The Backyard Astronomer's Guide

Description

The modern classic, completely updated. The newest edition of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide includes the latest data and answers the questions most often asked by home astronomers, from beginners to experienced stargazers. Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer provide expert guidance on the right types of telescopes and other equipment; photographing the stars through a telescope; and star charts, software and other references. They cover daytime and twilight observing, planetary and deep-sky observing, and much more. With over 500 color photographs and illustrations, The Backyard Astronomer's Guide is one of the most valuable, beautiful and user-friendly astronomy books ever produced. New and updated for this edition: A 20-page full-color Atlas of the Milky Way provides location and context for hundreds of celestial objects mentioned throughout the book. A chapter on Astrophotography with Digital Cameras specifies what equipment works best and how to use it to collect a color gallery of celestial portraits. Telescopes for Recreational Astronomy features assessments of a wide range of new telescopes, from models for beginners to those for veteran astronomy enthusiasts, with special emphasis on computerized telescopes and how they work. Accessory Catalog spotlights the best of the accessories and flags the frivolous and irrelevant. Three practical appendices : Polar Aligning Your Telescope; Optics Cleaning and Collimation; Testing Your Telescope Optics. Any serious home astronomer must have this superb guide as an ongoing reference. Review: Best book I've purchased yet - wish I had bought this 6 months ago when I was buying my first telescope. - I ordered The Backyard Astronomer's Guide solely on the advice which I'd seen given to beginners to the astronomy hobby by countless members in Cloudy Nights forums. When the package arrived (I got a notice from the post office because it was too big and couldn't fit in my mailbox) I was not expecting to receive it so soon, so did not know what I was collecting. I was totally surprised, first by the encyclopedic size of the book and after flipping through the 368 glossy pages, by the amount of content which is so relevant to all of those areas of astronomy and astro-photography that as a beginner, I'm eager to learn about. Robert Burnham's foreword got me all psyched up about the new knowledge promised in the pages to follow and his comment that "This is by far the best book I know of for helping anyone become a knowledgeable stargazer." could not have described the book any better. The book is very well laid out, excellent table of contents and comprehensive index make planning of reading sessions and finding specific information a breeze. Stunning photographs support very well written tips and techniques about almost every aspect of the hobby. Great value for money and a book that no new amateur astronomer should be without. This is not a book for the shelf, but for the sofa table where I can grab it whenever there's a spare moment! Review: Lavishly Illustrated Stupendous Value Book - Easily the most comprehensive and clearly written practical primer on astronomy and star gazing. All the sections are laid out with intelligence and clarity, and the accompanying illustrations and photos are outstanding. Added to this there are bold recommendations and critiques of available equipment rather than bland comments seen in other astro how-to books. I appreciate that. Everything you need to know is here, not only to get you started but if you are rusty and making a return to star gazing this gem updates you on gaps since perhaps you last looked skywards, with a really good contemporary look at equipment and techniques, from observing planets to clusters to deep space objects. This book anticipates your yearning to learn and uncannily knows the kind of questions you want answered, whether you are simply star hopping, or getting deeper into the basic physics of astronomy. There is a very impressive guide to astrophotography too. This is an outstanding book in every way and super value. Highly recommended without reservation.