Observing the Moon: The Modern Astronomer's Guide [Hardcover]

Gerald North (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521622743 | ISBN-13: 978-0521622745 | Publication Date: July 31, 2000

What do scientists know about the Moon? What are some of the mysteries that remain to be solved? Written by an experienced and well-known lunar expert, this is a "hands-on" primer for the aspiring observer of the Moon. Whether you are a novice or already experienced in practical astronomy, you will find plenty in this book to help "raise your game" to the next level and beyond. Gerald North shares extensive practical advice and his sophisticated background knowledge of the Moon and of lunar observation. He covers the selection and construction of equipment and optimizing of existing equipment for such projects as drawing, photographing and CCD imaging of the Moon, together with analysis and computer processing images, and many other practical topics. Observing the Moon will allow both amateur and seasoned astronomers alike to immerse themselves in contemporary efforts to solve the lunar mysteries, as well as to enjoy more fully our Moon in all its magnificence.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Science writer North is full of useful information for backyard astronomers who would like to move to the next level in their observations of the earth's satellite. He opens with description (phases and eclipses, gravity and the tides) and history ("the pioneering selenographers"). Sections on telescopes, cameras, and CCD astrocameras follow, along with a chapter on "the desktop moon." The book's longest chapter is North's "`A to Z' of Selected Lunar Landscapes," which displays, with discussion, in detail 48 specific areas of the moon's surface. North closes with the controversial subject of "Lunar Transient Phenomena." Key advantages of North's volume include its practical focus--e.g., lots of advice on the strengths and weaknesses of various types of equipment--and its mix of vivid photographs (from, among others, NASA) and clarifying maps and charts. A useful addition to libraries' astronomy collections. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"North is full of useful information for backyard astronomers who would like to move to the next level...Key advantages of North's volume include its practical focus-e.g., lots of advice on the strengths and weaknesses of various types of equipment-and its mix of vivid photographs and clarifying maps and charts. A useful addition to libraries' astronomy collections." Booklist

"The author has invested much time in preparing it [this book] and Cambridge University Press has done an excellent job of reproducing the many fine drawings and photographs included. The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

"The latest in a long and venerable collection of astronomy titles from Cambridge University..." Bloomsbury Review

"Observing the Moon is a 'must' for personal, professional, academic, and community library astronomy reference collections." The Bookwatch

"Observing the Moon: The Modern Astronomer's Guide serves as a valuable introductory text and practical manual for the amateur astronomer...This book will help the beginner advance to become an experienced, lunar observer...easily readable and ejoyable book...Observing the Moon is highly recommended for the personal libraries of the beginning lunar observer or amateur astronomer. In addition, a public library or undergraduate institution with a program in astronomy or with a popular interest in the discipline would also benefit from owning this 'hands-on primer for the aspiring observer of the Moon.'" E-Streams

"[In]Gerald North's Observing the Moon...He advises the novice observer based on his own experience, and he includes a brief review of lunar science from Apollo to Lunar Prospector. North richly illustrates his 48 crater descriptions with drawings, amateur and professional photographs, and spacecraft images....One thing that Westfall excelled at was imaging the lunar limbs at very favorable librations; thus, his images of the Humboldtianum(page 162) and Orientale (page 157) impact basins are more revealing than many professional photographs....I do recommend North's observing guide as visually pleasing, meaty, easy to read." Sky & Telescope

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521622743
• ISBN-13: 978-0521622745
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,070,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the best Moon book!, August 29, 2001

By 

Geoff Gaherty - See all my reviews

This review is from: Observing the Moon: The Modern Astronomer's Guide (Hardcover)

