1 Finding Your Way Around the Sky -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Constellations -- 1.3 Star Hopping -- 1.4 Positions in the Sky -- 1.5 Star Charts and Other Helpful Items -- 2 Your Telescope and How to get the Best Out of It -- 2.1 Telescope Designs -- 2.2 Eyepieces -- 2.3 Collimation -- 2.4 Mountings -- 2.5 Optics -- 2.6 Cleaning and Aluminising -- 2.7 Dewing-up -- 2.8 Observing Techniques -- 2.9 Twinkling -- 2.10 Finder Charts -- 2.11 Keeping a Log Book -- 2.12 Discoveries -- 3 The Sun -- 3.1 Warning -- 3.2 Observing the Sun -- 3.3 Solar Observing Programmes -- 3.4 More Advanced Work -- 4 The Moon -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Naked-eye Work and Binoculars -- 4.3 The Moon through the Telescope -- 4.4 An Optimum Telescope for Lunar Work -- 4.5 More Advanced Investigations -- 5 The Planets and Minor Solar System Objects -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn -- 5.3 Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the Asteroids -- 6 Comets -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Cometary Orbits -- 6.3 The Structure of Comets -- 6.4 Origins -- 6.5 Famous Comets -- 6.6 Nomenclature of Comets -- 6.7 Observing Comets -- 7 Stars -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Brightness -- 7.3 Variable Stars -- 7.4 Visual Double and Binary Stars -- 7.5 Star Clusters -- 8 Nebulae -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Gas and Dust Clouds -- 8.3 Dark Nebulae -- 8.4 Reflection Nebulae -- 8.5 Emission Nebulae -- 8.6 Supernova Remnants -- 8.7 Planetary Nebulae -- 9 Galaxies -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Spiral Galaxies -- 9.3 Elliptical Galaxies -- 9.4 Irregular Galaxies -- 9.5 Quasars, Seyfert Galaxies and Other Active Galaxies -- 10 Unaided Observations -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 The Moon -- 10.3 The Sun -- 10.4 Meteors -- 10.5 The Milky Way, the Zodiacal Light and Aurorae -- 10.6 Comets and Planets -- 10.7 Spacecraft -- 10.8 UFOs -- 11 Advanced Work -- 11.1 Introduction -- 11.2 Nebular and Light-pollution Filters -- 11.3 Colour Filters -- 11.4 Photography with Your Telescope -- 11.5 CCDs -- 11.6 Photometry -- 11.7 Occultations -- 11.8 Computers in Astronomy -- 11.9 Spectroscopy -- Appendix 1: Astronomical Societies -- Appendix 2: Bibliography -- Appendix 3: Messier and Caldwell Catalogues -- Appendix 4: A Selection of Choice Astronomical Objects for Viewing -- Appendix 5: The Greek Alphabet -- Appendix 6: Constellations -- Appendix 7: Useful World-Wide-Web and Internet Addresses -- Appendix 8: Terminology.
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Seeing Stars is written for astronomers, regardless of the depth of their theoretical knowledge, who are taking their first steps in observational astronomy. Chris Kitchin and Bob Forrest - both professional astronomers - take a conducted tour of the night sky and suggest suitable observing programmes for everyone from beginners to experts. How is this book different? We are all familiar with the beautiful images of planets and galaxies obtained by spacecraft and giant telescopes - but what can you really see with a small telescope? What should you expect from a small refractor or reflector? And what is the effect of observing from a site near a city? The answers are all here, with many photographs that will illustrate exactly what can be seen with different instruments (everything from the naked eye to a 300mm telescope) - and from different locations.