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The field of astrometry, the precise measurement of the positions, distances and motions of astronomical objects, has been revolutionized in recent years. As we enter the high-precision era, it will play an increasingly important role in all areas of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. This edited text starts by looking at the opportunities and challenges facing astrometry in the twenty-first century, from space and ground. The new formalisms of relativity required to take advantage of micro-arcsecond astrometry are then discussed, before the reader is guided through the basic methods required to transform our observations from detected photons to the celestial sphere. The final section of the text shows how a variety of astronomical problems can be solved using astrometric methods. Bringing together work from a broad range of experts in the field, this is the most complete textbook on observational astrometry and is ideal for graduate students and researchers alike.

The Hipparcos satellite, developed and launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1989, was the first space mission dedicated to astrometry - the accurate measurement of positions, distances, and proper motions of stars. Amongst the key achievements of its measurements are refining the cosmic distance scale, characterising the large-scale kinematic motions in the Solar neighbourhood, providing precise luminosities for stellar modelling, and confirming Einstein's prediction of the effect of gravity on starlight. This authoritative account of the Hipparcos contributions over the following decade is an outstanding reference for astronomers, astrophysicists and cosmologists. It reviews the applications of the data in different areas, describing the subject and the state-of-the-art before Hipparcos, and summarising all major contributions to the topic made by Hipparcos. It contains a detailed overview of the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues, their annexes and their updates. Each chapter ends with comprehensive references to relevant literature.

Completely updated, this second edition gives a broad review of astronomical photometry to provide an understanding of astrophysics from a data-based perspective. It explains the underlying principles of the instruments used, and the applications and inferences derived from measurements. Each chapter has been fully revised to account for the latest developments, including the use of CCDs. Highly illustrated, this book provides an overview and historical background of the subject before reviewing the main themes within astronomical photometry. The central chapters focus on the practical design of the instruments and methodology used. The book concludes by discussing specialised topics in stellar astronomy, concentrating on the information derived from the analysis of the light curves of variable stars and close binary systems. It includes numerous bibliographic notes and a glossary of terms. It is ideal for graduate students, academic researchers and advanced amateurs interested in practical and observational astronomy.

Astrometry encompasses all that is necessary to provide the positions and motions of celestial bodies. This includes observational techniques, instrumentation, processing and analysis of observational data, reference systems and frames, and the resulting astronomical phenomena. Astrometry is fundamental to all other fields of astronomy, from the pointing of telescopes, to navigation and guidance systems, to distance and motion determinations for astrophysics. In the last few decades, new observational techniques have enabled improvements in accuracy by orders of magnitude. Starting from basic principles, this book provides the fundamentals for this new astrometry at milli- and micro-arcsecond accuracies. Topics include: basics of general relativity; co-ordinate systems; vectors, tensors, quaternions, and observational uncertainties; determination and use of the celestial and terrestrial reference systems and frames; applications of new observational techniques; present and future star catalogues and double star astrometry. This comprehensive reference will be invaluable for graduate students and research astronomers.