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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| The Naked-Eye Sky | |
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| Finding Your Way in the Sky | |
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| Using a Star Map to Read the Sky | |
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| Locating the Constellations and Bright Stars of the Circumpolar Sky | |
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| Locating the Constellations and Bright Stars of Spring | |
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| Locating the Constellations and Bright Stars of Summer | |
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| Locating the Constellations and Bright Stars of Autumn | |
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| Locating the Constellations and Bright Stars of Winter | |
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| Which Stars Can I See Tonight?: Building Your Own Planisphere | |
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| Star Brightness I: How Bright Is That Star? | |
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| Star Brightness II: Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover | |
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| Telling Time by the Stars | |
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| Where Am I?: Using an Astrolabe to Find Your Latitude | |
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| "It Was This Big!": Measuring Sizes in the Sky | |
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| Spotting Artificial Satellites | |
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| How Dark Is Your Backyard?: Understanding Light Pollution | |
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| The Moon | |
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| "Jack and Jill" and the Moon's Phases | |
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| Oceans on the Moon?: Looking for Lunar "Seas" | |
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| Potholes on the Moon?: Looking for Lunar Craters | |
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| Where Did the Astronauts Land on the Moon? | |
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| Observing the Odd Lunar Crescents of Summer and Winter | |
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| Observing Lunar Eclipses | |
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| The Sun | |
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| How Not to Look at the Sun | |
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| Estimating the Sun's Period of Rotation | |
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| Electricity in the Sky: The Northern Lights | |
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| Making a Sundial | |
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| Figure Eight in the Sky: Making an Analemma | |
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| Chasing Solar Eclipses | |
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| The Solar System | |
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| Hide and Seek: Finding Elusive Mercury | |
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| Following the Phases of Venus | |
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| The "Dizzy" Planet: Following the Backward Motion of Mars | |
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| Jupiter: A Dynamic Planet | |
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| Jupiter's Family of Satellites | |
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| Ring around the Planet: Observing Saturn | |
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| Weighing Yourself on Other Planets | |
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| Looking for Meteors, Meteor Showers, and Fireballs | |
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| Looking for Micrometeorites | |
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| Dirty Snowballs?: Observing Comets | |
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| What Are the Planetary Paths?: Making Ellipses | |
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| Building a Pocket Solar System | |
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| Deep Space | |
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| Seeing Double: Observing Double Stars | |
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| Families of Stars: Observing Star Clusters | |
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| Clouds in Space: Observing Nebulae | |
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| Distant Islands of Stars: Observing Galaxies | |
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| Telescopes and Photography | |
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| Fun with Optics | |
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| A Telescope and Binocular Primer | |
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| Building Your Own Reflecting Telescope | |
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| Discovering Roy G. BIV: Building Your Own Spectroscope | |
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| Understanding Your Camera: The World of Astrophotography | |
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| Showing That Earth Spins: Making Photographic Star Trails | |
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| Building a Camera-Tracking Platform | |
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| Shoot the Moon | |
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| Appendices | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Resource List and Dealers of Astronomy Equipment | |
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| Lunar Phase Dates (2000-2010) | |
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| Planet Positions (2000-2010) | |
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| Seasonal Star Atlas | |
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| Astronomy Web Sites | |
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| Index | |
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| About the Authors | |