Observing and Measuring Visual Double Stars - Paperback

by R. W. Argyle (Editor)

The second edition of Observing and Measuring Visual Double Stars (2004) is the definitive book for those who are serious about this fascinating aspect of astronomy. It deals with equipment (you can start modestly with commercial or even home-made instruments), observing methods using binoculars upwards to advanced instrumentation and techniques, including speckle interferometry. The astronomy of double stars, including orbital calculation, is given its own section.

This second edition of this popular book contains a significant amount of completely new material, inspired by the work done by observers - particularly in the USA - since the first edition was published. This includes the use of the Internet to carry out astrometry (precise astronomical measurement) using existing survey plates and films. The new edition contains an excellent guide to sketching double stars, a topic not previously covered. In addition, there is information about how to image double stars of unequal brightness, always a difficult matter but now somewhat easier because of advances in hardware and image-processing software. Nearly all of the chapters and tables have been updated.

The CD-ROM that accompanied the first edition of Observing and Measuring Visual Double Stars is replaced by access to the Springer Extras web site. The extra information includes the complete Washington Double Star and Tycho-2 Catalogs. There is an extensive database of astrometric, double-and multiple-star formation, including positions, orbits, separations, and magnitudes, and a software suite that implements many of the calculations and equations featured in the book.

Back Jacket

In these days of high-precision astrometric satellites, tremendous contributions to the science of astrometry are being made by amateur astronomers around the globe.

This second edition of Observing and Measuring Visual Double Stars contains a significant amount of completely new material inspired by the work done by observers - particularly in the USA - since the first edition was published. Fifteen skilled and experienced astronomers have contributed chapters on their own specialization in the various fields. These include how to use the Internet to carry out precise astronomical measurement, an excellent guide to sketching double stars, and information on how to image double stars of unequal brightness. This new edition is the definitive book for those who are serious about this fascinating aspect of astronomy!

Author Bob Argyle has been observing visual double stars for more than 40 years, some with the help of the world's biggest refractors, and has been director of the Webb Society Double Star Section since 1970.

Author Biography

R.W. Argyle works in the Astronomy Survey unit of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge in England, where he has been Senior Research Associate since 1998. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (since 1977) and Director of the Double Star Section, the Webb Society (since 1970). He edited the first edition of Observing and Measuring Visual Double Stars (2004). He is the author of many articles for the Deep-sky Observer of the Webb Society. He writes a monthly column on double stars in Astronomy Now, the UK astronomical journal. He is co-author of research papers on binary stars in refereed astronomical journals.