My favorite book I always take observing is the "Universe from Your Backyard" by David Eicher and Kalmbach Publishing. This book is a collection of the monthly constellation highlights from Astronomy magazine. It covered 46 of the most interesting constellations with descriptions, sketches and photos of many deep sky objects. My only complaint with this book is the star charts. I usually need to refer to an atlas for finding faint objects. Unfortunately, this book is currently out of print. If you can find a copy, buy it. -----Original Message----- From: Richard Tenney [mailto:retenney@yahoo.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 2002 1:02 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Astronomy books and software Kathleen, One book that is a MUST for beginners learning the constellations is H.A. Rey's (of "Curious George" fame) "The Stars - A New Way To See Them", still in print after several decades. This book is one of my very favorites, and I've also heard Dave Bearnson (sp?) second that sentiment. It also appeals to a very wide range of ages, beginning with kids about 10 years old and up through adults. The big strength of this book is how he redraws the lines to make the various constellations make sense, allowing you to remember the shapes in the sky. I also second Chuck's endorsement of Scotty Houston's many years at S&T - I have his compilation (put together by Stephen James O'Meara) "Deep Sky Wonders"; it makes excellent bedtime reading! Burnhams is also a wonderful reference loaded with useful and interesting information. For picture books I haven't seen a better collecton of stunningly beautiful deep-sky photographs than the aptly named volume by Ken Croswell titled "Magnificent Universe". If you only buy one "coffee table" book to impress your friends and fully appreciate what those faint fuzzies truly look like, this is it. My 2 cents, Rich --- Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com> wrote:
Kathleen, I second Patricks endorsement of the Edmund material. Is it still in print? There is also quite a bit of fundamental astronomy, along with atm projects, in "All About Telescopes" by Sam Brown, another old Edmund publication.
A planisphere is almost mandatory, and handy as heck. I have several stashed in various places, should the need arise. There are a couple of mini-planispheres available now that allow one to hide in the glove compartment, alongside those 10x25 mini binos and my insurance card & registration.
For familiarization on a more detailed level, I have always liked Burnham's Celestial Handbook, in three volumes. I still carry my beat-up hardbacked set with me to the eyepiece.
My primary atlas until 1996 was the 50-year-old-coordinates Skalnate Pleso (Rocky Lake Observatory), which I laminated in about 1977. I think I bought it from Patrick at the planetarium. Still my public star-party atlas.
Now I like Sky Atlas 2000 and Uranometria 2000. Saving my bucks for the Millenium Atlas.
But probably THE single most motivating and instructional material for me as a novice was Walter Scott Houston's monthly column in Sky & Telescope: Deep Sky Wonders. Selected material from the column have been reprinted in book form, available from Sky Publishing.
Chuck
--- "Warner, Kathleen" <kwarner@acs.utah.edu> wrote:
Hello all:
I'm also interested in hearing your thoughts on any books and/or software you have found useful in helping you to become more familiar with the night sky. If there are also some websites you have used to do this, I'd like to hear about those too.
Thanks all, Kathleen Warner
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