The Complete CD Guide to the Universe (eBook)

Richard Harshaw (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2007 | 2007
XIV, 120 Seiten
Springer New York (Verlag)
978-0-387-46895-2 (ISBN)

Infos

This is the largest and most comprehensive atlas of the universe ever created for amateur astronomers. With finder charts of unprecedented detail, in both normal and mirror-image views, and an extensive list of 14,000 objects, it provides a detailed observing guide for almost any practical amateur astronomer, up to the most advanced. Spanning some 3,000 pages, this is a project that is possible only on CD-ROM. The CD-R pages are extensively indexed and referenced for quick location of objects. The accompanying book gives an introduction to the Atlas, showcases the maps, describes the CD-R content and organization, and includes various appendices.

Richard Harshaw lives in Kansas, where he works as a consultant. During his 40 years of practical observing, (seventeen of them with large-aperture instruments) he has received eight Astronomical League observing awards, and has published measurements of approximately 1,600 double stars.

His many published papers include Third Degree Views (The Webb Society's Deep Sky Observer, No. 121, Summer 2000); Color in Double Stars (Deep Sky Observer, No. 116, April 1999); An Investigation Into Discrepancies In the Washington Double Star Catalog (Deep Sky Observer, No. 129); On Double Identities, Recovered Pairs, and Optical Imposters in the Washington Double Star Catalog (Webb Society Double Star Section Circular No. 12, 2004); New Measures for Some 'Neglected' Double Stars of the Washington Double Star Catalog (Double Star Section Circular No. 12, 2004); Possible Quadrant Reversals in the WDS Catalog 2001.0 (Double Star Section Circular No. 11, 2003).

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This is without doubt the largest and most comprehensive atlas of the universe ever created for amateur astronomers. It is the first major observing guide for amateurs since Burnham's Celestial Handbook. With finder charts of large-scale and unprecedented detail, in both normal and mirror-image views (for users of the ubiquitous Meade and Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope ranges), and an extensive list of 14,000 objects, it will provide a detailed observing guide for almost any practical amateur astronomer, up to the most advanced.Spanning some 3,000 pages, this is a project that is possible only on CD-ROM.The atlas covers the whole range of objects viewable by amateur astronomers with 8- to 11-inch telescopes, from latitude approx +40 degrees. The projected total number of objects is (currently) 13,238, compared with Burnham's approximately 5,000 double stars (in three volumes). This is much more than just a catalog of objects.As planned, the atlas will have about 270 double star images and sketches, and 590 or so deep-sky images and sketches. Comparisons with other atlases are invidious, but Tirion's atlas and Uranometria, for example, don't go as deep in magnitude and the scale is unsuitable for "e;star hopping"e; in the eyepiece-where the action REALLY takes place. The charts in the Complete CD Atlas of the Universe and the scale they are on, allow the user to get enough detail to easily find the objects described. In addition mirror-image charts are supplied for instruments with reverse fields (all SCTs).This is also much more than 'planetarium' software. Many planetarium programs do not have good object databases, and those that do have databases that are too large for practical field use. For example, TheSky, one of the most popular (and best) programs, can display the entire Washington Double Star Catalog (some 120,000 doubles!), but 90% of these are not resolvable (or even viewable from certain horizons), and there is no way to determine that by looking at the screen. The result is that there are more objects plotted on the screen than you can actually see, and the clutter makes it very hard to find what you want.The CD-R pages are extensively indexed and referenced for quick location of objects, areas, classes of objects etc..The accompanying book gives an introduction to the Atlas, showcases the maps (thus buyers can see what they are getting without running the CD-R), describes the CD-R content and organization, and includes various appendices.

Inhalt

Contents 6
Preface 7
Foreword 10
First Light 12
Aperture Fever 13
What I Assume You Know 13
Light Gathering Power 14
Astronomical Mechanics 17
Modified Star Hopping 17
Polar Alignment 18
Accurate Setting Circles 19
Seeing Beyond the Obvious 20
The Eyes Have It 20
Do Filters Help? 21
Rating the Sky Conditions 21
Other Tricks of the Trade 21
Magnify, Magnify, Magnify 23
Seeing Galaxies 23
Double Stars Galore! 26
Who Was that Masked Double Star? 26
Double Jeopardy 27
How Large Is the Field of View? 29
Starlight, Star Bright, What Color Are You? 30
Putting It All Together 31
Whose Double Is it, Anyway? 31
Can this Magnitude Be Right? 39
Double Stars Move Over Time! 39
Deep-Sky Objects 42
Peering Way Back in Time 42
The Deep-Sky Nomenclature 46
Framing the Picture 48
About the "Scale Models" 48
Frequent Sketches 50
Maps and Zones 51
A Note About Map Scales 51
It is all About Zones 51
Kudos to the Guilty 53
Sources and Acknowledgments 53
How to Use the CD- ROM 56
Starting the CD 56
The Main Menu Icons 59
Finding a Particular Object: The Index Files 59
What Is in the Support Files? 60
The Sky Albums 61
The Heart of the System: The Maps and Catalogs 63
Saving Paper 65
Saving Time 66
Appendix 67
Index 125

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 6.9.2007
• Reihe/Serie: The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series
• Reihe/Serie: The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series
• Zusatzinfo: XIV, 120 p.
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Weltraum / Astronomie
• Themenwelt: Schulbuch / Wörterbuch ► Lexikon / Chroniken
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: Astronomy • Harshaw • instruments • Planet • Universe
• ISBN-10: 0-387-46895-1 / 0387468951
• ISBN-13: 978-0-387-46895-2 / 9780387468952