Waubonsee Community College

40 nights to knowing the sky, a night-by-night skywatching primer, Fred Schaaf

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-243) and index

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

40 nights to knowing the sky

bibliographyhandbooks

37976096

Fred Schaaf

a night-by-night skywatching primer

Starting with simple instructions on learning one's way around the night sky and progressing to more challenging concepts, this ingenious program takes readers to a deeper level of knowledge and understanding of the night sky. 70 illustrations & charts

Part I. Nights of the heavens in motion -- A first look at the sky -- Moving lights and mankind's glows -- Altitude and azimuth -- Bright stars and planets, and the turning Earth -- The Moon and its race against the turning Earth -- The where, when, and phase of the Moon -- the motions of artificial satellites -- The Sun's apparent journey around the zodiac -- The planets' journeys around the zodiac -- The apparitions of the superior planets -- The apparitions of the inferior planets -- Circumpolar and seasonal stars -- The celestial sphere -- Part II. Nights of the heavens in variety -- The brightest stars and magnitude -- The brightest constellations: winter and spring -- The brightest constellations: summer and autumn -- Darkness of the sky -- The zodiac constellations -- A variety of naked-eye planets -- The other constellations -- The Milky Way -- Special stars -- The brightest deep-sky objects -- Meteors -- Meteor showers -- Conjunctions and occultations -- Eclipses and safe solar observation -- Eclipses of the Sun -- Eclipses of the Moon -- Part III. Nights of the heavens in depth -- he Moon's changing appearance and "seeing" -- The Moon's many features -- The globes, moons, and rings of Jupiter and Saturn -- The phases of Venus and Mercury -- Far Mars and near Mars -- A variety of double and variable stars -- Star clusters and nebulae -- Galaxies -- Uranus, Neptune, and possibly Pluto -- Comets and steroids -- A first look at the sky--Again! -- Appendices. Some basic data on the brightest stars -- The constellations -- Solar eclipses, 1998-2005 -- Total and partial lunar eclipses, 1998-2005 -- Observational data for the planets -- Planetary orbital data and synodic periods -- Physical data for the planets -- Important positions of the inferior planets, 1998-2005 -- Oppositions and conjunctions of the superior planets, 1998-2005 -- Positions of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, 1998-2003 -- The Messier objects -- Some basics of binoculars and telescopes

Forty nights to knowing the sky