The Practical Astronomer, 2nd Edition: Explore the Wonders of the Night Sky

By Will Gater, Anton Vamplew, D.K. Publishing

Book Overview

Unlock the mysteries of the night sky with this comprehensive guide to astronomy.

The Practical Astronomer explains and demystifies stargazing and teaches you how to observe and navigate the night sky. Learn how to set up your binoculars and telescopes and find out how to spot different celestial bodies, such as stars, planets, nebulae, and galaxies.

Train your telescope into the sky and learn astrophotography with your smartphone camera or digital camera. Hop from one star to another to locate the different constellations or other deep space objects. The book contains sky maps charting all the 88 constellations in both the northern and southern hemisphere, helping you map the star patterns, from Ursa Major and Orion to Pavo and Aquarius.

The Practical Astronomer also contains monthly star charts that follow the changing positions of stars in the night sky through the year. Discover the solar system and know about other objects, such as satellites and space stations, that light up the sky. A reference section at the back of the book provides handy information about every planet and includes information about eclipses.

Become an accomplished amateur astronomer with this practical guide.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1465445137
• ISBN13: 9781465445131
• Release Date: November 2017
• Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.6" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Looking to the skies

The Practical Astronomer (Dk Astronomy) is a colorful, helpful guide to what can be found in the skies. Would-be astronomers get advice on what tools to use, maps of different parts of the sky, the history of various constellations and stars and a lot more. Illustrations show various parts of telescopes, how to read star charts, observing the sun safely and more. Also included are reference charts--brightest stars, and constellation...

Great beginner's guide

SUMMARY: Gater and Vamplew team up to produce the latest beginner's amateur astronomy book that is both beautiful and informative but the final product is hampered by falling short on one of their main objectives and a faulty book binding. PROs: Excellent paper stock, loaded with beautiful photographs and illustrations, very informative, good progression from introduction to more complex topics, nice starhopping maps, coverage...

Great for Beginners

I haven't taken this book into the field yet, but I plan to brush up on the stars so I can take my grandchildren stargazing. So far it looks like a great resource for a beginner such as me.

When you see a star

Having a small collection of books on observing stars and the sky still leaves questions which this book does an excellent job answering. It begins by explaining the universe and the big bang. There are interesting illustrations of the universe at 500,00, 1.3 billion and 13.7 billion years ago, and a life cycle of the sun. There are plenty of colour illustrations. The star mapping is excellent with examples of observing...