Visual Lunar And Planetary Astronomy

With the advent of CCDs and webcams, the focus of amateur astronomy has to some extent shifted from science to art. Visual work in astronomy has a rich history. Today, imaging is now more prominent. However there is still much for the visual amateur astronomer to do, and visual work is still a valid component of amateur astronomy. Paul Abel has been addressing this issue by promoting visual astronomy wherever possible – at talks to astronomical societies, in articles for popular science magazines, and on BBC TV’s The Sky at Night. Visual Lunar and Planetary Astronomy is a comprehensive modern treatment of visual lunar and planetary astronomy, showing that even in the age of space telescopes and interplanetary probes it is still possible to contribute scientifically with no more than a moderately-priced commercially made astronomical telescope. It is believed that imaging and photography is somehow more objective and more accurate than the eye, and this has led to a peculiar “crisis of faith” in the human visual system and its amazing processing power. But by analyzing observations from the past, we can see how accurate visual astronomy really is! Measuring the rotational period of Mars and making accurate lunar charts for American astronauts were all done by eye. The book includes sections on how the human visual system works, how to view an object through an eyepiece, and how to record observations and keep a scientific notebook. The book also looks at how to make an astronomical, rather than an artistic, drawing. Finally, everything here will also be of interest to those imagers who wish to make their images more scientifically applicable by combining the methods and practices of visual astronomy with imaging.

Modern comprehensive review of the formation, astronomy, and structure of Saturn and its ring system, and observing techniques for amateurs Very latest detailed theories and physical descriptions How to observe and image the Saturn, its moon and ring, using a variety of telescope apertures and magnifications

Winner of the Astronomy Book of the Year from Mercury Magazine (Astronomical Society of the Pacific), Planets and Perception is a provocative book that will intrigue anyone who has ever looked through a telescope. Drawing on both astronomical and psychological data, William Sheehan offers the first systematic analysis of the perceptual and cognitive factors that go into the initial structuring of a planetary image and its subsequent elaboration. Sheehan details the development of lunar and planetary astronomy, underscoring perceptual and psychological themes.

The Encyclopedia of Lunar Science includes the latest topical data, definitions, and explanations of the many and varied facets of lunar science. This is a very useful reference work for a broad audience, not limited to the professional lunar scientist: general astronomers, researchers, theoreticians, practitioners, graduate students, undergraduate students, and astrophysicists as well as geologists and engineers. The title includes all current areas of lunar science, with the topical entries being established tertiary literature. The work is technically suitable to most advanced undergraduate and graduate students. The articles include topics of varying technical levels so that the top scientists of the field find this work a benefit as well as the graduate students and the budding lunar scientists. A few examples of topical areas are as follows: Basaltic Volcanism, Lunar Chemistry, Time and Motion Coordinates, Cosmic Weathering through Meteoritic Impact, Environment, Geology, Geologic History, Impacts and Impact Processes, Lunar Surface Processes, Origin and Evolution Theories, Regolith, Stratigraphy, Tectonic Activity, Topography, Weathering through ionizing radiation from the solar wind, solar flares, and cosmic rays.

Here is a lunar atlas designed specifically for use in the field by lunar observers. Its title – The Six-inch Lunar Atlas – refers both to the aperture of the telescope used to make the images in the book, and also to the book’s physical size: so it’s perfect for fitting into an observer’s pocket! The author’s own lunar photographs were taken with a 6-inch (150mm) telescope and CCD camera, and closely match the visual appearance of the Moon when viewed through a modest (3-inch to 8-inch) telescope. (Depending on seeing, of course.) Each picture is shown oriented "as the Moon really is" when viewed from the northern hemisphere, and is supplemented by exquisite computer sketches that list the main features. Two separate computer sketches are provided to go with each photograph, one oriented to appear as seen through an SCT telescope (e.g. the Meade and Celestron ranges), the other oriented for Newtonian and refracting telescopes. It is worth commenting that most observers find it extremely difficult to identify lunar features when using a conventional atlas and SCT telescope – the human brain is very poor at making "mirror-image" visual translations. There is a page of descriptions for the salient features in each photograph.

The Moon is at once a face with a thousand expressions and the archetypal planet. Throughout history it has been gazed upon by people of every culture in every walk of life. From early perceptions of the Moon as an abode of divine forces, humanity has in turn accepted the mathematized Moon of the Greeks, the naturalistic lunar portrait of Jan van Eyck, and the telescopic view of Galileo. Scott Montgomery has produced a richly detailed analysis of how the Moon has been visualized in Western culture through the ages, revealing the faces it has presented to philosophers, writers, artists, and scientists for nearly three millennia. To do this, he has drawn on a wide array of sources that illustrate mankind's changing concept of the nature and significance of heavenly bodies from classical antiquity to the dawn of modern science. Montgomery especially focuses on the seventeenth century, when the Moon was first mapped and its features named. From literary explorations such as Francis Godwin's Man in the Moone and Cyrano de Bergerac's L'autre monde to Michael Van Langren's textual lunar map and Giambattista Riccioli's Almagestum novum, he shows how Renaissance man was moved by the lunar orb, how he battled to claim its surface, and how he in turn elevated the Moon to a new level in human awareness. The effect on human imagination has been cumulative: our idea of the Moon, and therefore the planets, is multilayered and complex, having been enriched by associations played out in increasingly complicated harmonies over time. We have shifted the way we think about the lunar face from a "perfect" body to an earthlike one, with corresponding changes in verbal and visual expression. Ultimately, Montgomery suggests, our concept of the Moon has never wandered too far from the world we know best—the Earth itself. And when we finally establish lunar bases and take up some form of residence on the Moon's surface, we will not be conquering a New World, fresh and mostly unknown, but a much older one, ripe with history.

This book de-mystifies the jargon of webcams and computer processing, and provides detailed hints and tips for imaging the Sun, Moon and planets with a webcam. It demonstrates how inexpensive tools are revolutionizing imaging in amateur astronomy. Anyone with a modest telescope and a webcam can now obtain jaw-dropping lunar and planetary images to rival those taken with mid-range astronomical CCD cameras costing thousands of dollars. A glance through the images in this book shows just what spectacular results can be achieved by using a webcam with your telescope! Your scientific results will be sought by professional astronomers.