Astronomy references

I've collected a considerable library of references over the years. Many of them are stored on my phone. The first three below are great places for ideas for projects on any of the sciences.

Science Buddies

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/science-projects#findprojectkits

Aimed toward school kids developing science projects, the many ideas on this website are useful for any explorer of the sciences.

Science Notebook

http://science-notebook.com/index.html

I've mentioned this site before. One cool thing about it is their repository of manuals from old science kits, back when they were not lame.

MIT Opencourseware

https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

All of MIT's course materials including many of the textbooks, lecture notes, lecture videos, and even a few lab guides.

Olcott, William (1907) A Field Book of the Stars (available in various forms at the Gutenberg Project site). 

A nice thing about old do-it-yourself books is that they were printed back when people had to use what they had at hand to do things. You won't find out anything about black holes but there is all kinds of observational information.

NASA Imagine the Universe Dictionary online at https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/resources/dictionary.html useful for figuring out what you're talking about and how to talk about it.

Astronomy Merit Badge Handbook

What do you need to know to prove you know the Stars? Ask the Boy Scouts! You can look at their merit badge guides at https://www.scouting.org/programs/scouts-bsa/advancement-and-awards/merit-badges

Astronomy Wikibook

The Wikipedia offers textbooks on many topics including astronomy at https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page

BEST-NGC.XLS

Astro-Tom provided a list of New General Catalog objects and their observational data at http://www.astro-tom.com/technical_data/files_to_download.htm . It's an Excel spreadsheet so you'll need a spreadsheet app that's compatible with Excel. 

Binocular Astronomy

Tonkin, Stephen (2007) Binocular Astronomy, Springer-Verlag, London. A guide to exactly what I'll be doing in 2020 - low power astronomical observation.

Brightstars.xls

Also from Astro-Tom (see BEST-NGC.XLS above for the link), a list of data for the brightest stars in the sky.

Cambridge Illustrated Dictionary of Astronomy

Mutton, Jacqueline (2007) Cambridge University Press. 

A beautifully Illustrated dictionary of astronomical terms and bodies.

Dictionary of Geophysics, Astrophysics, and Astronomy

Matzner, Richard A. Ed.(2001) CRC Press. Articles by 52 acknowledged experts in the field.

Geometry_of_science.xls (https://www.csun.edu/science/ref/spreadsheets/xls/) among many useful Excel spreadsheets, this one has a section of the intensity of light on the planets.

HERSCH.xls (http://www.astro-tom.com/technical_data/files_to_download.htm) another spreadsheet from Astro-Tom. It's the Herschel 400 listing.

Isaac Asimov's Guide to Earth and Space

Asimov, Isaac (1991) Fawcett Books

A lot of astronomical, physical, and geological information from the master of scientific popularization.

And more spreadsheets from Astro-Tom providing much observational data.

mesr-mas.xls

messier-plus.xls

NEBULA.XLS

next-100.xls

OBSRVTRY.XLS

OCULAR.XLS

planetary_data.xls

planets.XLS

solar_system_calc.xls

STARS.XLS

TELESCOP.XLS

TRAKSAT.XLS

Your New Telescope: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

This is a page by Tom Koonce on the Astro-Tom website (http://www.astro-tom.com/download/presentations/new_telescope.pdf).

Physics - From Stargazers to Starships

Stern, David P.  And Alex A. Zaliznyak (2023) CK-12. 

This CK-12 textbook focuses on the physics of space, written at a beginner's level and in a very readable style. How did astronomy get started and how did it get to where it is today?

Schaum's Outline: Astronomy

Palen, Stacey (2002) Schaum's Outlines: Astronomy. McGraw Hill.

As always, Schaum's Outlines are great study resources, dense with information, examples and problems, worked and unworked.

Taki's 8.5 Magnitude Star Atlas

Toshimi Taki (2006) Can be downloaded from Taki's website with lots of other information here http://www.takitoshimi.shop/

MIT 12.409 Hands-On Astronomy

Among MIT's many other online courses is this beginner's astronomy course. Get it at https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/earth-atmospheric-and-planetary-sciences/12-409-hands-on-astronomy-observing-stars-and-planets-spring-2002/

Star Date Online

https://stardate.org

This website is great for keeping up with what's going on I'm the sky and in astronomy.

