Astronomy

Part 1 Foundations: the sky from earth - sky watchers - estimating angular distance, sky watchers - finding the period of the moon's revolution; time and place in the heavens - sky watchers - deep-sky observing in spring, sky watchers - deep-sky observing in summer, sky watchers - deep-sky observing in autumn, sky watchers - deep-sky observing in winter; the making of modern astronomy - sky watchers - observing Jupiter's satellites; a universe of matter, force and radiation - sky watchers - the colours of stars; optical, radio and high-energy astronomy - sky watchers - how to find resolving power and magnification. Part 2 The solar system: an overview of the solar system - sky watchers - Mercury as the morning and evening star; the earth and moon systems - sky watchers - observing the Mare Imbrium Basin; the terrestrial planets - Mercury, Venus and Mars - sky watchers - plotting the retrograde motion of Mars; the giant planets - Jupiter and Saturn - sky watchers - eclipses and transits of the Galilean moons; the outer worlds of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto - sky watchers - how to find Uranus and Neptune; asteroids, comets and meteoric fragments - sky watchers - observing meteor showers. Part 3 Our sun and other stars: the sun as a star - sky watchers - observing sunspots; the stars around us - sky watchers - observing variable stars; binary stars, clusters and stellar associations - sky watchers - the great cluster in Hercules; the life cycles of stars - sky watchers - the relative ages of Galactic clusters; how stars perish - sky watchers - observing nova and supernova, remnants. Part 4 Our Milky Way and other galaxies of the universe: the galaxy - our stellar system - sky watchers - finding the local structure of the galaxy; galaxies - islands of stars - sky watchers - plotting the Virgo cluster; active galaxies and quasars - sky watchers - observing quasars and active galaxies; the origin and structure of the universe - sky watchers - the dark night sky. Appendices: physical constants and conversion factors; Greek alphabet; planets and satellites; major meteor; stars and constellations.