Astronomical Discoveries You Can Make, Too!: Replicating the Work of the Great Observers (Springer Praxis Books)

You Too Can Follow In The Steps Of The Great Astronomers Such As Hipparchus, Galileo, Kepler And Hubble, Who All Contributed So Much To Our Modern Understanding Of The Cosmos. This Book Gives The Student Or Amateur Astronomer The Following Tools To Replicate Some Of These Seminal Observations From Their Own Homes: With Your Own Eyes: Use Your Own Observations And Measurements To Discover And Confirm The Phenomena Of The Seasons, The Analemma And The Equation Of Time, The Logic Behind Celestial Coordinates, And Even The Precession Of The Equinoxes. With A Consumer-grade Digital Camera: Record The Changing Brightness Of An Eclipsing Binary Star And Show That A Pulsating Star Changes Color As It Brightens And Dims. Add An Inexpensive Diffraction Grating To Your Camera And See The Variety Of Spectral Features In The Stars, And Demonstrate That The Sun’s Spectrum Is Similar To One Particular Type Of Stellar Spectrum. With A Backyard Telescope: Add A Ccd Imager And You Can Measure The Scale Of The Solar System And The Distance To A Nearby Star. You Could Even Measure The Distance To Another Galaxy And Observe The Cosmological Redshift Of The Expanding Universe. Astronomical Discoveries You Can Make, Too! Doesn’t Just Tell You About The Development Of Astronomy; It Shows You How To Discover For Yourself The Essential Features Of The Universe. Part I: Motions And Positions In The Sky -- Chapter 1: The Stars, The Sidereal And Solar Day, And The Seasons -- Chapter 2: Measuring Position And Describing Motion -- Part 2: The Moon -- Chapter 3: Introducing Earth's Satellite -- Chapter 4: The Moon In Three Dimensions, Occultations, And Parallax -- Chapter 5: The Moon’s Surface -- Part Iii: The Planets -- Chapter 6: Solar System Orbits -- Chapter 7: Planetary Phases And Moons -- Chapter 8: Scale And Light -- Part Iv: The Stars -- Chapter 9: Observing Variable Stars -- Chapter 10: Barnard’s Star And The Copernican Model -- Part V: Astrophysics And Cosmology -- Chapter 11: Stellar Spectroscopy -- Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Solar Spectroscopy And The H-r Diagram -- Chapter 13: Our Galactic Neighbors -- Appendices. By Robert K. Buchheim.

For the experienced amateur astronomer who is wondering if there is something useful, valuable, and permanent that can be done with his or her observational skills, the answer is, "Yes, you can!" This is the book for the experienced amateur astronomer who is ready to take a new step in his or her astronomical journey. Unfortunately, there is no modern text that points curious amateur astronomers to the research possibilities that are open to them. At the 2006 meeting of the Society for Astronomical Sciences, quite a few participants agreed that the lack of such a text was a serious gap in the astronomical book market, and that this gap is impeding their efforts to encourage more amateur astronomers to get involved in research collaborations. This book will fill that gap, and enable more amateur astronomers to add research-type studies to their pursuit of the hobby.

Written by an astronomer who is well known amongst the amateur and professional community for the skill and quality of his work, this book describes a wide range of research areas where amateurs are gathering new scientific data that is utilized by professional astronomers. For each research area, the book provides a concise explanation of the purpose and value of the amateurs’ observations, a description of the equipment that is needed, specific observing procedures, complete data reduction instructions, and an explanation of how, and where, to submit results so that they will be available to the professional users.

For the experienced amateur astronomer who is wondering if there is something useful, valuable, and permanent that can be done with his or her observational skills, the answer is, "Yes, you can!" This is the book for the experienced amateur astronomer who is ready to take a new step in his or her astronomical journey. Unfortunately, there is no modern text that points curious amateur astronomers to the research possibilities that are open to them. At the 2006 meeting of the Society for Astronomical Sciences, quite a few participants agreed that the lack of such a text was a serious gap in the astronomical book market, and that this gap is impeding their efforts to encourage more amateur astronomers to get involved in research collaborations. This book will fill that gap, and enable more amateur astronomers to add research-type studies to their pursuit of the hobby. Written by an astronomer who is well known amongst the amateur and professional community for the skill and quality of his work, this book describes a wide range of research areas where amateurs are gathering new scientific data that is utilized by professional astronomers. For each research area, the book provides a concise explanation of the purpose and value of the amateurs observations, a description of the equipment that is needed, specific observing procedures, complete data reduction instructions, and an explanation of how, and where, to submit results so that they will be available to the professional users. You too can follow in the steps of the great astronomers such as Hipparchus, Galileo, Kepler and Hubble, who all contributed so much to our modern understanding of the cosmos. This book gives the student or amateur astronomer the following tools to replicate some of these seminal observations from their own homes: ℗l With your own eyes: Use your own observations and measurements to discover and confirm the phenomena of the seasons, the analemma and the equation of time, the logic behind celestial coordinates, and even the precession of the equinoxes. ℗l With a consumer-grade digital camera: Record the changing brightness of an eclipsing binary star and show that a pulsating star changes color as it brightens and dims. Add an inexpensive diffraction grating to your camera and see the variety of spectral features in the stars, and demonstrate that the Sunĺls spectrum is similar to one particular type of stellar spectrum. ℗l With a backyard telescope: Add a CCD imager and you can measure the scale of the Solar System and the distance to a nearby star. You could even measure the distance to another galaxy and observe the cosmological redshift of the expanding universe. ℗l Astronomical Discoveries You Can Make, Too! doesnĺlt just tell you about the development of astronomy; it shows you how to discover for yourself the essential features of the universe "This book is for experienced amateur astronomers who want to apply their skills to do useful projects, and make valuable contributions to astronomical science. The book describes 18 observational project areas and gives the essential information needed to carry out research studies."--Jacket Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Motions and positions in the sky....Pages 1-111 The Moon....Pages 113-215 The Planets....Pages 217-311 The stars....Pages 313-380 Astrophysics and cosmology....Pages 381-479 Back Matter....Pages 481-549