Exercises in Astronomy : Revised and Extended Edition of “Practical Work in Elementary Astronomy” by M.G.J. Minnaert

Institut Mannheim 1966). A complete and up-to-date list of bibliographical references to astronomical exercises from all over the world is published half-yearly in "Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts" (Springer Verlag, Berlin), in which section 014 is devoted to "Teaching in Astronomy". Minnaert's exercises have been reprinted by a large part without changes. One important aspect of theirs was in learning how to use libraries. They were taught at Utrecht University and References therefore refer to the University Library. The user of this edition will, however, have no difficulty in finding textbooks, monographs, journals, catalogues, ephemerides, atlases and other information sources published in recent years. Any modern University Library will help you. Another point should be mentioned with regard to Minnaerfs exercises: today, every student has a pocket calculator which can be used as an alternative for a slide rule or logarithmic tables. Minnaert's exercises are marked by the same symbol as in the first edition, i.e. Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Stars Around the North Pole....Pages 5-8 Spherical Triangles....Pages 9-10 Sun-Dials....Pages 11-13 The Daily Rotation of the Earth....Pages 15-16 Conversion of Time....Pages 17-18 Simple Measurements with an Altimeter....Pages 19-21 The Adjustment of a Telescope....Pages 23-25 To Point the Telescope to a Star....Pages 27-28 The Sextant....Pages 29-31 Finding Your Position at Sea....Pages 33-35 Precession, Aberration, Nutation....Pages 37-39 Lunar Eclipses....Pages 43-44 The Position of the Planets in their Orbits....Pages 45-46 The Orbit of Mars, as Determined by Kepler....Pages 47-49 The Three-Body Problem....Pages 51-55 Atmospheric Trajectory of a Meteoroid....Pages 57-63 Passage of an Artificial Satellite....Pages 65-67 Position of a Geostationary Satellite....Pages 69-72 Topography of the Moon....Pages 75-76 The Shape of Lunar Craters....Pages 77-80 Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Observation of Planets Through a Telescope....Pages 81-82 The Rotation of Saturn....Pages 83-85 Front Matter....Pages 87-87 Solar Quantities....Pages 91-93 The Size of the Sun (S)....Pages 95-98 The Solar Constant (S)....Pages 99-101 The Brightness Distribution over the Sun’s Disc (L)....Pages 103-105 Profiles of Fraunhofer Lines (L)....Pages 107-109 Equivalent Width of Fraunhofer Lines (L)....Pages 111-113 The Curve of Growth (L)....Pages 115-120 Practice with MHD....Pages 121-136 Sunspots(S)....Pages 137-138 The Rotation of the Sun(L)....Pages 139-140 The Solar Cycle (L)....Pages 141-144 The Convection Cells of Bénard (L)....Pages 145-146 Radio Bursts after a Solar Flare (L)....Pages 147-152 To Draw a Constellation (S)....Pages 155-156 The Apparent Magnitudes of the Stars (S)....Pages 157-160 Photoelectric Photometry of Stellar Images (L)....Pages 161-162 The Atmospheric Extinction (S)....Pages 163-164 Stellar Spectra (L)....Pages 165-168 Front Matter....Pages 87-87 Data Retrieval in Spectroscopy....Pages 169-170 The Colours of the Stars (L)....Pages 171-172 The UBV Photometric System (L)....Pages 173-175 Black Body Radiation....Pages 177-178 Combinations of Black Bodies....Pages 179-180 Spectrophotometry of Stars in the Near Infrared....Pages 181-187 Derivation of Illuminations from Stellar Colors....Pages 189-197 Interstellar Extinction (L)....Pages 199-201 Interstellar Extinction II....Pages 203-208 Temperatures of Stars: Wavelength Dependent Interstellar Extinction....Pages 209-215 The Nearest Stars (L)....Pages 217-220 Stars at the Galactic Centre....Pages 221-222 The Motion of the Hyades (L)....Pages 223-226 The Mean Light Curve of a Cepheid (L)....Pages 227-229 Search and Determination of Periodicity....Pages 231-235 Properties of Pulsars and the Interstellar Medium....Pages 237-246 Mirages Caused by a Gravitational Lens....Pages 247-250 Forbidden Emission Lines — I....Pages 251-254 Forbidden Emission Lines — II....Pages 255-257 Abundance of Elements....Pages 259-261 Front Matter....Pages 87-87 The Observation of Double Stars (S)....Pages 265-267 The Orbit of a Visual Binary (L)....Pages 269-272 The Dynamical Parallax of Binaries (L)....Pages 273-274 The Orbit of a Spectroscopic Binary (L)....Pages 275-279 The Orbit of an Eclipsing Variable (L)....Pages 281-285 Light Changes of Eclipsing Variables and what we can Learn from them....Pages 287-307 The Observation of Star Clusters and Nebulae (S)....Pages 309-310 Open Clusters (L)....Pages 311-314 The Distribution of the Stars in a Globular Cluster (L)....Pages 315-316 Cluster Variables in a Globular Cluster (L)....Pages 317-319 The Milky Way (S)....Pages 321-321 The Spiral Structure of the Galactic Clouds, Derived from 21 cm Measurements (L)....Pages 323-326 Stability of Molecular Clouds....Pages 327-329 The High Redshift of Quasars....Pages 331-335 Back Matter....Pages 337-339 Revised and Extended Edition of `Practical Work in Elementary Astronomy' by M.G.J. Minnaert