Brendan,
G’day.
So what’s the best book for someone starting to learn the constellations and navigate the Night Sky?
Two good bits of advice commonly given on IIS are to get a planisphere, and to download Stellarium - a virtual Planetarium program.
A useful bit of advice I got when starting out was to learn the position of the 20 brightest stars. One aspect of beginning to navigate the night sky is learning to star-hop.
I don’t know what your telescope set-up is, but if you are trying to find objects and learn the sky without the aid of a computer guided scope, it can be a bit daunting – where do you start?
The book I thoroughly recommend is “Star Watch: The Amateur Astronomer's Guide to Finding, Observing, and Learning about Over 125 Celestial Objects” by Philip S Harrington. Go along to your local library and see if they have a copy on the shelf.
This is a wonderful book to get you into learning to star-hop. The stars and objects for each season are presented in 6 or 7 charts with clear instructions how to hop you way to the target object.
Once you realize that YOU CAN find objects – well the sky is the limit.
Here is a link to the book on Philip Harrington’s website. You can see examples information in each chapter and the Sky-Charts at
http://www.philharrington.net/swtch.htm
The Book Depository currently has it available at AUD $25.55
http://www.bookdepository.com/Star-W.../9780471418047
I also have “Atlas of Southern Night Sky” and find it very useful in planning my observing. The photos of selected objects in each constellation are a bonus.
And as an extra - not on topic of your question - If you would like some Astronomy Science, have a look at the website for Gresham College, London.
http://www.gresham.ac.uk
There are many Astronomy lectures in the Science Category.
And join your local Astronomy group – if there is one!
Cheers to you.
Michael.