Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites (The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series) - Softcover

Norton, O. Richard; Chitwood, Lawrence

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1848001568 ISBN 13: 9781848001565

Publisher: Springer, 2008

Synopsis

This unique book is both an illustrated field guide to observing meteors and also a field guide to locating, preparing and analysing meteorites. It provides everything the amateur astronomer (or geologist!) needs to know about meteors and meteorites.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Imagine the unique experience of being the very first person to hold a newly-found meteorite in your hand – a rock from space, older than Earth!

"Weekend meteorite hunting" with magnets and metal detectors is becoming ever more popular as a pastime, but of course you can’t just walk around and pick up meteorites in the same way that you can pick up seashells on the beach. Those fragments that survived the intense heat of re-entry tend to disguise themselves as natural rocks over time, and it takes a trained eye – along with the information in this book – to recognize them.

Just as amateur astronomers are familiar with the telescopes and accessories needed to study a celestial object, amateur meteoriticists have to use equipment ranging from simple hand lenses to microscopes to study a specimen, to identify its type and origins.

Equipment and techniques are covered in detail here of course, along with a complete and fully illustratedguide to what you might find and where you might find it. In fact, the Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites contains pretty much everything an amateur astronomer – or geologist – needs to know about meteors and meteorites.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1848001568
• ISBN 13: 9781848001565
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 302