Table of Contents

1 Finding Your Way Around the Sky.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Constellations.- 1.3 Star Hopping.- 1.4 Positions in the Sky.- 1.5 Star Charts and Other Helpful Items.- 2 Your Telescope and How to get the Best Out of It.- 2.1 Telescope Designs.- 2.2 Eyepieces.- 2.3 Collimation.- 2.4 Mountings.- 2.5 Optics.- 2.6 Cleaning and Aluminising.- 2.7 Dewing-up.- 2.8 Observing Techniques.- 2.9 Twinkling.- 2.10 Finder Charts.- 2.11 Keeping a Log Book.- 2.12 Discoveries.- 3 The Sun.- 3.1 Warning.- 3.2 Observing the Sun.- 3.3 Solar Observing Programmes.- 3.4 More Advanced Work.- 4 The Moon.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Naked-eye Work and Binoculars.- 4.3 The Moon through the Telescope.- 4.4 An Optimum Telescope for Lunar Work.- 4.5 More Advanced Investigations.- 5 The Planets and Minor Solar System Objects.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.- 5.3 Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the Asteroids.- 6 Comets.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Cometary Orbits.- 6.3 The Structure of Comets.- 6.4 Origins.- 6.5 Famous Comets.- 6.6 Nomenclature of Comets.- 6.7 Observing Comets.- 7 Stars.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Brightness.- 7.3 Variable Stars.- 7.4 Visual Double and Binary Stars.- 7.5 Star Clusters.- 8 Nebulae.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Gas and Dust Clouds.- 8.3 Dark Nebulae.- 8.4 Reflection Nebulae.- 8.5 Emission Nebulae.- 8.6 Supernova Remnants.- 8.7 Planetary Nebulae.- 9 Galaxies.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 Spiral Galaxies.- 9.3 Elliptical Galaxies.- 9.4 Irregular Galaxies.- 9.5 Quasars, Seyfert Galaxies and Other Active Galaxies.- 10 Unaided Observations.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 The Moon.- 10.3 The Sun.- 10.4 Meteors.- 10.5 The Milky Way, the Zodiacal Light and Aurorae.- 10.6 Comets and Planets.- 10.7 Spacecraft.- 10.8 UFOs.- 11 Advanced Work.- 11.1 Introduction.- 11.2 Nebular and Light-pollution Filters.- 11.3 Colour Filters.- 11.4 Photography with Your Telescope.- 11.5 CCDs.- 11.6 Photometry.- 11.7 Occultations.- 11.8 Computers in Astronomy.- 11.9 Spectroscopy.- Appendix 1: Astronomical Societies.- Appendix 2: Bibliography.- Appendix 3: Messier and Caldwell Catalogues.- Appendix 4: A Selection of Choice Astronomical Objects for Viewing.- Appendix 5: The Greek Alphabet.- Appendix 6: Constellations.- Appendix 7: Useful World-Wide-Web and Internet Addresses.- Appendix 8: Terminology.

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