Solar System Observing Books

This book contains almost everything you need to get initiated in the fascinating area of solar astronomy. Beginning from a historical review, the author makes a thorough exposition of the elements of solar observation (what is to be observed, how to do it), and even proposes some interesting projects that can easily be carried out by amateurs.

If you are interested in observing the sun other than in white light, ie, hydrogen alpha or CaK, I would recommend this book as a reference. Hydrogen alpha observing allows you to see more of the sun than sunspots. Prominences, solar flares and much more. The hydrogen alpha telescopes and filters block out all the wavelengths of light except the one emitted by the alpha emission line from the hydrogen spectrum. In addition to the etalon (part that filters wavelength), there is also a blocking filter to block dangerous ultraviolet and infrared light.

This book deals mostly with the Coronado PST (Personal Solar Telescope). However it also discusses other larger aperture Coronado solar telescopes plus filters that can be used with a regular "nighttime" telescope. There is a wealth of information about solar viewing and many nice photos. A few other brands of solar telescope and filters are also discussed. There is a lot of information about ways of observing the sun, how the sun "works", what you are seeing. The book also has a chapter on imaging the sun.

The book was published before Lunt Solar Systems was founded so there is no information on their solar equipment.

Recommended as a good reference for solar observing and imaging.

For those looking to get into, or already into, solar observing or imaging, this book is a must. The contributors are extremely knowledgeable and it's written in a way even a neophyte observer like myself was able to understand and gain valuable information. A great addition to any library! Stephen Ames

Since this it the only book of its type I know of, it's hard to make comparisons. I wish there had been more on the entry level Coronado solar scope, but the information and photographs were of interest nevertheless. Certainly worth reading (and viewing) for the information it contains. Since the sun is the only star we can view up close, it's an interesting area of observation. Being able to go beyond viewing sunspots through the usual sun filter is a definite plus. However, seeing flares and other solar details takes patience and practice and when the sun is relatively quiescent they're not always obvious! This book does encourage working at it.

I agree with previous reviewer. It is a nice book with a lot of nice photographs easy to read for a new comer. But the absence of coordinates for the described lunar features makes difficult the connection with a detailed lunar atlas such as found at lunar and Planetary Institute http://www.lpi.usra.edu/ or published by the National Geographic Society. Most photographs are oriented south up north down and other in the reverse direction. You have to find out.

Argyle's book is useful for the amateur astronomer. Showing how even in these days of multimillion dollar observatories, you can still make a meaningful contribution to astronomy with quite affordable and modest equipment.

The text goes through elementary optics, that can be found in such standard texts as Hecht and Zajac. But it quickly specialises in details specific to observing binaries in the visual spectrum. With simple measurement techniques whose geometry you can readily grasp and apply.

I have been a amateur asteroid hunter for a few years but lately my interest switch to double stars. I found that information found on the web is too "bits and pieces". This book give me (an beginner) all the information I need. It is the best $30 I have spent.

Wlasuk's book, _Observing the Moon_ is OK if you have nothing else, but there are better references available, for less money. His illustrations are so-so and his explanations somewhat hard to follow. In many cases, his descriptions of lunar features are not illustrated, so one cannot see what he is describing. A better book for the serious lunar astronomer is Ernest Cherrington's _Exploring the Moon With Binoculars and Small Telescopes_, available on Amazon.com for about 1/3 the price of Wlasuk's book.

Peter Wlasuk takes us on a tour of the moon and shows us how to see the sights. The one thing that disappointed me was that the included CD-ROM was PC-only. It mostly contains a collection of TIFF formatted images and PDF files, very easy to adapt for multiple platforms.

The first list review is for a different book. Same title, different author (Gerald North).

Gerald North is a prominent and accessible lunar expert who draws upon his experience and expertise in Observing The Moon: The Modern' Astronomer's Guide to provide the reader with some of the most fascinating phenomena on the moon's surface, including practical information on how to find them and explore them. North also offers useful viewing advice that will prove invaluable for both the novice stargazer and the dedicated moonwatcher. He also discusses telescopes, cameras, computer hardware and software for every budget range as he guides the reader in getting the maximum out of his or her available equipment. Observing The Moon includes everything a backyard astronomer needs to know about shooting photos of the moon, addressing time exposures, high-resolution photography and slow films, as well as the optimal processing techniques, equipment and types of film to use. A virtual travel guide to the moon, Observing The Moon is a "must" for personal, professional, academic, and community library astronomy reference collections.

Wlasuk's book is a useful reference for amateur observers and contains specific information about many lunar surface features. Illustrations are clear although some of the photography (b&w only) is inferior compared to other similar books. The book contains several observer report templates and are especially useful if the amateur is hunting for so-called Transient Lunar Phenomena, most likely venting of volcanic gas. A CD-ROM (termed a 'lunar atlas') is included. However, several features I wanted to look out were not on the CD! (I.e., the important volcanic crater Aristarchus--possibly still an active area of vulcanism on the Moon). I personally did not agree with the orthodox recounting of how the Moon formed. Fission is still a workable hypothesis. And it is clear the Apollo missions created more questions than answers about the Moon. One unresolved question not mentioned in this book is the tektite controversy. Some evidence (Apollo 12 specimen and Apollo 16 volcanic glasses) points to at least one type of tektite found on Earth as being lunar in origin. Despite these points, I still recommend this volume for your favorite "lunatic." : )

Being an amateur astronomer for 50 years, I consider this book required reading for anyone interested in astrophotography. It is written in a way that will not bewilder the beginner and is more than technical enough for the advanced. CCD imagery is a different field and this book does not intend to try to cover that, even if was written more recently. Definitely worth the money. The authors know what they are doing and know how to explain it. In my opinion, a classic.

