The perfect starter astronomy guide to night viewing. 101 Objects to See in the Night Sky is a fun and practical guide to identifying and observing 101 of the most fascinating and exciting sights in the northern night sky. Designed for newcomers to astronomy, the book explains what can be seen using the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. In the book, professional astronomer Robin Scagell shows the novice astronomer where to look in the sky to see a particular object, or group of objects or sights. They may be a planet, its rings or satellites, a series of lunar craters, a constellation, asteroids, meteors, a nebula, galaxy or star cluster, for example. He describes the object in detail and gives observing tips to improve viewing skills. Informative "Where to find it" instructions and "What you'll see" explanations for each object give night sky viewers an extra hand. A concise "fact file" is provided for each object, and readers can award themselves "points" for their skill in finding the object, with higher scores given for spotting the night sky's more elusive or hard-to-see features. The book is organized by season -- winter, spring, summer, fall -- with an opening section on "things you need to know," such as marker objects (for example, Sirius, the brightest star in winter's night sky) and how to use them to search beyond. It also covers such topics as asteroids and dwarf planets, noctilucent clouds, northern lights, the International Space Station, sunspots, eclipses and much more. 101 Objects to See in the Night Sky is an ideal guide for astronomy novices and classrooms.

A practical guide to viewing the universe.

Learn everything you need to know about Albert Einstein, the genius who created the Theory of Relativity and calculated mass-energy equivalence. 101 Things You Didn’t Know About Einstein provides in-depth, fascinating facts about the famous scientist and mathematician—including details about his personal life, scientific discoveries, interactions with his contemporaries, thoughts on war, religion, and politics, and his impact on the world since his death. Whether you’re seeking inspiration, information, or interesting and entertaining trivia, this book contains everything you need to know about Albert Einstein!

Tracing unexplored connections between nineteenth-century astronomy and literature, The Starry Sky Within offers a new understanding of literary point of view as essentially multiple, mobile, and comparative. Nineteenth-century astronomy revealed a cosmos of celestial systems in constant motion. Stars, comets, planets, and moons coursed through space in complex and changing relation. As the skies were in motion, so too was the human subject. Astronomers showed that human beings never perceive the world from a stable position. The mobility of our bodies in space and the very structure of stereoscopic vision mean that point of view is neither singular nor stable. We always see the world as an amalgam of fractured perspectives. In this innovative study, Henchman shows that the reconceptualization of the skies gave poets and novelists new spaces in which to indulge their longing to escape the limitations of individual perspective. She links astronomy and optics to the form of the multiplot novel, with its many centers of consciousness, complex systems of relation, and criss-crossing points of view. Accounts of a world and a subject both in relative motion shaped the form of grand-scale narratives such as Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Bleak House, and Daniel Deronda. De Quincey, Tennyson, and Eliot befriended leading astronomers and visited observatories, while Hardy learned about astronomy from the vast popular literature of the day. These writers use cosmic distances to dislodge their readers from the earth, setting human perception against views from high above and then telescoping back to earth again. What results is a new perception of the mobility of point of view in both literature and science.

While there are guides to the visible sky, this is the first book to encompass the most important stars known in the universe at a level accessible to the layperson. The noted astronomer James Kaler takes us on a tour of the 100 most interesting stars, describing their characteristics and importance in words and vivid pictures. James B. Kaler is an internationally recognized expert on stars and their formation. A professor of astronomy at the University of Illinois, he is the author of "Stars and Their Spectra" (Cambridge), "Stars" (Freeman/Scientific American Library), "Cosmic Clouds" (Freeman/Scientific American Library), and numerous articles for popular and professional astronomy magazines.

Discover the amazing wonders of the night sky with this expanded edition to 100 Things to See in the Night Sky, perfect for every amateur stargazer and armchair astronomer! Keep your feet on the ground and experience the night sky to the fullest by exploring planets, satellites, and constellations with this all-inclusive reference guide to space. 100 Things to See in the Night Sky, Expanded Edition is full of information on the many amazing things you can see with a telescope, or just your naked eye! From shooting stars to constellations and planets to satellites, this book gives you a clear picture of what you can see on any given night. Learn about the celestial bodies that have captured people’s imaginations for centuries, with specific facts alongside traditional myths and beautifully illustrated photographs and star charts that will help you know where to look for the best view. With this illuminating guide, you’ll enjoy hours of stargazing, whether you’re travelling, camping, sitting in your back yard, or simply flipping through the beautiful images in this book.

Invaluable for both beginners and advanced observers, Philip's Planisphere (Latitude 51.5 North) is a practical hour-by-hour tracker of the stars and constellations, designed for use anywhere in Britain and Ireland, Northern Europe, Northern USA and Canada. Turn the oval panel to the required date and time to reveal the whole sky visible from your location.The map, by the well-known celestial cartographer Wil Tirion, shows stars down to magnitude 5, plus several deep-sky objects, such as the Pleiades, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Orion Nebula (M42). Because the planets move round the Sun, their positions in the sky are constantly changing and they cannot be marked permanently on the map; however, the back of the planisphere has tables giving the positions of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn for every month until 2020.The planisphere is supplied in a full-colour wallet that contains illustrated step-by-step instructions for how to use the planisphere, how to locate planets, and how to work out the time of sunrise or sunset for any day of the year. It explains all the details that can be seen on the map - the magnitudes of stars, the ecliptic and the celestial coordinates. In addition, the section 'Exploring the skies, season by season' introduces the novice astronomer to the principal celestial objects visible at different times of the year. Major constellations are used as signposts to navigate the night sky, locating hard-to-find stars and some fascinating deep-sky objects. The movement of the stars is also explained.

This book tells two stories. The first and most obvious is why the star known as Sirius has been regarded as an important fixture of the night sky by many civilizations and cultures since the beginnings of history. A second, but related, narrative is the prominent part that Sirius has played in how we came to achieve our current scientific understanding of the nature and fate of the stars. This is the first book to integrate the cultural history of Sirius with modern astrophysics in a way which provides a realistic view of how science progresses over time.

Philip's Stargazing With Mark Thompson provides the perfect introduction to the fascinating hobby of astronomy for beginners, written by TV's favourite astronomer. With 30 years' experience in observational astronomy and helping hundreds of newcomers get started in their new hobby, Mark Thompson takes everything he has learned and leads his readers skilfully through their early stargazing experiences in this brand-new book - Philip's Stargazing With Mark Thompson. He provides a wealth of knowledge, with valuable hints and tips to aid beginners in their first steps in astronomy. Not only does Mark demonstrate great observational techniques and how to find the brighter objects in the sky, but he guides his readers through the important steps of choosing and using a telescope. This is a book that will not only act as a guide to the novice astronomer but, by drawing on Mark's own experiences, will be a companion to share in the wonders of the night sky.