Venus And Mercury And How To Observe Them

Venus and Mercury have long been regarded as difficult targets for amateur observers, but advances in commercially-made telescopes have brought them within the skills of observers of only moderate experience. Peter Grego’s fascinating book presents an up-to-date, detailed description of the history and geology of the so-called inferior planets, and provides the latest, most useful advice on observing and recording them with commercially-available telescopes and cameras. The book also offers a wealth of detailed practical information on every aspect of observing, from safely targeting the two planets, through visual observing, to sketching and electronic imaging.

Astronomy by Observation: An Elementary Text-Book for High-Schools and Academies by Eliza Bowen A., first published in 1886, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

A guidebook for beginning amateur astronomers, Turn Left at Orion provides all the information you need to observe the Moon, the planets and a whole host of celestial objects. Large format diagrams show these objects exactly as they appear in a small telescope and for each object there is information on the current state of our astronomical knowledge. Revised and updated, this new edition contains a chapter describing spectacular deep sky objects visible from the southern hemisphere, and tips on observing the upcoming transits of Venus. It also includes a discussion of Dobsonian telescopes, with hints on using personal computers and the internet as aids for planning an observing session. Unlike many guides to the night sky, this book is specifically written for observers using small telescopes. Clear and easy-to-use, this fascinating book will appeal to skywatchers of all ages and backgrounds. No previous knowledge of astronomy is needed.

This is the ultimate, easy-to-read guide for "eclipse-chasers" which includes everything an eclipse chaser needs. There are some important eclipses coming up in the years ahead and the technology available to amateur astronomers is improving fast. The book provides "eclipse virgins" with a good feeling for what a trip abroad to an eclipse is like – including a humorous look at all the things that can and have gone wrong. Travel details are included, essential in these days of high-security. And of course the first part of the book contains a wealth of information about solar eclipses and what can be observed only during a total eclipse.

The genesis of modern searches for observable meteoritic phenomena on the Moon is the paper by Lincoln La Paz in Popular Astronomy magazine in 1938. In it he argued that the absence of observed fashes of meteoritic impacts on the Moon might be interpreted to mean that these bodies are destroyed as luminous meteors in an extremely rarefed lunar atmosphere. The paper suggested the possibility of systematic searches for such possible lunar meteors. With these concepts in mind, I was surprised to note a transient moving bright speck on the Moon on July 10, 1941. It appeared to behave very much as a lunar meteor would – except that the poorly estimated duration would lead to a strongly hyperbolic heliocentric velocity. Thus, the idea of systematic searches for both p- sible lunar meteors and meteoritic impact fashes was born. It was appreciated that much time might need to be expended to achieve any positive results. Systematic searches were carried out by others and myself chiefy in the years 1945–1965 and became a regular program at the newly founded Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, or ALPO.