It is difficult to know what to say about this book. The author has invested much time in preparing it, and Cambridge has done an excellent job of reproducing the many fine drawings and photographs included. Yet it leaves me surprisingly flat; I suspect this is a book which will sit on my shelf rarely opened.
The book is strangely lopsided. Its longest and best section, fully half the book, is a set of detailed descriptions of forty-eight selected regions of the Moon, selected for their topographic variety and interest. Each region is illustrated by photographs and drawings under various illuminations, and North provides descriptive text and an at-the-eyepiece tutorial. The drawings are typical of the British school of lunar drawing: meticulous pen and ink drawings which are striking to look at, but so stylized as to bear little resemblance to what one sees through the eyepiece.
This massive descriptive section is preceded by seven short chapters to provide the reader, whom North typifies as an "interested amateur astronomer who is yet to become a lunar specialist," with the background necessary to begin observations of the Moon. After an introductory chapter, there are sections on the history of lunar observation, equipment and visual observation, photography, electronic imaging, the physical nature of the Moon, and reference sources. Following the large descriptive chapter, there is a chapter on transient lunar phenomena, obviously a subject dear to North's heart. Much of this material is superficial, but it is interlaced repeatedly with rather technical sections, almost as if the author wished to show off his scientific credentials.
When I initially started to read the book, I gravitated to the chapter on reference sources. Clearly North's favourite source is Lunar Sourcebook-a User's Guide to the Moon. Unfortunately this is currently out-of-print. North lists seven books and maps taken from Sky Publishing's web site, which includes such standards as Antonin Rükl's Atlas of the Moon, and then makes an extraordinary statement: "I must admit that I have no personal experience of the adequacy, or otherwise, of any of these items." In other words, he has not bothered to consult a large part of the standard reference works for lunar observers! This was when I seriously began to doubt the quality of the research underlying the rest of the book.
Finally, there is the question of North's writing style. This is what I call the "chatty British eccentric" style, typified by the writing of Patrick Moore and Gerald Durrell. While charming to some in small doses, it definitely becomes tiresome in a long book. Then there is his constant whining about the page limitations imposed on him by his publisher, which he repeatedly uses as an excuse to flog his other book and just about anything else published by Cambridge. It took a major effort of will for me to wade through all this.
So what is an amateur astronomer interested in the Moon to do? My favourite book on the Moon, Rükl's Atlas mentioned above, is currently out-of-print, but due to be reprinted by Sky soon. It is what I always keep at hand while observing the Moon, and is well worth seeking out on the used market. I can't in all honesty recommend North's book to either a beginner or a more advanced student of the Moon.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid, But Far Too Compressed, August 16, 2001

By 

Richard Kinne (Groton, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Observing the Moon: The Modern Astronomer's Guide (Hardcover)

North is a respected person in the amateur lunar community. Given that, I can't help but wish this book could have been somehow better.

North starts out by giving a good account of the Moon itself, dealing with such concepts as gravity, tides, phases, libration, lunar coordinates, and occultations. He then goes forward to give a short account of pioneering lunar selenography. Then he goes onward with chapters dealing with drawing the Moon through a telescope and photographing the Moon with both cameras and CCDs. All of these chapters, while good, could have been more in depth, I think.

A (very) short chapter on the Moon as it is studied from the desktop is included. This so barely scratches the surface the chapter is easy to miss.

The largest portion of the book is a chapter (over 100 pages long) on selected lunar landscapes. This is a great part of the book and North does a great job with it. It seems the only part of the book that isn't cut short due to space considerations, but here more could possibly been done.

Finally, there is a short, but good chapter on Transient Lunar Phenomena, the subject that North has been working on for some years.

In the end, the most annoying part of the book for me was North saying again and again and AGAIN that "much more could be said about this, but I'm already over the page allotment that my publisher set." In the end, due to this, "Observing the Moon" is largely an average book...that has two GREAT books struggling to get out of it.

Want a first book on the Moon? You can start with this, but it will only whet your appetite for more...which may not be a bad thing.

Mr. North, I look forward to you working on the next version of this book. However, for the next version, if possible, split it into the two great books that are struggling to get out of the book you've written: one book that is just Chapter 8 ("Selected Lunar Landscapes") and another book that is all the other chapters.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More a reference than a read, August 1, 2002

By 

R. Bartlett "REB" (Boston MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Observing the Moon: The Modern Astronomer's Guide (Hardcover)

North's very attractive book struck me less as a "good read" than as a useful reference for the amateur astronomer. The half of the book devoted to an "A-Z" of lunar landscapes in particular is quite good for this purpose -- if you've been out viewing the moon and are curious to know more about a particular feature, both the text and photographs are of value. I agree with a previous reviewer that this would have been better as two books. The overview chapters are well written but not of much value to the advanced astronomer; the information on CCDs, software etc. is likely to age pretty quickly. The info on transient lunar phenomena is interesting but not of much use unless you have a big 'scope. Still, as a reference book for lunar features I haven't seen much else that compares with it.