Amateur Astronomer?s Handbook (Paperback)

by J. B. Sidgwick (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Timeless, comprehensive coverage of telescopes, mirrors, lenses, mountings, telescope drives, micrometers, spectroscopes, more. "...highly recommended for very serious nonprofessional astronomers."—A Guide to the Literature of Astronomy. 189 illustrations. Reprint of 1971 edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; 3 edition (January 1, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486240347
• ISBN-13: 978-0486240343
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #709,108 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #48 in

  Books > Science > Astronomy > Telescopes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Technical introduction to amateur astronomy, April 11, 2000

By A Customer

Sidgwick's book is recognized as a classic, but the subject matter is presented rigorously and in the style of a text book. Originally published in 1955, Sidgwick's book relies heavily on British Astronomical Association archives and the overall book has a somewhat European bent. Most of the book is still very relevant and informative, but don't expect unbiased views of currently available super eyepieces or CCD cameras. However, if you want exhaustive information on different types of mounts (and their strengths and weaknesses), hard-to-to-find information on accessories like micrometers and spectroscopes, and analyses of image circles, telescope configurations, and metallic films, this book is for you. Indeed, it is the only book that I've seen with a section that Sidgwick calls "Personal Equation", that is, how much a given observation is influenced by innately human factors like visual acuity, overall health, and fatigue. It is an excellent book: just don't expect a lot of colorful graphs and eye candy.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what you think., April 12, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Mississippi) - See all my reviews

This book is very technical and not a basic beginner's guide to backyard astronomy. But, if you want to understand the technical aspects of how a telescope works then it's for you.

3.0 out of 5 stars Dated, but contains lots of hard to find information., August 20, 2001

By	Mark E. Miller (Kalamazoo, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Originally published in 1955, this reprint is of the 3rd (1971) edition. In our era of out-of-the-box Go-to telescopes, these details of the English mounting and aberrations in a doublet lens may seem hopelessly dated. Yet there is lots of information here that is hard to find elsewhere. How much magnification is enough? How much is too much? Elsewhere you can find a rule of thumb; here you can find eight rules compared and evaluated. Sidgwick derives many formulae from the basic physics of light; he gets into the details of how vision works; he gives a more detailed analysis of 'seeing' than any other I've read.

3 stars for the average amateur; 5 for the amateur telescope maker or anyone looking to tinker with equipment.