Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide
Here is a great book for the Astronomy Enthusiast.
Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide (Wiley Self-Teaching Guides)
Discover the wonders of the night sky with this bestselling astronomy guide
For a generation, Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide to the night sky. Now this classic beginner’s guide has been completely revised to bring it up to date with the latest discoveries and graphics.
- Features over 80 new photos and illustrations, including a full-color insert
- Reviews the newest telescopes and spacecraft
- Includes an overview of the best astronomy Web sites
- Written by award-winning author Dinah Moch?
Packed with valuable tables, charts, and star and moon maps, this user-friendly guide makes it easy for you to quickly grasp the basic principles of astronomy and start observing the night sky. The book includes objectives, reviews, and self-tests, and can be used on its own as a self-teaching guide or as a supplement to astronomy course materials.
Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope
In 1609, world-renowned Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei, introduced an elementary telescope to the growing astronomy community which sparked interest into the mysterious night sky for centuries to come. Four centuries later, Celestron offers the portable FirstScope Telescope. The FirstScope pays tribute to Galileo Galilei and many of history’s most notable astronomers and scientists by displaying their names around the optical tube. We honor the contributions of these men and women, who brought us one step closer to understanding the universe around us.
Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope
The FirstScope is a wonderful keepsake for anyone interested in astronomy. This quality Dobsonian style telescope features a 76 mm aperture reflector optical tube. FirstScope is an ideal entry level astronomical telescope. It is very easy to observe with, the user simply navigates the night sky by moving the tube in the direction of their desired object, making the viewing experience a snap! The compact design makes it easy enough to take with you on your next outdoor adventure. FirstScope is also stylish enough to be a decorative fixture on your bookshelf or desk. Read more
Opportunity on verge of new discovery
Shortly after Labor Day 2011, the Mars rover Opportunity was poised on the rim of the 22,000 meter-wide Endeavour Crater, preparing to sample a novel rock type. Much older than the sedimentary samples the rover’s “tasted” so far, this new sample is flush with the promise of revealing clues to the planet’s environment when running rivers coursed the surface. What was supposed to have been a 90- to 180-day exploration of two distinct regions of the red planet has turned into a saga that has become one of science’s most compelling and long-lasting adventures (now into its eighth year), enthralling the public and the science communities alike. Read more
Invisible world discovered
Usually, running five minutes late is a bad thing since you might lose your dinner reservation or miss out on tickets to the latest show. But when a planet runs five minutes late, astronomers get excited because it suggests that another world is nearby. NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has spotted a planet that alternately runs late and early in its orbit because a second, “invisible” world is tugging on it. This is the first definite detection of a previously unknown planet using this method. No other technique could have found the unseen companion. Read more
NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe
NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe
Publisher Comments:
Why people write Thoroughly revised, updated and expanded. How writing began in different parts of the worldHow climate and available materials affected the forms of writing The first three editions of NightWatch sold more than 600,000 copies, making it the top-selling stargazing guide in the world for the last 20 years. The key feature of this classic title is the section of star charts that are cherished by backyard astronomers everywhere. Each new edition has outsold the previous one because of thorough revisions and additional new material. Who wrote, and why — with quotations from ancient sources. Read more
Astrophysicists report first simulation
After nine months of number-crunching on a powerful supercomputer, a beautiful spiral galaxy matching our own Milky Way emerged from a computer simulation of the physics involved in galaxy formation and evolution. The simulation by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Zurich solves a longstanding problem that had led some to question the prevailing cosmological model of the universe. “Previous efforts to form a massive disk galaxy like the Milky Way had failed, because the simulated galaxies ended up with huge central bulges compared to the size of the disk,” said Javiera Guedes, a graduate student in astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and first author of a paper on the new simulation, called “Eris.” The paper has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Read more
Current Moon Phase
New Moon The moon is currently in Pisces The moon is 1 day old
Distance: 62 earth radii
Ecliptic latitude: 5 degrees
Ecliptic longitude: 351 degrees
