A user-friendly companion for stargazers of all ages, this classic beginner's guide describes all the main sights of the night sky. The newly updated book contains a chapter for each month, describing prominent stars, constellations, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. Readers will discover when to watch meteor showers, when eclipses will occur, and how to follow the movements of the four brightest planets (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn).
Most of the sights are visible to the naked eye, and all can be seen with binoculars or a small telescope. Sections on observing the Moon and the planets include 50 easy-to-use maps that introduce the skies of the Northern Hemisphere and a comprehensive guide to observing the Moon.
"Ian Ridpath and Wil Tirion — two consummate professionals in the field — have teamed up to produce an exemplary text with first-rate illustrations to inspire the beginning sky-gazer. I heartily recommend this text." — Neil English, Astronomy Now
The author Ian Ridpath is an English astronomy writer and broadcaster, who is also the editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy and Norton's Star Atlas.
The illustrator Wil Tirion is a full-time uranographer. He is famous among the amateur astronomy community for the numerous atlases and star charts he has created.
