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Dharamnath Sah
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Participant of NAO 2020Updated 1y
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How can you prepare for the National astronomy Olympiad? Which site is best and
which books are recommended?
Originally Answered: How can I prepare for the National astronomy Olympiad? Which
site is best and which books are recommended?
Since being a participant of National Astronomy Olympiad 2020 I guess I can better
explain it.

Relating this question I will consider that you are very amature and beginners and
don't know much.

Here I will be giving you my personal suggestions of some sites and books from
where I learnt and prepared for my Olympiad.

#For Beginners

Astronomy lecture series by Michel van Biezen. His lecture are quite good.
Initial while I was unknown of some terms of Astronomy and basics I watched his
lecture learnt the basics
concept which was quite helpful for me. Michel van Biezen

Astrophysics lecture by Studynova. So I include his lecture here because from here
you will get to know more about
Astrophysics apart from Astronomy. This is also a basics to Astrophysics.
Astrophysics
Here, I would say either watch Studynova lecture or watch Bob Trenwith. This series
of lectures will cover up major
topic is Astrophysics which will be much helpful further to understand Astrophysics
. I will personally recommend to watch Bob Trenwith lecture after attending Michel
van Biezen lecture. Then your
basics will be fully cleared and no need to watch more. Introduction to
Astrophysics
Along with all if you need to strength your orbital mechanics part which is really
important for Olympiad
then I would suggest to go through this playlist because they have described
everything in detail. Orbital Dynamics
Also make notes of it. It will help you further.

#For Major Concept

Do physics and cover as much topics you can. Mainly Mechanics, Optics, Heat &
Thermodynamics, Modern
Physics and Wave Optics. My recommendation will be solve either University physics
or HC Verma.
Read mathematics also because it will help you a lot in data analysis part. Mainly
Conic sections,
Trigonometry, Coordinate geometry and Statistics.
Spherical trigonometry is must to know. Here you will come to know about our
Celestial sphere and Earth.
For this I would recommend to read second chapter of W.M Smart. Link to the book
is here. Spherical
trigonometry by W. M. Smart .pdf
In the parallel to this you can start reading Books recommend for Astronomy and
Astrophysics.
 The world wide best recommend book is Fundamental of Astronomy Springer
publication and Introduction to Modern
Astrophysics rather this books is very depth. So you can choose by your time and
interest. Link to the book is here.
Fundamental Astronomy.pdf An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics
( PDFDrive.com ).pdf
#For Advance problem solving

A problem book in Astronomy and Astrophysics by Aniket sule. This book is extremely
recommended. You must go through this book once. Here they have discussed past
years
question of International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA). Here is
the link to the book A Problem book in Astronomy and Astrophysics
( PDFDrive.com ).pdf
Past paper of IAO, IOAA, Russian open school Astronomy Olympiad or Indian National
Astronomy Olympiad. This is must. If you can't solve the past paper you can't know
what type of questions are being asked in Olympiad. So solving past paper is the
key. Even one of my friend got Bronze medal in IAO just by practicing past paper
and referring books.
#Additional Source

Stellarium software for night sky observations. Stellarium Astronomy Software

Sky chart provided by IAU IAU_constellations_5x7.pdf
Now I guess these are sufficient to crack any National Astronomy Olympiad of any
country. And for International level you need to prepare some extra from this not
more.

Note: These are my recommendation on the topic. I have included what I think is the
best of all and from where I prepared for my National Astronomy Olympiad.

Read any book but be stick on one book and site that will be much helpful for you
in future. There are numerous book available but these are the best recommende
d for National and International level.

Best of luck. Prepare hard and Enjoy reading Astronomy and Astrophysics.