About This Book
The text presents foundational astronomy for students, combining careful instruction in angular and time measurement with guided observational exercises requiring simple instruments. It explains the apparent motions of stars, the mechanics of planetary orbits, gravitation, and tidal phenomena; treats the earth, moon, and sun with numerical data and physical descriptions including eclipses, sunspots, and lunar topography; and surveys planets, comets, meteors, variable and double stars, clusters, and nebulae. Chapters describe instrumental principles — telescopes, cameras, spectroscopes — and culminate in discussions of stellar and solar-system development, observational techniques, and pictorial star maps and plates for classroom work.