This is a first rate book on the practical study of our solar system. It covers telescopes, mountings, filters, cameras, films and other equipment. Information, observing tips and programs, sketches and photographs are presented for the Moon, 8 planets, minor bodies and comets.

The film photography section is the best I've read for work on the Moon and planets at high power in telescopes and meteors and star fields in wide angle camera lenses. Formulae are provided for guess-free calculation of magnification, exposure time and tracking factors. For those that are so inclined, various darkroom techniques are also discussed at great length for developing and processing images.

The only drawback of this book is its date. Recent advances in film and in digital techniques of processing and the use of CCD and video cameras are not covered. But for those who wish to pursue the most accessible methods of observing our solar system, this is the best book around.

The book is a good starter for real beginners hence its title is apt. The writing style is very dry which is most likely the influence of Dobbins who's articles are generally dry, cynical and sometimes self promoting. Parkers reputation and expertise with planetary imaging certainly gives the book some value. If you're serious about solar system photography, there are many other better resources available though for the absolute beginner it may be worthwhile.

David begins his book in an unsuspecting manner with a quick look back at how comets effected the lives of our ancestors; before the age of telescopes. Briefly, he demonstrates that comets were recognized by not only early scientist, but poets and "fallen princes."

His book is lightly peppered with people, events, and places of historical significance; e.g., that Edmond Halley "dropped out" from Oxford and "headed south that same year to the island of St. Helena, the island that, more than a century later, would serve as Napoleon's home after the battle of Waterloo."

He takes you on a journey through the discovery of comets (in which some cases, comets turn out to be planets - as was in the case of Uranus, Herschel 1781), the recovery of comets, and he discusses the ardent task of mathematically calculating orbits and estimating returns (it was Encke the "mathematician", not Pons "the astronomer", whose name lives on with the 3 1/3 yr. comet - Comet Encke).

He speaks of houses "made of comets." Actually, financed by comets for the honored American astronomer Bernard, who, with 2 months of formal education, paid his bills by discovering comets. You also hear the tales of morale boosting pranks that college fellows play on one another.

He continues on through the pain staking task of searching and searching, for hours on end, until after 917 hours and 28 minutes, spread out over 19 years, he discovered a comet. Correction, he co-discovered a comet. It was discovered simultaneously by another American astronomer. Very interesting to hear him tell the story.

David touches on systematic comet search techniques, tips on film, pros and cons of CCD (digital imaging and why film is better), the problem of staying focused, and how he breaks the sky down into a grid and methodically examines each point of light; twice! (per night...) How else can one detect *ever so slow-motion movement* of a very distant object?

Finally, David chronicles the discovery, predictions, and events leading up to the impact of Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter. Very enjoyable read.

P.S. The book has many pictures scattered throughout and has a nice set of color photos at the books center.

I bought this book by noted comet discover David Levy hoping that it would serve as a practical guide for amateur astronomers interested in observing and studying comets. Instead, this book is mostly about how Mr. Levy and his dedicated search team discover comets. If you're looking for advice on what type of telescope is best for observing comets (or maybe large binoculars are better?) you won't find it here. While Levy briefly mentions the telescopes he uses, there was no discussion of the equipment options available to the typical amateur astronomer on a budget (wide field refractors and reflectors, binoculars, etc.). The book also lacks advice regarding the weather conditions and locations that are best for observing comets - except to note that at one point Levy and his family moved to Arizona. That's great for them, but what about the rest of us who can't pack up our lives and move to the desert? The book is light on text and heavy on black and white images, many of which are grainy and provide little useful information. One of the more informative sections of the book is the explanation of the arcane new naming system for comets that was developed by the International Astronomical Union in the mid 1990s. There is also a brief discussion of the morphology of comets and the terminology used to describe the various components that can be seen visually. I would have liked this discussion to have been more detailed, perhaps citing various examples based on visual observations using amateur instruments. Levy devotes a large section of the book to his discovery of Comet Shoemaker-Levy, which collided with Jupiter in 1994. Although this is a significant achievement worthy of mention, its important to note that this comet was discovered using a large professional telescope the likes of which most amateurs will never be able to use. Levy also devotes considerable space to describing his experience searching for comets photographically, on old plates, and with CCDs, yet he gives short shrift to visual observation, which is relegated to the back of the book. As Levy correctly notes, the advent of inexpensive CCD cameras and remote telescope operation, combined with wide-field astrograph telescopes, has largely replaced visual sweeping as the main method of comet discovery. However, most readers of this book will probably not be engaged in comet discovery efforts, but will be using their eyes to search for known comets. It is this type of casual visual observer that the book largely lets down. Based on Mr. Levy's reputation as a dedicated and accomplished amateur observer, I was expecting a more comprehensive treatment of the subject that could serve both as a reference and as a practical guide at the eyepiece. Instead, I found this book to be mainly a recap of the notable achievements of the Levies and a few of their colleagues. Interesting, but not exactly a practical guide for the amateur.

