Viewing the Constellations with Binoculars (eBook)

Acknowledgement 6
Contents 7
About the Author 9
Author’s Note 10
Part 1: Background 13
1 About Binoculars (And Everything Connected to Them) 14
Why Binoculars? 16
Field of View 17
Exit Pupil 17
Choosing Binoculars for Astronomical Observations 19
A Few Tips When Purchasing Binoculars 20
Tripods 21
Taking Care of the Optics 23
Prevention 24
Cleaning the Optics 24
The Never-Ending Battle with Dew 26
What Is Dew? 27
Dew Point 28
Protective Tube 28
Electric Warmers: Active Protection from Dew 29
A Few Final Words of Advice 31
2 Celestial Mechanics 32
The Constellations 32
Asterisms 36
The Celestial Sphere 37
Celestial Coordinates 38
Rotating Sky 40
The Directions of the Sky and Using Star Charts 43
Seasonal Charts 45
First Steps 58
3 Those Wonderful Distant Suns 67
The Brightness of Stars 67
Limiting Magnitude 68
Extinction 69
Integral Brightness and Surface Brightness 70
Luminosity and Absolute Brightness 71
Star Names 72
Double Stars 73
Limiting Resolution 74
Double Star Names 75
Observing Double Stars 76
Position Angle 77
Variable Stars 77
Novae 79
Graph of Brightness 80
Variable Star Names 80
Star Colors 81
Influence of Brightness on Colors 83
Illusions 83
Observing Star Colors 84
The Lives of Stars 85
Color and Temperature 85
Classification of Stars 88
The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram 89
The Birth of Stars 89
Life on the Main Sequence 93
Aging 96
Stars with Masses Far Greater than Our Sun 97
Stars with Masses Lower than 2.25 Suns 99
Star Death 101
Stars up to 11 Solar Masses 101
Stars with Masses Between 11 and 50 Solar Masses 102
Stars with Masses Greater than 50 Solar Masses 104
The Lives of Stars in Binary Systems 106
The Nearest Stars 107
Parallaxes 109
The Sieve 110
A Closer Look at Our Nearest Neighbors 110
The Search Is Not over Yet 113
Measuring Distance to the Stars 115
Standard Candles 116
Hubble’s Law and the Expansion of the Universe 117
The Battle for Parallax 117
4 Nonstellar Objects 119
Star Clusters 119
Open Clusters 119
Globular Clusters 121
Planetary Nebulae 122
Nebulae 123
Galaxy Types 126
The Milky Way Galaxy 128
A Brief History 130
Interstellar Space 132
Seeing Without Light 135
The Structure of Our Galaxy 137
Disk 137
The Galactic Halo 139
The Central Bulge 140
Center of the Galaxy 140
Dark Matter in Halo 144
The Origin and Evolution of Our Galaxy 145
Satellite Galaxies and the Local Group 147
5 Using Models to Understand Our Place in Space and Time 151
Models of Our Solar System 151
Models of our Galaxy 153
Models of the Universe 154
Timeline of Our Universe 156
How Far Can We Go? 159
Catalogs and Lists of Nonstellar Bodies 164
Messier 164
The New General Catalogue 165
6 Preparing for Observation Sessions 167
Before Night Falls 167
Adjusting the Eyes to Night Vision 168
Observing Conditions 168
Scales of Observation Conditions 169
The Bortle Dark Sky Scale 169
Class 1: Excellent Dark Sky Site (Limiting Magnitude 7.6-8.0) 169
Class 2: Typically Truly Dark Site (Limiting Magnitude 7.1-7.5) 170