A Simple Guide to Backyard Astronomy Using Binoculars or a Small Telescope

Beigel, Carol (2007) available at www.carolrpt.com/astroguide.htm (accessed 10/17/19)

This is a nicely packaged reference for the amateur astronomer.

Night Sky - A Falcon Field Guide

Nigro, Nicholas (2012) Morris Book Publishing. 

All the Falcon Guides are fairly complete, portable, and inexpensive. Not a lot of technical information, but that's why all the other references.

Sky Watching. The Teaching Company

Alex Filippenko (2011)

I highly recommend the lecture series (buy it when it's on sale). It's beautiful and packed with information from someone who knows what they're talking about, but the course guide that comes with the videos should definitely go with you into the field.

A Visual Guide to the Universe

The Teaching Company

David M. Meyer (2014)

A gorgeous guide to the Universe through the lenses of our orbiting telescopes.

Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy

The Teaching Company

Alex Filippenko (2007)

The astronomy course from the teaching company. It's a great start to you career in astronomy.

I'm all about getting out of the house to learn about the world, but the best place to start is in the library...yours or the one down the street. Get a preview before you hit the trail.

Physics references

I've collected a considerable physics reference library over the years. Much of it is portable, either as ebooks or in my Kindle reader. Here's an annotated bibliography. Some items may no longer be available. Many are free downloads, but most of the books are fairly inexpensive and remember that your public library may have any or all of them.

Science Toys

https://scitoys.com/

This website by Simon Quellen Field is an excellent source of projects in several fields of science. They are generally inexpensive and use readily available parts, but some require considerable work and assembly time. They are all well explained.

Science Notebook

http://science-notebook.com/index.html

This website reminds me a lot of the Engineer's notebooks by Forrest Mim's. It's oriented toward children and beginning science explorers - much of the material is very basic, but one of the fascinating things is that they include a library of manuals from old science kits. See how they don't make science kits like they used to.

MIT Opencourseware

https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

You get all the course materials the MIT students get (except the items they have to buy) often including textbooks, lecture notes, and recorded lectures. What you don't get are the credits.

BYU Optics Book

By Justin Peatross and Michael Ware. 

Get the latest edition at https://optics.byu.edu/textbook.aspx

This is the textbook used at Brigham Young University for Optics classes and it delves as far as you might want to go. Expect advanced math.

CK-12 Basic Physics

CK-12 People's Physics Book

CK-12 is an organization that makes quality textbook (kindergarten to high school level) available free. The books can be obtained from dealers like Amazon or in online, interactive format at the CK-12 website: 

https://www.ck12.org/student/

There are also several other CK-12 physics textbooks and other learning materials.

Common Equivalents Weight and Measures (https://www.sccgov.org/sites/weights/Pages/Equivalents.aspx) Santa Clara County provided a nice table of weights and measures. Another option is the Google unit converter. Just type "convert" one unit "to" another unit (for instance "convert inches to centimeters") into your browser search bar.

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics

John Rumble, editor in chief

Published by CRC Press

Now in it's 99th edition, this monster tome is useful as a doorstop or weapon, and it also has every table imaginable that a normal person might want for scientific inquiry. New editions are sorta expensive but older editions can be found, especially in college bookstores or online for less than $20, and it's well worth every penny

Forrest Mims library. Remember the Engineer's Notebook series - those tiny paperback books sold at Radio Shack that were loaded with information for electronics hobbyists back in the 70s and 80s? They are still available here

http://www.forrestmims.org/

And here

http://www.forrestmims.com/

And at Amazon.

Although I will get around to electronics, it's really useful to be able to create your own equipment and these tiny, inexpensive books are just what you need.

FHSST_Physics

Stands for "Free high school science textbook" and it's a Wikibook available here

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FHSST_Physics

Fundamental Optics

Published by CVI Melles Griot, this book is the reference of optical information. Find it at https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~lah/ay105/pdf/Fundamental-Optics.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjl2KeI5OXkAhVNop4KHbJfAzgQFjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw35Hzf9r7zagQEA6PIKMBhn&cshid=1569201831073

Make:The Annotated Build It Yourself Science Laboratory

Raymond Barrett and Windell Oskay (2015) published by Maker Media, Inc.

