Astronomy
Books
- HELPFUL FOR HOMESCHOOLING: Night Sky With The Naked Eye by Bob King - no telescope? no funds? No problem! This one is awesome. You can learn how to navigate by the stars at least somewhat, see the International Space Station, find the planets, and more, all without any equipment
- HELPFUL FOR HOMESCHOOLING: The Total Skywatcher's Manual by Linda Shore, David Prosper & Vivian White - actually, this one is even better than Nightwatch for beginners, especially for people who crane their neck up and go 'why am I out here again?!' It's really, really, really cool.
- HELPFUL FOR HOMESCHOOLING: Nightwatch by Terence Dickinson - this is the one to get if you are just getting into the subject
- HELPFUL FOR HOMESCHOOLING: Janice VanCleave's Constellations For Every Kid - Have not had a chance to do more than skim this but I really like what I saw. In future, I hope to read the thing from start to finish.
- On The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by Nicolas Copernicus
- Explorations of the Universe by George Abell
- Textbook on Spherical Astronomy by Smart
- Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics by Zeilik
Online Resources
Tips and Tricks
- When you're in a city or another area with light pollution it's nearly impossible to see a lot of stuff listed in astronomy manuals. Give yourself a treat and take yourself out to a place that's in the middle of nowhere, and try observing in that place. Imagine - lots of people who have been born and raised in cities haven't seen the Milky Way. Have you? It's like seeing the ocean for the first time. Good places in the US to observe include deserts in Arizona far away from human habitation, most places in Montana, most National Parks, and basically anywhere far away from nighttime bright lights. In fact since many deserts are well, deserted, they're often good places to observe. Anywhere at high altitude also tends to be better for observing than places closer to sea level because you can see the stars more clearly; it's probably a dry air thing but I don't actually know the reason.
- Camping trip? Take some astronomy stuff with you.
- Even within a city or a place with light pollution, there are certain places which are more pleasant to observe in than others. The primary concern here is that craning your neck up for so long gives you a crick in your neck. Therefore, lying back on the hood of a car to observe is fun, as is laying around on a sports field or a lawn with a blanket and bug spray, laying around on top of a roof, or even dragging out lounge chairs normally used for sunbathing.
- Conditions at night are no joke. Bugs roam. Wildlife roams. Fog roams around and it gets chilly. Bring an extra jacket with you to observe the stars, some bug repellent, and some snacks. You might even want to bring out a thermos of a hot drink of some sort. In summertime this isn't as big of a deal, but in spring and autumn it can get seriously uncomfortable. In winter, of course it's uncomfortable all the time anyway, so what do you do.
- A clear, dry night during a new moon is the best time to observe the stars. The moon's light when there's even a little moisture in the atmosphere can obscure the light of the stars halfway across the sky and make them harder or impossible to see. Generally it's best to observe up til the half waxing moon or after the half waning moon in order to minimize the moonshine problem.
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