North is a respected person in the amateur lunar community. Given that, I can't help but wish this book could have been somehow better.

North starts out by giving a good account of the Moon itself, dealing with such concepts as gravity, tides, phases, libration, lunar coordinates, and occultations. He then goes forward to give a short account of pioneering lunar selenography. Then he goes onward with chapters dealing with drawing the Moon through a telescope and photographing the Moon with both cameras and CCDs. All of these chapters, while good, could have been more in depth, I think.

A (very) short chapter on the Moon as it is studied from the desktop is included. This so barely scratches the surface the chapter is easy to miss.

The largest portion of the book is a chapter (over 100 pages long) on selected lunar landscapes. This is a great part of the book and North does a great job with it. It seems the only part of the book that isn't cut short due to space considerations, but here more could possibly been done.

Finally, there is a short, but good chapter on Transient Lunar Phenomena, the subject that North has been working on for some years.

In the end, the most annoying part of the book for me was North saying again and again and AGAIN that "much more could be said about this, but I'm already over the page allotment that my publisher set." In the end, due to this, "Observing the Moon" is largely an average book...that has two GREAT books struggling to get out of it.

Want a first book on the Moon? You can start with this, but it will only whet your appetite for more...which may not be a bad thing.

Mr. North, I look forward to you working on the next version of this book. However, for the next version, if possible, split it into the two great books that are struggling to get out of the book you've written: one book that is just Chapter 8 ("Selected Lunar Landscapes") and another book that is all the other chapters.

It is difficult to know what to say about this book. The author has invested much time in preparing it, and Cambridge has done an excellent job of reproducing the many fine drawings and photographs included. Yet it leaves me surprisingly flat; I suspect this is a book which will sit on my shelf rarely opened.
The book is strangely lopsided. Its longest and best section, fully half the book, is a set of detailed descriptions of forty-eight selected regions of the Moon, selected for their topographic variety and interest. Each region is illustrated by photographs and drawings under various illuminations, and North provides descriptive text and an at-the-eyepiece tutorial. The drawings are typical of the British school of lunar drawing: meticulous pen and ink drawings which are striking to look at, but so stylized as to bear little resemblance to what one sees through the eyepiece.
This massive descriptive section is preceded by seven short chapters to provide the reader, whom North typifies as an "interested amateur astronomer who is yet to become a lunar specialist," with the background necessary to begin observations of the Moon. After an introductory chapter, there are sections on the history of lunar observation, equipment and visual observation, photography, electronic imaging, the physical nature of the Moon, and reference sources. Following the large descriptive chapter, there is a chapter on transient lunar phenomena, obviously a subject dear to North's heart. Much of this material is superficial, but it is interlaced repeatedly with rather technical sections, almost as if the author wished to show off his scientific credentials.
When I initially started to read the book, I gravitated to the chapter on reference sources. Clearly North's favourite source is Lunar Sourcebook-a User's Guide to the Moon. Unfortunately this is currently out-of-print. North lists seven books and maps taken from Sky Publishing's web site, which includes such standards as Antonin Rükl's Atlas of the Moon, and then makes an extraordinary statement: "I must admit that I have no personal experience of the adequacy, or otherwise, of any of these items." In other words, he has not bothered to consult a large part of the standard reference works for lunar observers! This was when I seriously began to doubt the quality of the research underlying the rest of the book.
Finally, there is the question of North's writing style. This is what I call the "chatty British eccentric" style, typified by the writing of Patrick Moore and Gerald Durrell. While charming to some in small doses, it definitely becomes tiresome in a long book. Then there is his constant whining about the page limitations imposed on him by his publisher, which he repeatedly uses as an excuse to flog his other book and just about anything else published by Cambridge. It took a major effort of will for me to wade through all this.
So what is an amateur astronomer interested in the Moon to do? My favourite book on the Moon, Rükl's Atlas mentioned above, is currently out-of-print, but due to be reprinted by Sky soon. It is what I always keep at hand while observing the Moon, and is well worth seeking out on the used market. I can't in all honesty recommend North's book to either a beginner or a more advanced student of the Moon.

North's very attractive book struck me less as a "good read" than as a useful reference for the amateur astronomer. The half of the book devoted to an "A-Z" of lunar landscapes in particular is quite good for this purpose -- if you've been out viewing the moon and are curious to know more about a particular feature, both the text and photographs are of value. I agree with a previous reviewer that this would have been better as two books. The overview chapters are well written but not of much value to the advanced astronomer; the information on CCDs, software etc. is likely to age pretty quickly. The info on transient lunar phenomena is interesting but not of much use unless you have a big 'scope. Still, as a reference book for lunar features I haven't seen much else that compares with it.