Table of Contents

List of illustrations; List of tables; Preface; 1. Seeing through the fog; 2. Optical telescopes; 3. Optical detectors and instruments; 4. Radio telescopes and techniques; 5. Observing at other wavelengths; 6. Interlude - pictures of the sky; 7. Coordinates and time; 8. Magnitude systems and stellar spectra; 9. Properties of stars; 10. Stellar structure and evolution; 11. Properties of galaxies; 12. Our galaxy; 13. The distribution of galaxies; 14. The distance scale of the universe; 15. The universe; 16. Postlude; Index.