Seeing the Sky 100 Projects, Activities & Explorations in Astronomy

by Schaaf, Fred; Myers, Doug

• ISBN13: 9780486488882
• ISBN10: 0486488888
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-19
• Publisher: Dover Publications

Summary

This fine book for younger students of astronomy and their parents by a popular science writer combines an introductory treatment with interesting, instructive, and entertaining activities and projects. A wide range of subjects includes activities for daylight and nighttime observation involving the sun's corona, rainbows, atmospheric optics, and many other topics. All 100 projects require just the naked eye and ordinary household materials.

Table of Contents

Moon	p. 1
Moon Maps and Bias	p. 2
Features at Each Lunar Phase	p. 4
Shades of Bright and Dark on the Moon	p. 6
Patterns in the Distribution of Lunar Features	p. 7
Smallest, Most Difficult Naked-Eye Lunar Features	p. 9
Libration	p. 13
Size of the Moon	p. 15
Brightness of the Moon's Disk and Moonlight	p. 17
Lunar Occultations and Conjunctions with Stars and Planets	p. 19
Color of the Moon's Disk	p. 20
Color of Moon Shadows and Moonlit Landscape and Sky	p. 22
Thinnest Moons in Twilight and Day	p. 24
Earthshine on the Moon	p. 25
Judging Full Moons and Half Moons	p. 27
Planets	p. 29
Differences Between Planets and Stars: Twinkling	p. 30
Differences Between Planets and Stars: Planetary Motions	p. 31
Beginnings and Ends of Planetary Apparitions	p. 33
Daytime and Bright Twilight Visibility of Venus	p. 35
Daytime and Bright Twilight Visibility of Other Planets	p. 37
Trying to See the Moons of Jupiter with the Naked Eye	p. 38
Trying to See the Shapes of Venus and Saturn with the Naked Eye	p. 40
Shadows Cast by the Brightest Planets	p. 41
Estimating the Brightness and Color of Planets	p. 44
Special Aspects of Planetary Conjunctions	p. 45
Stars	p. 49
Colors of Stars	p. 50
Color Variations and Twinkling of Stars: "Seeing"	p. 51
Limiting Magnitude of Stars: Transparency	p. 53
Counting Pleiads	p. 55
Observational Tests with M44	p. 57
Naked-Eye Star Clusters	p. 59
Other Naked-Eye Deep-Sky Objects	p. 62
Star-Rise, Star-Set, and Atmospheric Extinction	p. 63
Splitting Mizar-Alcor	p. 65
Splitting Other Double Stars	p. 66
Betelgeuse and Similar Variable Stars	p. 68
Identifying Constellations	p. 72
Identifying and Discovering Asterisms	p. 73
Visibility of the Milky Way	p. 75
Levels of Brightness in the Milky Way	p. 77
Greatest Extent of the Milky Way	p. 79
Most Southerly Stars and Constellations from your Latitude	p. 80
Co-Risers, Co-Setters, and Rise-Set Pairs	p. 82
Extreme Width of Celestial Field of View	p. 83
Heliacal Risings and Settings of Stars	p. 85
Daytime and Bright Twilight Visibility of Stars	p. 88
Sunsets and Twilights	p. 91
Color and Color Gradation of the Setting Sun	p. 92
Oblateness of the Setting Sun	p. 93
Distorted Sunsets	p. 95
The Green Flash	p. 97
Crepuscular and Anticrepuscular Rays	p. 98
The Earthshadow and Belt of Venus	p. 100
Brightness of Twilight	p. 103
The Purple Light	p. 104
Various Phenomena of Volcanically Enhanced Twilights	p. 106
Second Purple Light and Counter Purple Light	p. 107
The Blue Sky	p. 111
Blueness (and Darkness) of the Blue Sky	p. 112
Distribution of Blue in the Sky and the Sun's Aureole	p. 113
Light Pollution	p. 115
Mapping Light Pollution Areas and Identifying City Skyglows	p. 116
Severity of Light Pollution	p. 118
Identifying Local Sources of Skyglow	p. 119
Calculating Constellations Lost	p. 121
Calculating Stars Lost	p. 123
Meteors and Comets	p. 125
Studying the Full Duration of Major Meteor Showers	p. 126
Studying Minor Meteor Showers	p. 128
Watching for "Lost" and Nonannual Meteor Showers	p. 131
Monitoring the Leonids for Possible Meteor Storms	p. 133
Recording Meteor Brightness, Color, Trains, and Other Properties	p. 134
Observing Fireballs and Gathering Fireball Observations	p. 137
Naked-Eye Observations and Brightness Estimates of Comets	p. 139
Naked-Eye Observations of Comet Tails	p. 141
Rainbows, Halos, Coronas, and Glories	p. 143
Studying and Timing a Rainbow's Changes	p. 144
Studying a Rainbow's Colors	p. 145
Supernumerary Arcs and Alexander's Dark Band	p. 147
Looking for Moon Rainbows and Higher-Order Rainbows	p. 150
Sun-Reflection Rainbows and the Rainbow's Reflection	p. 152
Fogbows	p. 153
Dewbows	p. 155
Twenty-Two-Degree Halos	p. 156
Mock Suns	p. 158
Sun Pillars and "Double Suns"	p. 159
Moon Pillars and Light Pillars	p. 161
Circumscribed Halos	p. 162
Circumzenithal Arc and Circumhorizontal Arc	p. 164
Rarer Halo Phenomena	p. 166
Coronas	p. 167
Iridescent Clouds	p. 169
Glories	p. 170
Eclipses	p. 173
First and Last Naked-Eye Visibility of Earth's Penumbra and Umbra	p. 174
Colors at a Lunar Eclipse	p. 177
Brightness of the Eclipsed Moon	p. 178
Sun-Pictures During a Partial Solar Eclipse	p. 180
Darkening and Color of the Sky During a Partial Solar Eclipse	p. 182
Eclipse and Noneclipse Shadow Bands	p. 183
Some Auxiliary Phenomena of Total Solar Eclipses	p. 185
Rainbows, Halos, and Cloud Coronas at Solar and Lunar Eclipses	p. 187
Elusive Glows	p. 189
Noctilucent Clouds	p. 190
Aurora and Airglow	p. 191
The Zodiacal Light	p. 194
Gegenschein and Zodiacal Band	p. 196
The Cloud Satellites of Earth	p. 197
Glossary	p. 201
Sources of Information	p. 207
Index	p. 211
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.