Product Description
Computers and the Internet can be tremendous resources for the amateur astronomer, whose explorations can and do yield significant new discoveries. In this book, a professional and an amateur astronomer team up to review the most useful astronomical software and explain how to use it to plan observing sessions, track asteroids and comets, determine the phase and location of the moon, figure out the locations of galaxies, and more. They also discuss educational Web sites and image collections, astronomy-related newsgroups and mailing lists, and ways to use the Internet to control remote-access, high-powered telescopes to conduct more in-depth research.Amazon.com Review
Astronomers were among the first scientists to whole-heartedlyembrace the computer and the Internet. Not surprisingly, the quantityof astronomy software and Web sites out there can now only be called"astronomical." Astronomer Jeff Foust and writer Ron Lafon have teamedup to sort through the chaff and give you the wheat. TheAstronomer's Computer Companion isn't just a book, it's time: thetime you could have wasted looking for software, images, animations,and data. With this book you can cut straight to the chase, and useyour time to work--or play.

The CD-ROM includes a complete e-copyof the book with clickable links, so you can read and surfsimultaneously. The collections on the CD are superb, with 132shareware programs for the PC, 29 for the MAC, 148 images, and 38animations.The authors' Web site will have updates for the links, sothe book won't be outdated as quickly as most Web guides.The book'stext is clear and basic enough for high-school students, but it is notsimple-minded: even professional astronomers can benefit from theauthors' thorough research to track down databases, references, andthose all-important screen savers. --Mary Ellen Curtin ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I wanted to like this book
I wanted to like this book but in the end I have to wonder what the purpose of buying a book whose contents can be found in 10 minutes searching the internet. This book was perhaps of some value 5 years ago. I expected that this book would be more than a description ofwebsites and programs and contain some 'how-to' information. Pages 293 through 482 were used to describe what was on the cd.

There are better astronomy books out there and the software and website descriptions properly belong on the internet.

Excellent resource guide for Astronomers
I expected a large portion of the book to be on scope control and image acquisition. In reality only the last chapter is on that topic and the majority of the book is on astronomy through the web and through custom software. As such this is an excellent field guide to desktop astronomy.

Organized like a trip through the solar system and into the universe the book contains multitudes of links and references to points around the web and custom software. The illustrations are primarily screenshots of the software.

Given the content on the book I think more attention could have been paid to organization. The embedding of hundreds of URLs makes the text hard to read. However, that doesn't negate the fact that there a lot of research has gone into making this a comprehensive guide to what is available for computer astronomy.

Well worth the look for the look for the amateur astronomer or particularly for teachers looking to find online resources for their courses.

The Computer Companion is Aging Well...
To be honest, I really didn't WANT to write a good review of this book. In my experience a book that does anything to overview the WWW does itself and its readers a disservice since reality will make it quickly out of date.

Surprisingly, the "Astronomer's Computer Companion," written in late 1999, is actually aging well.A good majority of the web sites it references still do exist and are helpful. Jeff & Ron's writing style is easy to understand and also easy on the mind without crossing the line into outright fluff.

This book is most useful for the armchair astronomer who has good access to a computer and the internet and who doesn't want to waste a lot of time aimlessly going through search engines. Jeff & Ron have done the work for you and again, surprisingly, the work still stands up well even in the face of a very quickly changing field.

They did a very credible job with a rather difficult environment to work with.

a must for any student of astronomy
For anybody with an interest in astronomy, and owns a pc or mac, this book is a must have.At first, I thought it would be rather "dry" reading. But, I soon found it to be written in very easly understoodlanguage that even a laymen like myself could understand and enjoy.It hasa wealth of info. on web addresses on almost any aspect of astronomy; I wasamazed at how many there are! And, it has lots of pictures of stars andgalaxies, which I personally like.

It's About Time!
It's about time this book was published. There are so many really neat things an amateur astronomer can do with his computer. This book finally explains what and how a desktop computer is an astronomer's best friend.The included CD has some great programs and the book is a wealth of URLsand WEB addresses for all sorts of things astronomical. If you're intoastronomy and have a destktop (Windows or Apple) get this book! ... Read more

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Most people are familiar with NASA and the Soviet and then Russian space programs, but how many people have heard of the Austrian Space Agency? Space Ireland? SUPARCO of Pakistan? Space exploration and space-related scientific applications, far from being the province of the superpowers, are a worldwide effort and are developing in some seemingly unlikely places. Forty-two countries or groups of countries, besides the United States, have or have had active space programs.

This near-comprehensive (American agencies, well documented elsewhere, are omitted) history of the worlds space programs is full of detailed information. The heavily illustrated chapters, arranged alphabetically, describe each country's facilities; launch vehicles, rockets and satellites; major areas of research; and more. ... Read more

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The Mercury Seven: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Alan Shephard, Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton.

The Gemini Crew: Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, James McDivitt, Elliott See, Jr.

Two of these men will give their lives to the program. One will be grounded. One will become the oldest human to venture into space. One will bring a crippled spacecraft and its crew safely home. One will be the first American in space. And one will be the first man to set foot on the moon.

Read more about America's firest exciting foray into the new frontier.

Our internet guides list names, URL addresses and clear descriptions of the best sites on a topic. We only list the best-designed, most easily navigated and understood sites that offer unique or exclusive information. The text in the guide is set in a large font for easy reading and copying into any web browser. ... Read more