Observing and Measuring Visual Double Stars (Engels)

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 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!

Contents:

• More than One Sun (Bob Argyle)
• Why Observe Double Stars? (Bob Argyle)
• The Observation of Binocular Double Stars (Mike Ropelewski)
• Double Star Sketching (Jeremy Perez)
• Multiple Stars and Planets (Bob Argyle)
• Is the Sun a Double Star? (Bob Argyle)
• The Orbital Elements of a Visual Binary Star (Andreas Alzner)
• Orbit Computation (Andreas Alzner)
• Ten Famous Double Stars (Bob Argyle)
• The Resolution of a Telescope (Bob Argyle)
• Reflecting Telescopes and Double Star Astronomy (Christopher Taylor)
• Simple Techniques of Measurement (E.T.H. Teague)
• Filar Micrometer (Bob Argyle)
• The Diffraction Grating Micrometer (Andreas Maurer)
• CCD Camera Observations (Bob Buchheim)
• Lucky Imaging (Rainer Anton)
• The DSLR Camera (Erno Berko)
• Astrometric Speckle Interferometry for the Amateur (Nils Turner)
• Internet Astrometry (Rafael Caballero)
• How to Measure the Minima of Eclipsing Binaries; an Amateur’s Experiences (Laurent Corp)
• Lunar Occultations (Graham Appleby)
• What the Amateur can Contribute (Bob Argyle)
• Some Active Amateur Double Star Observers (Bob Argyle)
• An Observing Session (Bob Argyle)
• Some Useful Formulae (Michael Greaney)
• Star Atlases and Software (Owen Brazell)
• Catalogues (Bob Argyle)
• Publication of Results (Bob Argyle)
• Brief Biographies
• References and Bibliography

The editor 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.