BOOK RECOMENDATIONS?

[cwesley1]

hi everyone new scope coming tomarrow now i was thinking is there a good book that names all stars planets and gives facts and information about them, thought it would be nice to no a little about what im looking at. ive already got stellarium to find them

[Caldwell 14]

Turn left at Orion, the latest edition, is without a doubt the best book for those of us with a small telescope, thats most of us

[cwesley1]

i had thought of that, just needed some opinions, how do i tell if its the latest addition?

[kuro]

Phillips practical astronomy is quite good and also the brian cox wonders of the solar system and universe books that accompany both of the tv series. I think you can get them as a box set.

[Syntarsus]

I have the rough guide to the universe which I like. It's not full of spectacular photographs but it is a good read. Much of it can be read as an intro to the universe without doing any actual observing. It tells you about the big bang, all the solar system objects, dark matter, galaxies etc. The latter half of the book lists the constellations, some history and constellation highlights (nebula, double stars etc.)

However it didn't explain how people knew all this stuff. To find that out I recommend Simon Singh's book 'Big Bang' which is a highly lucid description of how we know all this stuff starting with the Greeks and how they worked out the earth was round and how big it was.

I also have Stargazing with Binoculars which is more of a practical guide to observing than the above two. This is pretty good though I've found it difficult to find much of the objects in there mainly because of light pollution combined with having fairly low power bins. Now have some 20x80s so hopefully find more.

[tone71]

Turn left at Orion is a favorite, and waiting for Phillips Stargazing 2012 to be delivered, 2011 was excellent, unsure of how different the new one will be though.

[Helen]

This is really good The Backyard Astronomer's Guide: Amazon.co.uk: Terence Dickinson, Alan Dyer: 9781554073443: Books or Nightwatch by the same author.

Helen

[rowan46]

The backyard astronomer (terence dickinson and alan Dyer ) is one of my favourites It was my first astronomy birthday present bought last year

[cwesley1]

well thanks everyone im spoilt for choice now ha

[stevetynant]

Phillips practical astronomy is quite good and also the brian cox wonders of the solar system and universe books that accompany both of the tv series. I think you can get them as a box set.

I know slightly off topic but the Blu ray of this is now only £7.69 at Amazon and Play - brilliant price for a few hours in front of the TV waiting for the stars to appear Wonders of the Solar System [blu-ray][Region Free]: Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV