Customer Reviews

Holographic Night Sky Book & Kit

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I picked up this book ...., thinking it'd make a great present for a child... but then I decided to open it myself and have a look.

The holograms are OK -- not spectacular, but nice enough and would probably impress a child. However, the books are nice for novice stargazers. The books tell a child how to go about readying for an evening looking into the night sky, even mentioning safety issues and common sense things like having permission to go out at night. It explains a bit about the way we see the sky (btw, the book is geared toward North America), why the constellations in the North go around in a circle, yet those toward the South rise and set, where to find interesting things to look at using the naked eye or binoculars, and even what to do when the inevitible occurs, and the little red flashlight that comes with the kit stops working.

Using the book, I found the Orion Nebula and would think that any child of 8 or 10 could do the same. I never would have known that the smudge as it describes it, in that particlar area of the sky was a nebula! And there are other objects to look for which I've yet to do.

There's enough science, myth and history in the booklets to give a good overview of astronomy, particularly about the most famous constellations. Overall, a very nice book, written in plain english, to get a child with an interest moving in the right direction. Add binoculars or a telescope and who knows where your budding scientist might end up!