More accessible to the general reader, The Story of the Heavens (1885), Star-Land (1889) and A Popular Guide to the Heavens (1905) are also reissued in this series. Testifying to the knowledge expected of university students in the early twentieth century, Ball's book remains instructive to their modern counterparts. The coverage ranges from the calculation of stellar parallax to the geometrical principles behind the Mercator projection. Each section contains exercises derived from a variety of sources, including contemporary Cambridge examinations. Assuming a good level of geometry and trigonometry, he begins with fundamental formulae before moving into the determination of coordinates, atmospheric refraction, the theory of cartography, and more. In this technical work, first published in 1908 and intended for advanced students, Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840-1913) breaks down the field into distinct areas of study. Spherical or positional astronomy is used primarily to map objects on the celestial sphere. A number of additional exercises help to illustrate the new material.Originally published in 1908, this monograph by Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1840-1913) is a technical introduction to spherical astronomy. Fairly frequent comments added to the text indicate the sometimes modified relevance of the subject matter to modern astronomy. A guiding principle has been to re-establish compatibility with the Astronomical Ephemeris and, to a lesser extent, with the fuller explanations of the Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Ephemeris and the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. The present revision has ensured that the terminology and treatment correspond precisely to current astronomical practice. Most problems in which the precise determination of a heavenly body's position in the sky is important are considered in theoretical detail, and the necessary formulae are derived to a precision that is sufficient for all but the most specialist purposes. The author considers the night sky as the celestial sphere and powerfully exploits the methods of spherical geometry. STUDIES IN SPHERICAL AND PRACTICAL ASTRONOMY Download PDF Studies in Spherical and Practical Astronomy Authored by Comstock, George Cary Released at - Filesize: 2.

Discussions are made on topics such as the celestial sphere and the nature of the reference systems of astronomy the geometric aspects of the celestial sphere in relation to geographic position systems of time measurement based on the rotation of the earth and the inertial. Originally based on the author's lecture courses at Cambridge University, it is intended primarily for undergraduates, but, due to its comprehensive nature, it is a very useful reference text for research workers in many branches of astronomy and space physics. The text focuses on the principles of spherical astronomy and the theory of fundamental astronomical observations. This well-established textbook gives a general but comprehensive introduction to positional astronomy.

Spherical astronomy pdf