Way back in the 60s Raymond Barrett produced an amazing book that wowed science enthusiasts by showing them how to build things like carbon arc furnaces and cloud chambers. Now you can get an annotated edition created by Windell Oskay. Double wow!

Mathematical Tools for Physics

James Nearing

Available at https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~lah/ay105/pdf/Fundamental-Optics.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjl2KeI5OXkAhVNop4KHbJfAzgQFjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw35Hzf9r7zagQEA6PIKMBhn&cshid=1569201831073

This is an extensive university level textbook of mathematics for physicists.

Electrical Engineer's Portable Handbook

Robert B. Hickey

2nd edition (2004). McGraw Hill

Just what it said, it's a reference book for electrical engineers.

Mechanical Engineer's Handbook

Myer Kutz, editor

(2006) John Wiley and sons

Another reference tome, this time for mechanical engineers.

Nuclear Science Merit Badge Handbook

What do you need to know to qualify for a Boy Scout merit badge? Well, first, be a boy scout. Next, check out this site:

http://usscouts.org/usscouts/mb/mb137.asp

And, yes, there are requirements for various fields of physics, but they change, so keep up.

pendulum.xls

You might notice that I recommend several spreadsheets. If you have the software to read them they can be a lot of help. Several such phone apps are available. The spreadsheets might or might not be online at this writing so, do a search and, if you don't find the one I reference, there's probably an equivalent one somewhere.

Physics Study Guide (Wikipedia website) The Wikipedia offers this concise and extensive college level physics Study Guide at: 

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Physics_Study_Guide

Physics Wikibooks. They also have a wide range of Wikibooks (free textbooks) here:

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Subject:Physics

Schaum's Basic Electricity: Schaum's Outlines are all good - concise, complete, inexpensive, full of solved and unsolved problems, and written by acknowledged experts. What more could you want. A few more of the many titles in physics are….

Schaum's Easy Outlines: College Physics

Schaum's Electronic Devices and Circuits

Schaum's Outline of Optics

Schaum's Outlines: Thermodynamics for Engineers

Schaum's Outline of Theory and Problems of Basic Circuit Analysis

temperature_scales.xls I have one from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://academic.pgcc.edu/~ssinex/excelets/temperature_scales.xls&ved=2ahUKEwjBrMqu6-nkAhWLup4KHYN-B_0QFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw0ja8Prre4gQB0KuIrW3Xv9&cshid=1569341192825

But similar spreadsheets are all over the Internet.

Turning the World Insideout (1990. Robert Ehrlich. Princeton University Press)

I keep this one with my field guides. The excellent demonstrations are inexpensive, mostly "simple" enough to be portable, and theoretically both deep and well written (understandable). This book is a treasure.

The next two items are user guides for two of my favorite science explorer apps, so see my blog on Physics Tools for more information. Both have great ideas for experiments and demonstrations in all the sciences.

Physics Toolbox Play User's Guide (by APD net and available at www.vieyrasoftware.net )

Getting Started with Google Science Journal. Check out the Google Science Journal website at https://sciencejournal.withgoogle.com/ .

Understanding the Quantum World

The Teaching Company

Erica Carlson

Particle Physics for Nonphysicists

The Teaching Company

Steven Pollock

Physics and Our Universe. 

The Teaching Company

Richard Wolfson

Understanding Modern Electronics

The Teaching Company

Richard Wolfson

And lots more. Frankly, all of the Teaching Company's courses are excellent. They won't get you to the practical level of an engineer, but you'll learn a lot. The presenters are experts in their fields, so the lectures provide very up to date information. Also, the sets are expensive but the Teaching Company places each of them on sale at least once a year so, with some patience, they're quite affordable. And many public libraries carry them.

Check out their website.

https://www.thegreatcourses.com/

Physics can be fascinating and fun as a study or a hobby. Engineering is applied physics so, when you design and build something, you are using your knowledge and skills in physics. Check out the resources in your local library. See what you can find on the Internet. See if physics is for you, and join me next year for adventures in physics.