Viewing the Constellations with Binoculars: 250+ Wonderful Sky Objects to See and Explore

by Bojan Kambic

Overview

Viewing the Constellations with Binoculars is a complete guide to practical astronomy, written for beginners, intermediate-level astronomers, and even people who have not yet turned their gaze to the night sky. The required observing equipment to get the full value from this book is no more than a pair of regular 10 x 50 binoculars, but even more can be seen with a small astronomical telescope.

This comprehensive introduction to astronomy and practical observing is far more than a guide to what can be seen in the night sky through binoculars. It introduces the reader to some basic (and some not-so-basic) astronomical concepts, and discusses the stars and their evolution, the planets, nebulae, and distant galaxies. There is a guide to selecting and using binoculars for astronomy, as well, as a ‘getting ready to observe’ section containing invaluable practical hints and tips.

The second part of the book is an extraordinarily complete atlas and guide to the night sky down to 30º N (covering all the USA and Europe). It is illustrated with superb and sometimes beautiful amateur astronomical photographs, detailed maps (down to 5th magnitude), descriptions, and data on all astronomical objects of interest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780387853543
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	10/16/2009
Series:	The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series
Edition description:	2010
Pages:	510
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.30(d)

Table of Contents

Background.- About Binoculars (And Everything Connected to Them).- Celestial Mechanics.- Those Wonderful Distant Suns.- Nonstellar Objects.- Using Models to Understand Our Place in Space and Time.- Preparing for Observation Sessions.- Constellations.- Andromeda to Boötes (The Herdsman).- Caelum (The Chisel) to Draco (The Dragon).- Eridanus (The River) to Lyra (The Lyre).- Microscopium (The Microscope) to Puppis (The Stern).- Sagitta (The Arrow) to Vulpecula (The Fox).

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

“This volume is so crammed with information that the index is a very welcome addition. … This provides you with a rich background about objects you can see … . It … deals with the constellations, giving charts, photos and informative text describing the binocular delights within.” (Mark Parrish, Sky at Night Magazine, April, 2010)

“Book such as this , subtitled ‘250+ wonderful sky objects to see and explore’ , will attract the attention of many a skygazer. … I expect that many potential readers will wonder, as I did, how much of this material is truly necessary in a book supposedly aimed at users of 10 × 50 binoculars. … It is undoubtedly an impressive achievement … . As if to underline this, the book ends with a list of basic objects for beginners … .” (Ian Ridpath, The Observatory, Vol. 130, August, 2010)

From the Publisher