars	56	(4)
4.7 Quick Notes on Photographing the Sky	60	(1)
CHAPTER 5 Picking a Time and Place for Viewing	61	(5)
5.1 The Astronomer's Worst Enemy--Earth's Atmosphere	61	(3)
5.2 When and Where to View What	64	(2)
CHAPTER 6 Looking at the Sky After Sunset	66	(5)
6.1 A Bit More About Scattering	66	(1)
6.2 Watching the Sun as It Sets	66	(1)
6.3 There's Twilight, and Then There's Twilight	66	(1)
6.4 Seeing the Earth's Shadow	67	(1)
6.5 Finding the First Stars and Planets (and a Daytime Surprise)	67	(1)
6.6 Seeing the Zodiacal Light	68	(1)
6.7 Seeing Artificial Satellites	68	(1)
6.8 Seeing a Very Young Moon	69	(1)
6.9 Seeing the Aurora	69	(2)
CHAPTER 7 Inside the Solar System--the Sun, Moon, and Planets	71	(22)
7.1 General Description of the Solar System	71	(1)
7.2 The Scale of the Solar System	72	(1)
7.3 Old Reliable--the Sun	73	(4)
7.4 Our Nearest Neighbor--the Moon	77	(3)
7.5 Observing the Inner Planets	80	(3)
7.6 Observing the Outer Planets	83	(5)
7.7 The Leftovers--Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors	88	(5)
CHAPTER 8 Outside Our Solar System--the Milky Way Galaxy	93	(7)
8.1 About the Milky Way in General	93	(1)
8.2 Stars	94	(3)
8.3 Some Catchall Notes on Deep-Sky Objects	97	(1)
8.4 Nebulae	97	(2)
8.5 Clusters of Stars	99	(1)
CHAPTER 9 Far Outside Our Solar System--Other Galaxies	100	(3)
9.1 How Galaxies Formed	100	(1)
9.2 Types of Galaxies	101	(1)
9.3 Groups of Galaxies	101	(1)
9.4 Observing the Galaxies	102	(1)
The ALL-Sky and ZOOM Maps	103	(67)
Mini-Almanac	170	(5)
Index	175