Customer Reviews

40 Nights to Knowing the Sky: A Night-by-Night Sky-Watching Primer

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

 

 

I've always been interested in the night sky, and after reading a number of magazine articles, I thought it was time to learn more about the stars and galaxies above.

"40 Nights to Knowing the Sky" will help any adult learn more about the night sky and how to prepare for that first look through a telescope.

Each chapter is well written and easy to understand. The book has a lot of reference material, including pictures and drawings, to use well into the next century.

If you're beginning a hobby in amateur astronomy, this book will be a great addition to your library.

This is an excellent resource for the beginner. A series of 40 exercises designed for the observational astronomer... night-by-night (thus knowing the sky in 40 nights.) Mr. Schaaf expalins the moon's phases towards the beginning of the book with an excellent explanation of the Earth's movements in relation to the sun and the moon's orbit around earth. He tells you exactly what to look for and, more importantly, why you want to look for certain features/objects (the lesssons build upon one another.)

It's important to point out that you don't need a telescope to complete the lessons, but I still would recommend using one... it will enhance your experience and appreciation.

This is an excellent "primer" book for beginning astronomers, or anyone interested in the night sky. It begins with very general concepts and builds on them each succesive night. Even if you have no knowledge of astronomy, after completing this book, you'll be able to understand the motions of the planets and stars. As well as where to locate fabulous sights to see when outdoors any night.

Clearly written, but definitely for complete beginners. At times oversimplified, but a good starting point. The "forty nights" can really be accomplished much, much faster.

Well organized, from-the-basics primer BUT I just gave myself a big headache trying to work through an apparent absurdity in the planetary motion chapter (night 10) only to find that the p47 comment that "all the superior planets' synodic periods [save Mars] are somewhere between 11 months and one year" is plain wrong - in fact the appendix shows this, the sentence should have read "between 12 and 13 months". It's difficult enough trying to conceptualize this without this kind of basic editorial slip-up. Hope there aren't too many more howlers.