David Levy's Guide to Observing and Discovering Comets

David Levy's Guide to Observing and Discovering Comets

David H. Levy

Language: English

Pages: 188

ISBN: 0521520517

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


David Levy has held a lifelong passion for comets, and is one of the most successful comet discoverers in history. In this book he describes the observing techniques that have been developed over the years--from visual observations and searching, to photography, through to electronic charge-coupled devices (CCDs). He combines the history of comet hunting with the latest techniques, showing how our understanding of comets has evolved over time. This practical handbook is suitable for amateur astronomers, from those who are casually interested in comets and how to observe them, to those who want to begin and expand an observing program of their own. Drawing widely from his own extensive experience, Levy describes how enthusiastic amateurs can observe comets and try to make new discoveries themselves. David H. Levy is one of the word's foremost amateur astronomers. He has discovered seventeen comets, seven using a telescope in his own backyard, and had a minor planet, Asteroid 3673 Levy named in his honor. He is best known as the co-discoverer of the famous 1994 Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet. Levy is frequently interviewed in the media and succeeded Carl Sagan as science columnist for Parade magazine. He has written and contributed to a number of books, most recently David Levy's Guide to the Night Sky (Cambridge, 2001).

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motion you for it. I should t discovery does you much honour; allow me to complimen you will oblige me be very curious, Sir, to learn the details of this discovery, and 0 if you will be so good as to inform me of them." 1 the celestial The answer to Herschel's riddle came on August 3 1, 1781, when chel's object. He mechanician Anders Lexell published a definitive orbit of Hers closer to the Sun declared that its path was almost circular, and that it never got did not look than 16 times the

universe. Keith S. Noli, Harold A. Weaver, and Paul D. Feldman, 1996 ' 95 96 When comets hit planets . . . Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. Shakespeare, Macbeth2 The impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter As building blocks for larger worlds throughout the galaxy, comets are very important. When a big comet passes by, telescopes on Earth and in space are pointed toward it to try to determine its structure, composition, and course. In the history of

steps (3) and (4). Record Visua.l m a g n i t u d e s N O R H-1 the magnitude to the nearest tenth of a magnitude. Iz,h Thq le Her "r" POL A R followin9 a 5cale IO",Z5. 4 m m 5 E QU E N e E magnitude si9n ifies - C H A RT 1 (l iflChl . LH C4� that thE' star is red N.B.: This method does not work well if the comet is very diffuse or its com a is unusually large; the magnitude you get will likely be too faint. . ' The "Modified Out" method Developed by comet observer charles

much like Hyakutake, close to the pole in the northern sky.5 I love eavesdropping on the letter that opens my oId book, quoted at the beginning of this chapter and written by the celebrated mathematician and astronomer Peter Louis Morceau de Maupertuis to the Marchioness du Chatelet, as he tried to put the appearance of this comet into the perspectives of his time: You desire my opinion, madam, concerning the comet which is at present the general topic of conversation throughout Paris; and your

life of service to astrono my. He did not live long enough to see his forecast come true. During 1758, a veritabl e army of mathematicians and astronomers were frantically searching for the comet, on pa�er and in the sky. It was not until Christmas Night 1758 that Johann Georg Pahtzsch, a Dresden farmer, spotted the comet with a small telescope; the French astronomer Charles Messier confirmed its appeara nce inJ anuary, 1 759. 19 20 Comet science progresses This achievement inspired the

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