Teach Yourself Astronomy

About this book

Do you want a practical guide to astronomy? Would you like to be able to observe and understand the sky at night? Teach Yourself Astronomy is a comprehensive and straightforward guide to the 'science of the sky'. Assuming no prior knowledge, this book will ensure you grasp the basics of this fascinating science. You will soon learn how to observe the sun, moon, planets and other bodies such as comets and, with the help of star charts, you will be able to impress with your knowledge of the sky at night.

Contents

preface; 1 - Introducing astronomy; 2 - the spinning sky; 3 - sky-watchers; 4 - the astronomer's telescope; 5 - Into space; 6 - the sun; 7 - the moon; 8 - the sun's family; 9 - the inner planets; 10 - the outer planets; 11 - minor members of the solar system; 12 - the stars 13 - patterns of stars; 14 - double and variable stars; 15 - the life and times of a star; 16 - star-clusters and nebulae; 17 - the depths of the universe; 18 - into the future; taking it further; glossary; appendices; index

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Biography

Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore was born in 1923. Privately eductaed becuase of boyhood illness, he joined the RAF at the start of the war (being slightly evasive about his age) and flew as a navigator with the RAF. After the war he set up his private observatory in Sussex, and concentrated on observations of the moon. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Past President of the British Astronomical Association and a member of the international Astronomical Union. He has written a number of books, and since 1957 has presented the BBC television programme 'The Sky at Night' every four weeks. He was knighted in 2001, and made a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society also in 2001.