books

[spaceblue (Jim)]

Hi guy's,
I hope you all had a really good christmas & Santa was good to you.

He was pretty good to me, I got a Celestron Power Tank 17 & I reckon I could jump start the space shuttle with it.

didn't play with my 4SE last night, too tanked.

I have a question & if it has been done in a previous thread I apologise.

Where can I get a book that will allow me to find items in the sky, so I don't just have to rely on the data base in my scope, & will also explain how to use RA & DEC in simple terms so that I can start directing my scope to things I can see as my back yard is limited due to sheds trees etc.

I'd also like to find something that gives me common names not just Astronomical names like the Southern cross, I don't know if it is a constellation, a Asterisim, or a Caldwell.

Can some one help me so I can start getting some serious use out of my scope.

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

er, the Southern Cross is a common name....its a constellation by the way. Just look at any Australian (or New Zealand) flag and you'll see it. This time of year is not the best time to see it in the evening, however, its a bit low in the sky.

As for books - any good book store will hold a few titles in astronomy and all you have to do is look in the popular science section and there should be several titles to choose from. Pick one (or two) that speaks to you and go from there. More than likely you'll end up with several. And don't forget to look out for the annual publication "Astronomy 2009" which will give you everything that's moving in the sky for the year (moon and planets) as well as some basic sky stuff.

For the cheap option, I always recommend the local public library. Astronomy is under Dewey number 520.

[spaceblue (Jim)]

Thanks Blueskies,
Is there any particular book that covers the southern Hemisphere that you would recommend, I bought Astronomy for dummies & the charts of the southern hemisphere had the N,S,E & W positions around the wrong way which I found strange.

[astroron (Ron)]

When you are looking at star charts, you have to look at them as above your head not flat on a table.
When you hold it above your head and look North, South will be behind you, and Vice a versa.
Ron

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

Originally Posted by astroron

When you are looking at star charts, you have to look at them as above your head not flat on a table.
When you hold it above your head and look North, South will be behind you, and Vice a versa.
Ron

Yep, that's usually the way with star charts and planispheres.

Spaceblue - as I said, there are heaps on the market and they all do a good job. I always say to others, as I said to you earlier, just have a look and find one that makes sense to you at the moment and start with that. Everyone learns differently, so what worked for me may not work for you. When I started out there wasn't a lot on the market, and they were mostly northern hemisphere books (this was twenty years ago, mind you, things have changed a lot since then) and what got me started was Collins guide to Stars and Planets plus a photocopied set of charts from an old atlas with the constellation shapes from the Collins drawn in with pencil to help me out. Then it was practise, practise, practise. Even just ten minutes standing by the car when I got home late at night, drawing out those shapes in the sky amongst the stars helped.

The Collins book is now in a 4th ed (I think) but there are other books just as good around now too, some are written by Australians but some international books are non-biased (like the Collins). The variety available is huge compared to twenty years ago when I got started, so just get out there and look, don't wait for us to give you a long list that might confuse you more.

[Jen]

Hi Jim welcome to IIS
The first book i got with my scope was the Astronomy 2008 and i used it as if it were my bible it was great so i think you should get ready for some exciting adventures and get the Astronomy 2009 you will use it all the time