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Peterson Field Guides #15
A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets by Professor C W Allen (Foreword), Donald H Menzel (28-May-1905) Hardcover
The fourth edition of this field guide has been completely revised and updated to include the latest information from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Sky & Telescope magazine, and other sources. All time-sensitive material is new and valid through 2010: solar eclipses, phases of the moon, positions of the planets, and more. Monthly Sky Maps, all newly revised in color, show exactly what you'll see when facing either north or south in the night sky. Atlas Charts, also revised and in color, together cover the entire sky, including close-ups of areas of special interest such as the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 27, 2011
I checked this dense compact field guide out from my local library in the hopes of using it in the field with my telescope. Due to its size and weight, I found it nearly useless to use in the dark with my red flashlight at my telescope. The atlases were too small, requiring my reading glasses, and the binding too stiff and tight to allow the field guide to be laid flat and free up a hand to adjust the telescope.
The information provided in the guide appears current as of a dozen years ago (circa 1998). I'll run through the table of contents with some observations below:
1. A First Look at the Sky - How to differentiate between a star and a planet. Includes a pair of sky maps showing the brightest stars with arrows showing the pathways that help observers find them.
2. A Tour of the Sky - Highlights of the seasonal skies for both hemispheres and a bit on solar observing.
3. The Monthly Sky Maps - Maps are drawn to minimize distortions in regions of the sky most studied, using 45 degrees altitude (halway up the sky to the zenith).
4. The Constellations - History and origins of the constellations and where they can be found in the night sky.
5. Stars, Nebulae and Galaxies - Descriptions of stars, star clusters, nebulae, galaxies (including our own) and quasars. Includes color photographs of the most familiar objects.
6. Double and Variable Stars - Includes graphs and charts.
7. Atlas of the Sky - Fifty-two charts, each accompanied by a half-page (three or four paragraphs) detailing the best tourist destinations for the observer (like a travelogue for your vacation to the stars). This was the main reason I checked out this field guide but, as I mentioned above, the binding prevented me from effectively using this guide while out on my star safari.
8. The Moon - I read this chapter several times and used the excellent maps of the moon during an extended observing period (over several days) in April 2011.
9. Finding the Planets - Tips and timetables for tracking the planets (mostly the easily observed planets like Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).
10. Observing the Planets - A tour of all the planets (including the recently demoted Pluto), with lots of color photos.
11. Comets - Description, observing and photographing tips.
12. Asteroids - Only two pages long, includes a table of the brightest asteroids.
13. Meteors and Meteor Showers - Table of major meteor showers and how to observe them.
14. Observing the Sun - Concise breakdown of the sun's composition, but the majority of the chapter deals with solar eclipses and how to observe them.
15. Coordinates, Time and Calendars - Definitions of right ascension and declination and an analemma graph and photograph.
After reading this field guide, and being disappointed in its field usefulness, I decided upon the Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas for use on my observing nights. While the Pocket Sky Atlas lacks the travelogue features of this Field Guide, it makes up for that in ease-of-use and weightlessness.
The information provided in the guide appears current as of a dozen years ago (circa 1998). I'll run through the table of contents with some observations below:
1. A First Look at the Sky - How to differentiate between a star and a planet. Includes a pair of sky maps showing the brightest stars with arrows showing the pathways that help observers find them.
2. A Tour of the Sky - Highlights of the seasonal skies for both hemispheres and a bit on solar observing.
3. The Monthly Sky Maps - Maps are drawn to minimize distortions in regions of the sky most studied, using 45 degrees altitude (halway up the sky to the zenith).
4. The Constellations - History and origins of the constellations and where they can be found in the night sky.
5. Stars, Nebulae and Galaxies - Descriptions of stars, star clusters, nebulae, galaxies (including our own) and quasars. Includes color photographs of the most familiar objects.
6. Double and Variable Stars - Includes graphs and charts.
7. Atlas of the Sky - Fifty-two charts, each accompanied by a half-page (three or four paragraphs) detailing the best tourist destinations for the observer (like a travelogue for your vacation to the stars). This was the main reason I checked out this field guide but, as I mentioned above, the binding prevented me from effectively using this guide while out on my star safari.
8. The Moon - I read this chapter several times and used the excellent maps of the moon during an extended observing period (over several days) in April 2011.
9. Finding the Planets - Tips and timetables for tracking the planets (mostly the easily observed planets like Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).
10. Observing the Planets - A tour of all the planets (including the recently demoted Pluto), with lots of color photos.
11. Comets - Description, observing and photographing tips.
12. Asteroids - Only two pages long, includes a table of the brightest asteroids.
13. Meteors and Meteor Showers - Table of major meteor showers and how to observe them.
14. Observing the Sun - Concise breakdown of the sun's composition, but the majority of the chapter deals with solar eclipses and how to observe them.
15. Coordinates, Time and Calendars - Definitions of right ascension and declination and an analemma graph and photograph.
