Customer Reviews

Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars

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If you are looking for a beginner book with a goal of recognizing the constellations, there are better choices (consider "The Stars, a new way to see them" by HA Ray). Moore's comprehensive description of each star in a constellation tends to drag, and details go well beyond the beginner level. A lot of the data will repeat what should be contained in a good star atlas. On the other hand I liked his viewing perspective, mostly aimed from northern latitudes ca 50 deg. I liked his easy literary style, and he does have an enviable lifetime of experience. He uses D-shaped star maps, that work well for stars near the horizon, but these maps aren't so good for stars overhead. Some of the introductory chapters are simple overviews of astronomy facts that are better covered in my university textbooks. Ultimately the superficial details aren't useful once you are beyond that beginner stage. I could still see holding onto a copy of this, or it's cousin "Stargazing", if only as a supplementary reference to a star atlas. However, for it's stated description as a beginner's guide to the sky, it falls short.

Its one of the well written books I've come across about scanning the night skies through binoculars. If you simply want to point your binoculars anywhere in the sky after consulting a map, this book will not likely appeal too much.

The first chapter takes us through the big dipper and sets a good foundation for understanding the movement of stars during night and during the year (every star sets 4 minutes earlier than the previous night; orientation of big dipper around the year; how to measure angular distances using anchor points; characteristics of stars and Hertzsprung-Russell sequence etc.) All in the first chapter, and really a good amount of information presented briefly to give any intelligent reader the tools necessary for finding his/her way across the sky.

The author's advice on choice of binocular ignores the age-related change in size of the human pupil, so that a 7x50 binocular is probably more binocular than an over-fifty star-gazer can use. This issue is covered well in "Astronomy Hacks" by Robert Thompson.

A lot of the information is given in metric system. Pricing information is given in the British Pound. Much of the information given is very good and the advise he gives is sound in regards to binocular size. There are many instances when the subject mater drags and I found myself drifting off or jumping ahead.