Customer Reviews

Astronomical Calendar 2009

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have purchased the last two annual Astronomical Calendar's written by Guy Ottewell, and will continue to purchase this wonderful work complete with the monthly sky charts and a wealth of information for anyone interested in viewing the night skies. It is extremely well written with graphic illustrations showing relative sizes of all of the planets, a calendar for all of the annual meteor showers, comets, asteroids and many other bits and pieces of technical information about our universe. I look forward to receiving my 2010 calendar.

John

Buyer beware: please do not be fooled by the title. This is NOT a calendar, but rather a very thorough (82-page) astronomical almanac. This is arguably the best astronomical resource an amateur astronomer can buy.

This power-packed almanac has almost everything an amateur astronomer could want:

(a) Monthly sky maps with recommended "telescopic" tour objects;

(b) Monthly observer highlights with date/times of significant astronomical events;

(c) Monthly east and/or west horizon & sky highlights charts for each month showing ecliptic and path/location of the evening and/or morning planets, sun & moon with significant conjunctions for the month;

(d) Detailed "strip-charts" of astronomical twilight, hours of "dark sky" and "moonlight" (which could interfere with dark sky observation);

(e) Detailed chapters re: lunar & solar eclipses;

(f) Corkscrew charts of the major Jovian and Saturian moons for each day of the year;

(g) Finder charts for Uranus, Neptune and Pluto;

(h) Meteor Showers (major & minor) with burst/outburst predictions (dates/times);

(i) Asteroids incl. finder charts for the big 5;

(j) Comets with brightness predictions and detailed finder charts;

(k) Occultations incl. binocular & telescope events;

(l) And even general information re: measuring light pollution, magnitude, significant spaceflight information, and a small section on selected deep-sky profiles.

And I haven't even mentioned it contains one of the best astronomical glossaries of any astronomy book on my bookshelf.

Admittedly, this almanac looks intimidating to beginner's. But the author has an excellent explanation of how to use this publication - and interpreting the data quickly becomes a snap.

The only publication out there that comes close to this is the annual RASC Handbook. But mano y mano, this publication packs a greater wallop by giving more information, more detail and definitely more value considering the price of each.

This book is published annually in October of each year. I ordered mine in advance and had it delivered in plenty of time (prior to 1 November) so I could start my annual planning in advance.

This publication is a must for serious amateurs who own telescopes. But given the detailed information re: the moon, eclipses and sky highlights (and the great glossary), even observers without a telescope will benefit.

Bottom-line: if you find that you want or need more detail than the online astronomy magazine sites provide, or you want information you normally fnd from multiple Internet sites, or you wish to plan observations for later in the year - definitely consider buying this publication! But remember, this is not a wall calendar but rather a detailed astronimical almanac - on steroids!

My Dad requests this calendar every year. It is well worth the expense. He refers to it often throughout the year. This year we were especially happy with the cover which depicts Navajo constellations. As Dad is an amateur expert on Indian Lore, this was of special interest to him.

I love this calendar. I get it every year. I have for nearly 20 years now. Some of the information is repeated every year. But that is the nature of calendars and astronomy in general. But enough new stuff is in every calendar to make getting a new issue worth it. It well written and informative.

I really enjoy the past versions of this publication but...I ordered the 2006 and still did not receive it after 3 months. This version has the pages 25-32 replaced with the pages 17 - 24. The quality control/project management needs improvement.