Class 3: Rural Sky (Limiting Magnitude 6.6-7.0) 171
Class 4: Transition Between a Rural and Suburban Sky (Limiting Magnitude 6.1-6.5) 171
Class 5: Suburban Sky (Limiting Magnitude 5.6-6.0) 172
Class 6: Bright Suburban Sky (Limiting Magnitude - Approximately 5.5) 172
Class 7: Transition Between a Suburban and Urban Sky (Limiting Magnitude - Approximately 5.0) 172
Class 8: City Sky (Limiting Magnitude - Approximately 4.5) 172
Class 9: Inner-City Sky (Limiting Magnitude Below 4.0) 172
Searching for Celestial Bodies 174
Star Charts, Photographs, and Symbols 176
Photographs 177
Part 2: Constellations 178
7 Andromeda to Boötes (The Herdsman) 179
ANDROMEDA (Andromeda) 180
ANTLIA (The Air Pump) and PYXIS (The Compass) 190
AQUARIUS (The Water Carrier) 191
AQUILA (The Eagle) 197
ARIES (The Ram) 203
AURIGA (The Charioteer) 204
BOÖTES (The Herdsman) 210
8 Caelum (The Chisel) to Draco (The Dragon) 213
CAELUM (The Chisel) and HOROLOGIUM (The Pendulum Clock) 214
CAMELOPARDALIS (The Giraffe) 215
CANCER (The Crab) 221
CANES VENATICI (The Hunting Dogs) 226
CANIS MAJOR (The Great Dog) 236
CANIS MINOR (The Little Dog) 241
CAPRICORNUS (The Sea Goat) 242
CASSIOPEIA (Cassiopeia) 244
CENTAURUS (The Centaur) 251
CEPHEUS (Cepheus) 255
CETUS (The Sea Monster) 260
COLUMBA (The Dove) 268
COMA BERENICES (Berenice’s Hair) 269
CORONA AUSTRALIS (The Southern Crown) 276
CORONA BOREALIS (The Northern Crown) 277
CORVUS (The Crow) and CRATER (The Cup) 279
CYGNUS (The Swan) 280
DELPHINUS (The Dolphin) and EQUULEUS (The Foal) 295
DRACO (The Dragon) 296
9 Eridanus (The River) to Lyra (The Lyre) 300
ERIDANUS (The River) 301
FORNAX (The Furnace) 303
GEMINI (The Twins) 304
HERCULES (Hercules) 308
HYDRA (The Water Snake) 314
LACERTA (The Lizard) 321
LEO (The Lion) 323
LEO MINOR (The Little Lion) 332
LEPUS (The Hare) 333
LIBRA (The Scales) 337
LUPUS (The Wolf) and NORMA (The Set Square) 339
LYNX (The Lynx) 341
LYRA (The Lyre) 342
10 Microscopium (The Microscope) to Puppis (The Stern) 347
MICROSCOPIUM (The Microscope) 348
MONOCEROS (The Unicorn) 349
OPHIUCHUS (The Serpent Holder) 358
ORION (The Hunter) 370
PEGASUS (The Winged Horse) 382
PERSEUS (The Victorious Hero) 388
PISCES (The Fishes) 397
Piscis Austrinus (The Southern Fish) and GRUS (The Crane) 401
PUPPIS (The Stern) 403
11 Sagitta (The Arrow) to Vulpecula (The Fox) 413
SAGITTA (The Arrow) 414
SAGITTARIUS (The Archer) 417
SCORPIUS (The Scorpion) 434
SCULPTOR (The Sculptor) and PHOENIX (The Phoenix) 444
SCUTUM (The Shield) 447
SERPENS (The Serpent) 450
SEXTANS (The Sextant) 459
TAURUS (The Bull) 461
TRIANGULUM (The Triangle) 474
URSA MAJOR (The Great Bear) 479
URSA MINOR (The Little Bear) 488
VELA (The Sails) 491
VIRGO (The Virgin) 493
VULPECULA (The Fox) 501
Appendix: For Beginners Only 506
References 508
Detailed Star Charts in the Book 508
Single Stars 508
Double and Multiple Stars 508
Variable Stars 509
Open Clusters 509
Globular Clusters, Nebulae, Planetary Nebulae and Galaxies 509
Books 509
Journal Articles 509
Picture Credits 511
Index 513