Celestial Objects for Modern Telescopes: Practical Amateur Astronomy Volume 2

Based on field notes made by Michael Covington throughout his career as an amateur astronomer, this guide covers both the traditional and novel approaches to studying the night sky. In addition to the more standard techniques, it discusses the latest modern resources available to today's astronomer, such as personal computers, the internet, and computerized telescopes. Covington includes practical advice on site selection and weather; detailed instructions for observing the Sun, Moon, planets, and deep-sky objects; and newer specialities such as satellite observing and the use of astronomical databases. Written to complement How to Use a Computerized Telescope, this book appeals to astronomers with more traditional equipment. Michael A. Covington is an associate research scientist at the University of Georgia. He is a computational linguist trained in the computer processing of human languages and the computer modeling of human logical reasoning, and a widely recognized expert on the Prolog programming language. He is the author of nine books including Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms, Seventh Edition (Barron's, 2000), Astrophotography for the Amateur (Cambridge, 1999), PROLOG Programming in Depth (Simon & Schuster, 1996), Cambridge Eclipse Photography Guide (1993), and Syntactic Theory in the High Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1985). A senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Covington is a Contributing Editor to, and former "Q&A" columnist of Poptronics magazine.