Observing and Measuring Visual Double Stars

Robert W. Argyle1852335580

Double stars are the rule, rather than the exception: our solar system, having a single sun, is in the minority. Orbiting satellites, ground based observatories and interferometers have all helped discover many hundreds of new pairs – but this has left enormous numbers of wide, faint pairs under-observed or not observed at all.
This is where amateur astronomers can help. Bob Argyle, a professional astronomer at Cambridge University, shows where enthusiastic amateur observers can best direct their efforts. The book caters for the use of every level of equipment, from simple commercial telescopes to micrometers and CCD cameras.
Amateur astronomers who have gone beyond “sight-seeing” and want to make a genuine scientific contribution will find this a fascinating and rewarding field – and this book provides all the background and practical information that’s needed.

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Table of contents :
Contents……Page 8
Introduction……Page 10
1 More Than One Sun……Page 14
2 Why Observe Double Stars?……Page 30
3 The Observation of Binocular Double Stars……Page 38
4 The Scale of Binary Systems……Page 48
5 Multiple Stars and Planets……Page 52
6 Is the Sun a Double Star?……Page 60
7 The Orbital Elements of a Visual Binary Star……Page 66
8 Orbit Computation……Page 76
9 Some Famous Double Stars……Page 86
10 The Resolution of a Telescope……Page 98
11 Reflecting Telescopes and Double-Star Astronomy……Page 110
12 Simple Techniques of Measurement……Page 150
13 The Double-Image Micrometer……Page 172
14 The Diffraction Grating Micrometer……Page 182
15 The Filar Micrometer……Page 196
16 The CCD Camera……Page 212
17 Speckle Interferometry for the Amateur……Page 222
18 Lunar Occultations……Page 244
19 What the Amateur can Contribute……Page 254
20 Some Active Amateur Double Star Observers……Page 262
21 An Observing Session……Page 278
22 Some Useful Formulae……Page 286
23 Star Atlases and Software……Page 304
24 Catalogues……Page 314
25 Publication of Results……Page 322
Appendix: Some Useful URL Addresses……Page 326
Brief Biographies……Page 330
D……Page 336
O……Page 337
Z……Page 339