Using Your First Serious Telescope

Intended primarily for intermediate-level amateur astronomers who want to conduct astronomical research, this comprehensive reference includes all the necessary introductory material regarding equipment and its optimization, testing and maintenance.

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Buying and Using Your First Serious Telescope is intended primarily for intermediate-level amateur astronmers who want to conduct astronomical research, predominantly through visual observing techniques. It is a comprehensive reference source for numerous research projects and programs that amateurs can carry out relating the Moon, planets, Sun, stars, and other astronomical phenomena within the solar system. This is a fully detailed manual for conducting astronomical research. It includes all the necessary introductory material regarding equipment, its optimization, testing and maintenance. Even though many or most amateurs must work in light-polluted skies (at least compared to those in the locations of major professional observatories), there are still many research programs that can be conducted on solar system objects - not only the Moon, but also on the brighter deep-sky objects and transient events such as meteors, large asteroids, and comets.