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| View Larger Image | A Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry and Analysis (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series)
by Brian D. Warner
by Alan W. Harris
| | List Price: | $39.95 | | Price: | $32.54 | | You Save: | $7.41 (19%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 577301 | | Studio: | Springer | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 298 | | Publication Date: | February 22, 2006 | | Publisher: | Springer |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
The Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry and Analysis provides those with access to even a modest telescope and a CCD camera the background and detailed steps to take part in important astronomical research. Readers learn about the joint projects in which they can take part, as well as the techniques of gathering, analyzing, and then publishing their data. The primary market for this book is amateur astronomers, but undergraduate students will also find its easy going friendly style ideal for help with their studies in this subject. There is of course more to lightcurve photometry than simply taking pictures. For the results to be of value, the data must be gathered and processed in certain ways so that it is both meaningful and can be used by others for analysis. The book contains enough background material (theory) for the reader to understand – and avoid – the pitfalls in the process. More important, there are detailed examples provided for how to obtain data and, for many, the more exciting and rewarding effort of analyzing the data to determine various properties of the object being studied. Under "choosing the right software," the author looks critically at the commercially-available packages, providing screen shots and useful advice. Amateur astronomers who wants to go beyond mere imaging with a CCD camera will find everything ithat they need in the book to take a step into ‘real’ science. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 4 reviews)
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A Practical Guide to Lightcurve Photometry and Analysis 
This is a useful book, but I find the number of typos in equations and the discussion of the text annoying. I say this after going through Henden and Kaitchuck, Hall and Genet, and Romanishin's textbooks on photometry and I can say I needed these references in addition to this book to get the most benefit from this book. The typos are being addressed by Brian Warner on his website (search minorplanetobserver to reach the site) and here is now an errata available in pdf format. This is to be applauded and will definitely make the book more useful. Kudos to Brian Warner. Springer should take more responsibility for this though since they publish these advanced amateur guides and charge textbook prices for them. Other books in the Springer series suffer from more typos than average and this can only be attributed to lax editorial supervision. Springer should do better.
I like this book a lot, but it is short and as I said the text needs supplementing with other sources. The author admits this and suggests Henden and Kaitchuck. There are references to sources in the text that are not in the index or the endnotes and an update to the index would help the book too.
The number of works aimed at this level though that use CCD's is few so the book fills a valuable niche.
There are worked examples in the appendices and the author shares his practical experience and workflow suggestions in the main text. These are worth the price of the book and make it one of the better guides out now for students and amateurs trying to start photometry. I just wish the book referenced fundamental formulae more and depended less on references to commercial software products. It does assume the user will be using some commercial package which is likely for the intended audience.
June 20, 2008 | |
Excellent publication 
Can highly recommend this book. Has all the needed elements for getting started with photometry. In combination with the MPO software for photometry and telescope/camera control this book is a must.
February 07, 2007 | |
Great Introduction to Photometry
This is a great book for the amateur astronomer who wishes to learn about photometry. It is well within the grasp of undergraduates and motivated high school astronomers. Warner's writing style is engaging and clear. The chapters are a step-by-step trip from an overview of how photometry is used in astronomy to the basics of photometry to publishing your results. Beginning variable star observers will find a wealth of excellent information. Those interested in asteroid lightcurves will find all the essentials. Warner shows how to analyze the data using standard tools such as spreadsheets. But, once you get serious, you should really consider obtaining Warner's Canopus program which is mentioned in the text.
December 04, 2006 | |
quick intro to photometry
The book is all about combining a little optical telescope and a CCD camera to good effect. Plus a personal computer. Warner teaches the basics of photometry, without you needing a university lab. These days, the materials required for the book should be readily affordable to many readers, especially if they are already amateur astronomers.
Key concepts like air mass, and the signal to noise ratio and colour indices are used in a straightforward manner. Which greatly helps you learning these ideas.
The book is a little short, however. The lessons are in the first two thirds. While the last third of the book is various appendices.
August 11, 2006 | |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
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