The Cambridge guide to astronomical discovery Book

Would you like to discover a comet? Or maybe you would like to be the first person on Earth - perhaps in the Universe - to recognise a celestial newcomer such as a nova or supernova. This Guide tells you how to become an astronomical discoverer using only modest equipment. It describes what approaches to take in searching the night skies for the unusual and the unexpected. Included are 20 contributions from both amateur and professional astronomers who are world famous for their discoveries. This book covers all the kinds of objects that an amateur can hope to find as a result of systematic searching. Personal contributions from noted discoverers such as David Levy and Minoru Honda (comets), Bob Evans (supernovae), Eleanor Helin and Brian Manning (asteroids), and Mike Collins and Dan Kaiser (variable stars) reveal the secrets of their successful methods. Visual, photographic, and electronic search techniques are described, as well as instructions on how to report discoveries. Extensive appendices pack in a wealth of useful data for every new discoverer of cosmic phenomena.