After reading this field guide, and being disappointed in its field usefulness, I decided upon the Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas for use on my observing nights. While the Pocket Sky Atlas lacks the travelogue features of this Field Guide, it makes up for that in ease-of-use and weightlessness.
October 25, 2019
I would not recommend this book. Though it has plenty of information about the topic at hand, the authors seemed to not focus on their target audience very well. At the beginning of the book, the authors reveal the very basic information about observing the stars and planets, like the twinkling of stars and the myths and locations of the constellations. But by the end of the book, the authors are speaking of very in-depth topics that the average observer would not need to know, like specifically what to observe and record during different events and who to report that data too. This information and information similar to it turned me away from the book, and also the entire idea of viewing stars. It made it seem too complex and complicated for the average observer, and I felt it was too in-depth for the type of book that the beginning and back cover makes it out to be. Also, this book is very outdated for the time, and most of the dates used as examples were from the '80s and '90s, making some of the charts and graphs completely useless. One thing I did like though was the several stunning pictures in the middle of the book. These increased my interest in the topic quite a bit, and I enjoyed reading about what the pictures were. Overall, I would not recommend this book, particularly if you are just starting in observing the nighttime (and daytime) sky.
September 6, 2012
Why is it that astronomers can chart the planet and such centuries ahead but then they put out a guide it is almost outdated on the issue date?
May 9, 2020
Superb.
This is the grown-up version of the Stars and Planets guidebook I read last week. Whereas that one is intended to interest someone in astronomy, or nurture a nascent interest in night-sky observation, this one is clearly the resource for someone who's already deeply interested in checking out all that can be seen in the observable universe.
You'll find hundreds of charts and diagrams, dozens of color plates, and very detailed explanations of how to observe, how to photograph, how to find objects, and how to use the somewhat-complicated concepts of sidereal and ephemeral time (some of these explanations being fairly repetitive, as if the author isn't expecting you to read every chapter but instead to skim to those parts you find most relevant).
I have to admit I've got reservations about Menzel. I read and enjoyed some of his books on optics when I was in junior high school, finding his explanations of odd atmospheric phenomena to be quite interesting. But I also read some of his work debunking UFO sightings, and I developed a jaundiced eye toward him. While his contemporary debunker J. Allen Hynek eventually saw the light, so to speak, and began publicly denouncing the efforts to explain away unexplainable sightings, Menzel remained gleefully committed to the notion that not a single airborne incident could be allowed to remain mysterious. This wouldn't be so bad, frankly, if his explanations weren't sometimes so tortured. If Occam exhorts us to favor the simplest explanation, then alien visitations would be more favorable explanations than some of the mechanisms he came up with.
But he evidently knows his sky. There's a comet named after him, as well as one moon crater (he demurs from mentioning it while describing what seems like every other in that particular moon map).
The worst thing that can be said about this book is that it's a product of its time. It was written for an early 1980s audience, and although there may be later editions of which I'm unaware, it's almost too out of date for me to rely on, with regard to events like eclipses, comet appearances, and the positions of some fast-moving nearby objects like Barnard's Star. But rely on it I shall; I'll be making spreadsheets of the objects it mentions, using its advice to find obscure objects, and generally referring to it on a weekly or monthly basis as I go about cataloguing my own observations.
This is the grown-up version of the Stars and Planets guidebook I read last week. Whereas that one is intended to interest someone in astronomy, or nurture a nascent interest in night-sky observation, this one is clearly the resource for someone who's already deeply interested in checking out all that can be seen in the observable universe.
You'll find hundreds of charts and diagrams, dozens of color plates, and very detailed explanations of how to observe, how to photograph, how to find objects, and how to use the somewhat-complicated concepts of sidereal and ephemeral time (some of these explanations being fairly repetitive, as if the author isn't expecting you to read every chapter but instead to skim to those parts you find most relevant).
I have to admit I've got reservations about Menzel. I read and enjoyed some of his books on optics when I was in junior high school, finding his explanations of odd atmospheric phenomena to be quite interesting. But I also read some of his work debunking UFO sightings, and I developed a jaundiced eye toward him. While his contemporary debunker J. Allen Hynek eventually saw the light, so to speak, and began publicly denouncing the efforts to explain away unexplainable sightings, Menzel remained gleefully committed to the notion that not a single airborne incident could be allowed to remain mysterious. This wouldn't be so bad, frankly, if his explanations weren't sometimes so tortured. If Occam exhorts us to favor the simplest explanation, then alien visitations would be more favorable explanations than some of the mechanisms he came up with.
But he evidently knows his sky. There's a comet named after him, as well as one moon crater (he demurs from mentioning it while describing what seems like every other in that particular moon map).
