E-Books →Exercises in Astronomy

Students get a deeper understanding of a subject by a concentrated involvement in it. "One learns astronomy best by doing it" or "Learning astronomy by getting one's fingers dirty" - such was the philosophy of astronomy learning of Professor Minnaert. He contributed much to astronomy teaching. The first edition of his book "Practical Work in Elementary Astronomy" (published by D. Reidel 1969) emphasized classical astronomy and was intended for students of physics following their first course of astronomy. The book was much favoured by students and teachers of physics and astronomy in many countries. It has been long out of print and a new edition was often asked for.
Professor M. G. J. MINNAERT was a renowned scientist, eminent teacher and a great personality. To prepare a new edition of his Exercises was not an easy task for me. Therefore I asked my friends for advice and help.
My thanks are due to those colleagues whose exercises are included in this new edition. I apologize to all those whose contributions are not included. It was with great regret and hesitation when I laid aside their original and often excellent exercises.
The variety of subjects treated in the added exercises and the multiformity of astronomy teaching are a new and useful feature of this edition. We strived to represent in our exercises all three phases of research in astronomy, i.e. collection of data (by observation, measurement or from literature), data reduction (by machines and computation) and data interpretation (models, theory). The exercises will help the students to acquire skill in these three activities and the concepts introduced in textbooks and in lectures become clear, tangible and real.
The variety of subjects treated in the addeMany astronomical exercises are scattered in various journals (American Journal of Physics, Mercury, Physics Teacher, Sky and Telescope et al.). Among books on practical training in astronomy let us mention: "Astronomie - methodes et calculs" by A. ACKER and C. JASCHEK (Masson 1981), "Selected Exercises in Galactic Astronomy" by I. ATANASIJEVIC (Reidel 1971), "Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator" by P. DUFFETT-SMITH (Cambridge University Press 1979 and 1981) which was translated into Russian as "Prakticheskaya Astronomija s Kalkuljatorom" (Mir, Moscow 1982), "Prakticheskye Raboty po Zvezdnoj Astronomii" by P. G. KULIKOVSKIJ et at. (N auka, Moscow 1971), "Teacher's Guide for Contemporary Astronomy" by JAY M. PASACHOFF (Sounders College Publishing, New York 1981), "A Workbook for Astronomy" by J. WAXMAN (Cambridge University Press 1984), "Spetspraktikum po Astrofizike" by A. V. ZASOV et al. (Moskovskij univerzitet 1983), "Astronomische Obungsaufgaben" by O. ZIMMERMANN (Bibliographischesd exercises and the multiformity of astronomy teaching are a new and useful feature of this edition. We strived to represent in our exercises all three phases of research in astronomy, i.e. collection of data (by observation, measurement or from literature), data reduction (by machines and computation) and data interpretation (models, theory). The exercises will help the students to acquire skill in these three activities and the concepts introduced in textbooks and in lectures become clear, tangible and real.Institut Mannheim 1966). A complete and up-to-date list of bibliographical references to astronomical exercises from all over the world is published half-yearly in "Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts" (Springer Verlag, Berlin), in which section 014 is devoted to "Teaching in Astronomy".
Minnaert's exercises have been reprinted by a large part without changes. One important aspect of theirs was in learning how to use libraries. They were taught at Utrecht University and References therefore refer to the University Library. The user of this edition will, however, have no difficulty in finding textbooks, monographs, journals, catalogues, ephemerides, atlases and other information sources published in recent years. Any modern University Library will help you. Another point should be mentioned with regard to Minnaerfs exercises: today, every student has a pocket calculator which can be used as an alternative for a slide rule or logarithmic tables. Minnaert's exercises are marked by the same symbol as in the first edition, i.e. by a capital letter (A or B) with a number.