Customer Reviews

Exploring the Moon Through Binoculars and Small Telescopes (Dover Books on Astronomy)

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

 

 

I bought this book and I did not know it was written in 1964. Even though it has been revised in 1984, the lay-out is not what you would expect from books nowadays. Nevertheless, the content is good. There are lots of photos shot from divers probes sent around the moon and the author guides your journey extensively on the moon day by day, describing craters, seas, swamps and moutain ranges. I find this book an ideal complement to the "Atlas of the Moon" by A. Ruckle which still remains the reference in terms of selenial cartography. You can go through the text of this book and follow up on maps from Ruckle's book or even beter with your telescope.

I bought this book looking for a map of the Moon to help me locate the 100 items that are listed by the Astronomical League in their observing club 'Lunar Observers'.

I found it to be very useful for completing that task, but it was much more than a simple set of maps. Every night in the lunar cycle is described in detail as to what you can see in relation to the other items. I spent the first two weeks using the daily chapters to find 97 of the items listed and ended up seeing a good deal more that was not on my list either.

This is really a good system for learning your way around the Moon, and the author talks about the scientific significance of a number of items and how they relate to our understanding of how the Moon formed.

This book was written in the early 1960s (shortly before men walked on the Moon) and there is a real excitement about the discoveries being made at the time. I thought the chapter on the Ranger Moon probes was a real plus, and it was fun to re-live this golden days of Lunar exploration and get caught up again in the excitement of that heady time.

I loved this book the very first time I used it. It has a chapter for each day of the moon: 1-28. I observed the moon on day 8 and with this book spent several enjoyable hours. Without a map (get a good one) and a book like Cherrington's looking at the moon is a five minute experience. It still amazes me how much I can see when I have a guide that tells me what to see and what I'm seeing.

I am a dedicated lunar observer for the past three years. I am moving from merely observing to photographing and sketching. Not too long ago I moved up from a 4.5" reflector to a 5" f/9 refractor, though I still use the marginal mount from my 4.5" reflector right now. I hope to one day publish a lunar atlas. Anyhow, this book while old is one of the best, just for the gazetteer it is worth the price. The writing is easy to understand, even for the layperson.

This detailed day by day description of the moon will keep you busy observing for hours. The book lacks a photograph or map to correspond to each day so I found it difficult to find what was being described until I purchased Sky and Telescope's Field Map of the Moon. Together this is a great combination and saves me from having to page between the text and photos.

Those just starting out or looking for something lighter should consider Discover the Moon by Jean Lacroux. While not as detailed as the above it does offer day bay day photos (oriented for both refractor and reflectors) of each phase as well as close ups of interesting formations.