____                   ____                            __              
    /   )    ,             /   )    /                    /    )            
---/__ /---------__-------/__ /----/-----------__----------------__----__-
  /    )   /   /   )     /    )   /   /   /  /___)             /___) /   )
_/____/___/___(___/_____/____/___/___(___(__(___ _____(____/___(___ _(___(_
                 /                                                         
             (_ / 
___________________________________________________________________________

***************************************************************************  

This book brings the challenge and fun back to a hobby that goes stale far too quickly for many budding amateur astronomers. The book begins with teaching astronomers to use their most important astronomy tool, their eyes. It discusses how to select the right telescope, and subsequent chapters take the readers on a tour of the solar system as they have never viewed it before… through their own eyes. Each chapter includes a series of observing challenges that will entertain and push the reader to continually higher levels of achievement.

This book is not for beginners. Nor is it for experts ΓÇô instead it addresses the needs of practical amateur astronomers who want to make the jump to the new challenges of serious visual observing. Second Steps in Observational Astronomy begins by teaching you, as an amateur astronomer, to use the most important tool you have: your eyes. Visual observing is very definitely a skill that can be learned. Of course it is important to have your other optical equipment ΓÇô telescope and accessories ΓÇô set up and operating as perfectly as possible. This book describes how. After these vital preliminaries, subsequent chapters include a series of observing challenges that will entertain you and push your observing skills to continually higher levels of excellence for years to come. Take a tour of the solar-system as you never viewed it before, then beyond into the realm of deep space ΓÇô using just your own eyes to reveal more detail than you ever thought possible.



Paperback: 302 pages
Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (September 15, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0387307761
ISBN-13: 978-0387307763