Night Sky Atlas: The Moon, Planets, Stars and Deep Sky Objects (Paperback)

~ Robin Scagell (Author), Wil Tirion (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Concise introduction to the night sky suitable for the beginning stargazer... The text is clear and easy to read...Recommended. -- M.-K. Hemenway, Choice 12/2005

Review

The sky maps are very nice indeed... A very nice introduction to astronomy for beginners. (Kathleen Weessies E-Streams 200609)

Boasts a wealth of information... excellent array of photographs that facilitate the learning process and bring the book to life. (Beth Lizardo Kliatt )

Combines clear, accurate star maps with reliable and informative text. Sturdy binding makes it suitable for outdoor use. (Astronomical Society of the Pacific - Books of Not )

An ideal portable reference for backyard astronomers. This atlas combines clear, accurate star maps with reliable and informative text. (The Lunar and Planetary Information Bulletin )

Concise introduction to the night sky suitable for the beginning stargazer... The text is clear and easy to read...Recommended. (M.-K. Hemenway Choice )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books; First Printing edition (February 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1554070260
• ISBN-13: 978-1554070268
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #494,377 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good first star atlas, November 23, 2005

By	David Strock (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very nice first atlas. It starts with a introduction section which covers the basics on celstial movement, observation techniques, and a few pages on the planets and the moon (including 4 pages of charts on the moon's four quaters and 4 accompanying pages of descriptions of each). It then has a very nice sky atlas section with the left page showing a black star on white background atlas and the right page showing the same view with white stars on black and all markings removed. This is helpful for getting a good idea of what you'll see, but the stars are artifically enlarged to show magnitude differences so its not exactly what you'll see in the sky.

My one gripe about this atlas comes in the third and final section on individual constelations. Its very well detailed and uses a page or so per constelation with textual descriptions of various objects, a few photographs, and a finder chart. However, the charts are printed with yellow stars on blue background, which washes out quite horribly when used outside under a red light. A white light only fares slightly better. I've found that this section is best used indoors. You can use many available software pacakages to print finder charts that are more exact to what you're looking for and will display better outdoors.

Overall, a very good buy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You NEED this book., September 15, 2005

By	orgusa (Orange, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

I have many Astronomy books, but this is one of my favorites. The atlas is a classic star chart of an area of the sky, and on the next page is a photo of what you can expect to see. No more looking at your star chart, and then looking UP to try to find what you're looking for. It's so cool, and makes finding deep sky objects (or whatever your fancy) much easier. The back of the book also shows each constellation, and has a list of interesting objects in each with pictures that are stunning. Lots of great reference data also. Highly recommended and a GREAT PRICE too !!!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Great sky map book, February 28, 2010

By	Pikkidok - See all my reviews

Affordable simple astronomy atlas for beginners and amateurs.
It has colorful diagrams and the best of all is the sky chart with the corresponding photograph of the sky. The skychart and photo are scaled 1:1 and it gives you a good impression of what to look for. This is great because in the real sky, you don't get lines drawn on the constellations. The real pictures are really good.

Very detailed pictures on the moon surface including where indication on where the moon missions landed.
The descriptions are not as detailed though.

I would not say that this is the ultimate atlas or guide. This was written for hobby astronomers with simple telescopes, but even if you have a 8-12 inch scope, this is still a good sky road map but may be missing some deep sky objects that most of us will never see with low powered scopes.

For the price, I will give it 5 stars