The Sky is Your Laboratory

For the experienced amateur astronomer who is wondering if there is something useful, valuable, and permanent that can be done with his or her observational skills, the answer is, "Yes, there is!" This is THE book for the amateur astronomer who is ready to take the next step in his or her astronomical journey. Till now there has been no text that points curious amateur astronomers to the research possibilities open to them. At the 2006 meeting of the Society for Astronomical Sciences, participants agreed that the lack of such a text was a serious gap in the astronomical book market. This book plugs that hole.

Autorentext

Mr. Buchheim received his first telescope when he was about 10 years old, and he has been interested in the stars ever since. He received his BS degree in Physics from Arizona State University and has completed a Program Management Course at Defense Systems Management College as well as UCLA Executive Program 88-1. He has published a number of articles and is the inventor of the "Rotary-Acting Pilot Valve." He currently lives and works in California.

Inhalt
Meteor Studies.- Visual meteor counts of major meteor showers.- Characterization of minor meteor showers.- Characterizing Sporadic meteors, and discovering unrecognized showers.- Automating your Meteor Observations.- Radio Meteor Monitoring.- Additional Reading and Resources.- Occultations.- Lunar Occultation Timing.- Grazing Lunar Occultations.- Asteroid Occultation Timing.- International Occultation Timing Association.- Additional Reading and Resources.- Visual Observing.- Variable Star Observing.- AAVSO.- CCD Photometry.- General Principles of Aperture Photometry.- Selection of Comp Stars.- Software Packages for Photometry.- Absolute vs. Differential Photometry.- CCD Photometry of Variable Stars.- Determining Asteroid Lightcurves.- Signal, Noise, and Photometric Accuracy.- Extra-Solar Planet Transits.- Absolute Photometry on the B-V-R system.- Asteroid Phase Curves.- CCD Astrometry.-Basic Principles of Astrometry.- Equipment needed.- Making the Observations.- Reducing and Analyzing your Results.- Asteroid astrometry.- Binary Stars: Separation and Position Angle.- Discovery projects.- Lunar Meteor Impacts.- Asteroid Hunting and Discovery.- Comet Hunting.- Nova and Supernova Hunting.- Nova Search.- Supernova Search.- Serendipitous discoveries.- Some Notes on Time.- Some Background on Astrometric Concepts.- The scientist's record book.