Ferguson's flexible and useful INTRODUCTORY ASTRONOMY EXERCISES, Second Edition, provides professors and students with laboratory exercises that are well-tested, current, and flexible to individual course needs. These labs have a variety of origins and authors, and bring a broad range of activity to the introductory astronomy lab. Most require only inexpensive equipment. INTRODUCTORY ASTRONOMY EXERCISES, Second Edition, gives students practical experience with the things they only read about in their book, such as using a telescope and CCD photography. Ferguson groups the exercises together by whether they deal with the solar system or stars and other objects beyond the solar system. Three introductory exercises on using telescopes, viewing constellations and the Celestial Sphere, and using numbers in science set the stage and help readers overcome anxiety. A combination of indoor and outdoor labs allows for adjustments due to weather conditions. A chart that cross-references exercises in this manual to relevant chapters in Brooks/Cole astronomy books adds to the book's flexibility, and help the instructor reinforce selected topics.

Revised and Extended Edition of `Practical Work in Elementary Astronomy' by M.G.J. Minnaert

Observation Exercises in Astronomy is a lab manual containing a series of astronomy exercises that integrates technology from planetarium software such as SkyGazer, StarryNight Pro, Stellarium, and WorldWide Telescope. Each exercise is designed to engage the student in a different aspect of the scientific process.

Revised and Extended Edition of `Practical Work in Elementary Astronomy' by M.G.J. Minnaert

Offering a series of well-defined problems supplemented by solutions, Exercises in Practical Astronomy: Using Photographs presents meaningful practical work in elementary astronomy and astrophysics. The book provides authentic astronomical photographs of very high quality on which different types of objects can be studied with equipment as simple as rulers and protractors. In addition to photographs and a set of exercises that cover 12 topics, the coverage includes ample hints and worked solutions that are designed to enable students to work independently. SI units are used for physical data and in conversions of astronomical quantities. This book is one of the few to use real rather than idealized or simplified data in the problems.

This book contains the background information and laboratory exercises to accompany an undergraduate level course in radio astronomy. The observations are made using a Small Radio Telescope (SRT). The SRT was developed at MIT Haystack Observatory and is now sold as an inexpensive kit which provides everything necessary to introduce users to the amazing world of radio astronomy.

The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy combines new scholarship with hands-on science to bring readers into direct contact with the work of ancient astronomers. While tracing ideas from ancient Babylon to sixteenth-century Europe, the book places its greatest emphasis on the Greek period, when astronomers developed the geometric and philosophical ideas that have determined the subsequent character of Western astronomy. The author approaches this history through the concrete details of ancient astronomical practice. Carefully organized and generously illustrated, the book can teach readers how to do real astronomy using the methods of ancient astronomers. For example, readers will learn to predict the next retrograde motion of Jupiter using either the arithmetical methods of the Babylonians or the geometric methods of Ptolemy. They will learn how to use an astrolabe and how to design sundials using Greek and Roman techniques. The book also contains supplementary exercises and patterns for making some working astronomical instruments, including an astrolabe and an equatorium. More than a presentation of astronomical methods, the book provides a critical look at the evidence used to reconstruct ancient astronomy. It includes extensive excerpts from ancient texts, meticulous documentation, and lively discussions of the role of astronomy in the various cultures. Accessible to a wide audience, this book will appeal to anyone interested in how our understanding of our place in the universe has changed and developed, from ancient times through the Renaissance.