The worst thing that can be said about this book is that it's a product of its time. It was written for an early 1980s audience, and although there may be later editions of which I'm unaware, it's almost too out of date for me to rely on, with regard to events like eclipses, comet appearances, and the positions of some fast-moving nearby objects like Barnard's Star. But rely on it I shall; I'll be making spreadsheets of the objects it mentions, using its advice to find obscure objects, and generally referring to it on a weekly or monthly basis as I go about cataloguing my own observations.
May 23, 2023
I loved this guide!! It was only updated through 2010, and I am very sad they did not release another copy. The charts are helpful, there is beautiful photography throughout, and the writing is efficient and informative.
October 17, 2018
Course book for my astronomy class. Interesting read. Easy to follow and understand. Love the graphic timetables of the heavens to let the reader know when to see the planets.
June 6, 2020
A good reference guide but it outdated.
January 12, 2021
A great guide with great pictures.
January 3, 2022
Best Field Guide ever.
June 25, 2023
Cool, albeit outdated
July 7, 2023
I read this for work! Very fun little book.
June 10, 2014
I read this thick, hybrid reference book and explanatory tome in tiny chunks over a six-month period. I know it’s out of date (and there is at least a fourth edition available), but it was the object at hand and I figured that, aside from information on exoplanets and steadily incoming information about our solar system, the data for stars and the definitions of astronomical terms can’t have changed too much since 1992 (with a few 1997 updates in this edition), can they? The book patiently explains the most bizarrely rational astronomical concepts; again, I had to digest them in small bites, but I was astonished that each of my several hundred forays into the book always seemed to produce some staggering new fact which I eagerly assimilated into my fragmentary knowledge of the universe. Who knew about “aberration of starlight,” for instance? And slap me in the face with the fact that Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri are nowhere near each other, they just happen to be part of the same constellation. You can definitely put all your petty problems in perspective contemplating the ungraspable enormity of what’s out there.
June 22, 2012
Pasachoff, J. M. (Ed.). (2000). A field guide to stars and planets. R. T. Peterson (Ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Reviewed by: Melanie Wyatt
Category: Atlas
Call #: 523
Price: $19.00
Description: This book is a field guide to the stars and planets, providing introductory tours of the night sky; twenty-four monthly sky maps, fifty-two atlas charts that cover the entire sky, and tips on how to choose telescopes and binoculars.
Content/scope: The purpose of the book, content and scope are geared towards students interested in astronomy. Atlas charts are used so that visual learners have a better understanding of the text. Students and teachers would definitely benefit from the inclusion of this atlas in the library media center.
Accuracy/Authority: The author of this book has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as well as many other prestigious awards for his work in natural science.
Arrangement/Presentation: The format for this book is print. Diversity: This atlas serves as a wonderful reference for any student interested in beginning astronomy.
Reviewed by: Melanie Wyatt
Category: Atlas
Call #: 523
Price: $19.00
Description: This book is a field guide to the stars and planets, providing introductory tours of the night sky; twenty-four monthly sky maps, fifty-two atlas charts that cover the entire sky, and tips on how to choose telescopes and binoculars.
Content/scope: The purpose of the book, content and scope are geared towards students interested in astronomy. Atlas charts are used so that visual learners have a better understanding of the text. Students and teachers would definitely benefit from the inclusion of this atlas in the library media center.
Accuracy/Authority: The author of this book has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as well as many other prestigious awards for his work in natural science.
Arrangement/Presentation: The format for this book is print. Diversity: This atlas serves as a wonderful reference for any student interested in beginning astronomy.
December 18, 2012
I luv, luv, luv the stars (& the moon). Every chance I get I spend hours flipping books like these. Reading tidbits here & there, going back to the beganing to go thru again. I like "Guides", concise,information - text gets right down to the pt. It is a quite a dense read. But @ look all the photographes, their beautiful. the universe is miraculous!
July 27, 2007
this is an absolute must for any stargazer! anyone familiar with peterson guides knows they are easy to use and also comprehensive. it has also inspired me to explore my hobby of photography a little further. fyi lunar eclipse 8/28/07 visible from the west coast
February 8, 2013
Like most Peterson Field Guides there is lots of good information about the subject matter other than pure identification. I learned a lot about the nuts and bolts of sky watching by reading this field guide from cover to cover (just skimming most of the charts and tables of course).
March 15, 2023
I picked this up from the resale bin from my high school in 1974 the about the time I bought my first Telescope (6" Newtonian Reflector). As my scope's delivery was delayed many excruciating months I gleaned as much info as I could before it finally arrived. I cherished memory.
May 25, 2007
Excellent star charts and pictures, but a little too small. More of a pocket guide.
January 29, 2008
Actually, not bad, as far as Peterson guides go. Uses H. A. Rey's constellation paradigm. My copy is ancient.
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September 8, 2009J523Men
July 6, 2012
Text and maps are small and difficult to see at night, but overall content is wonderful! It contains the content of a textbook but is pocket-sized and easy to carry.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews