Comets and How to Observe Them

Comets have inspired wonder, excitement and even fear ever since they were first observed. But they are important members of the solar system, that contain material from early in the life of the system, held in deep-freeze. This makes them key in our understanding of the formation and evolution of many Solar System bodies.

Recent ground- and space-based observations have changed much in our understanding of comets. Comets, and How to Observe Them gives a summary of our current knowledge and describes how amateur astronomers can contribute to the body of scientific knowledge of comets. This book contains many practical  examples of how to construct comet light-curves, measure how fast a comet's coma expands, and determine the rotation period of the nucleus. All these examples are illustrated with drawings and photographs.

Because of their unpredictable nature comets are always interesting and sometime spectacular objects to observe and image. The second part of the book therefore takes the reader through the key observing techniques that can be used with commercially available modern observing equipment, from basic observations to more scientific measurements.

Dr. Richard Willis Schmude, Jr. was born in Washington D.C. and attended public schools in Cabin John, Maryland; Los Angeles, California; and Houston, Texas. He started his college career at North Harris County College and graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry. Later, he obtained a Master of Science degree in Chemistry from, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry. He worked at NALCO Chemical Company as a graduate co-op student and at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a graduate research assistant. Since 1994, Dr. Schmude has taught astronomy, chemistry, and other science classes at Gordon College in Barnesville, Georgia. He is a tenured Professor at this college and continues to teach his students (and others) in these areas. He has published over 100 scientific papers in many different journals, and has given over 500 talks, telescope viewing sessions and workshops to over 20,000 people.