Celestial Objects for Modern Telescopes: Practical Amateur Astronomy Volume 2

Based on field notes made by the author during his own career as an amateur astronomer, this unique 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. It includes practical advice on aspects such as site selection and weather; provides the reader with detailed instructions for observing the Sun, Moon, planets, and all types of deep-sky objects; and it introduces newer specialities such as satellite observing and the use of astronomical databases. The book concludes with detailed information about 200 stars, clusters, nebulae, and galaxies, suitable for viewing with modest-sized telescopes under suburban conditions. Written to complement How to Use a Computerized Telescope, this book will also appeal to astronomers with more traditional equipment.

Michael Covington, an avid amateur astronomer since age 12, has degrees in linguistics from Cambridge and Yale. He does research on computer processing of human languages at The University of Georgia, where his work won first prize in the IBM Supercomputing Competition in 1990. His current research and consulting areas include theoretical linguistics, natural language processing, logic programming, and microcontrollers. Although a computational linguist by profession, he is recognized as one of America's leading amateur astronomers and is highly regarded in the field. He is the author of several books