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Beginners Books

Horus

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Steve C

Steve C

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Turn Left at Orion...........my very first astro book. Very useful in gaining an understanding of not only how to find stuff but also what you're looking at through the eyepiece of a small to medium beginner scope, a classic already imho

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ronin

ronin

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What do you mean by "Beginners in Astronomy ".

Astronomy has many different faces and usually in the theoretical physics realm.

Galaxy formation is a popular university astronomy subject.

Solar physics another.

X-Ray astronomy.

Gamma Ray astronomy.

Do you mean a guide to the stars and DSO objects?

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Steve1976

Steve1976

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My first and most used book was also TLAO. Great wee book. I also like Michael Covington's Celestial Objects for Modern Telescopes although its a bit geared towards those with GOTO setups. I've also got Stephen O'Meara's (think I'm spelling his name right) The Messier Objects, Herschel 400 and The Caldwell Objects, all of which are great. There's a great wee bino book 'Touring the Universe through Binoculars' - cant for the life of me remember who wrote it.

For star charts I like the Pocket Sky Atlas, for double stars the Cambridge Double Star Atlas. Best of all I find print outs from Starcalc to be the most useful.

Absolutely no idea about astrophotography books but loads of people have quoted Making Every Photon Count as being the best - think this will also be my next buy

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tuc

tuc

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I highly recommend, 'The Year-Round Messier Marathon Field Guide,' by Harvard Pennington, who, unfortunately, is now deceased.

Although the book is formatted for a Messier marathon (seeing all or nearly all of the Messier objects in one night), there is a heap of useful information on finding and identifying Messier objects. Pennington`s straight-forward, no-nonsense approach makes it a very beginner-friendly book. This is the book that held my hand through the Virgo cluster of galaxies.

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brantuk

brantuk

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"The Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders" by Thompson and Thompson picks up where TLAO leaves off. It's a larger book which extends the concepts in TLAO and offers a bit more detail laid out in a similar manner by constellation. Many many more objects and a fair bit more info, in paperback form it lays out flat on a table in the field for a handy reference next to your scope.

Highly recommended (by me and Shane) :)

(Edit - source from Amazon at around £16(ish))

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dlp

dlp

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Thanks to advice on this thread and others, I've just acquired a copy of 'Pocket Sky Atlas' - truly excellent, thanks!

PS Got TLAO for Xmas, but can't get my head round the reversed views...

David

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Horus

Horus

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Just started to read 'Turn Left at Orion' its well laid out and from a beginners perspective easy to follow

I see you are also a Rovers fan, well done that man !

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cotterless45

cotterless45

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Don't end up buying shelf loads. i can recommend " Illustrated guide to Astronomical Wonders" by Thompson. It's easy to use and got the main objects in.

I get my books from Amazon, they're usually cheaper and get sent quickly.

The Works sometimes have a good selection.

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