Summer Stargazing: A Practical Guide for Recreational Astronomers
Gr. 6^-10. Dickinson, editor ofSkyNewsmagazine and author ofExploring the Night Sky(1987), offers an informative, useful, and beautiful guide to observing the summer night sky above North America. Illustrated with charts, many full-color photographs, including excellent ones by the author, this large-format book features succinct, readable discussions of topics such as binoculars, telescopes, observation sites, moon watching, stargazing, comets, auroras, eclipses, meteor showers, and identifying constellations. Beyond the information provided, the book's most useful feature is its presentation of sky charts. In a series of spreads, seven segments of the night sky are shown with duplicate photos on facing pages. The left-hand page shows a star-studded section of the night sky. On the right page, the same section of sky (somewhat lighter to facilitate labeling) appears with the constellations delineated by connect-the-dot lines and the major stars and star groups labeled. Featuring charts for early summer as well as late summer and succinct discussions of sky sights and phenomena, this is precise, readable, and handsomely produced.Carolyn Phelan