101 Objects to See in the Night Sky

Philip's Astronomy

by Robin Scagell

The perfect starter astronomy guide to night viewing. 101 Objects to See in the Night Sky is a fun and practical guide to identifying and observing 101 of the most fascinating and exciting sights in the northern night sky. Designed for newcomers to astronomy, the book explains what can be seen using the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. In the book, professional astronomer Robin Scagell shows the novice astronomer where to look in the sky to see a particular object, or group of objects or sights. They may be a planet, its rings or satellites, a series of lunar craters, a constellation, asteroids, meteors, a nebula, galaxy or star cluster, for example. He describes the object in detail and gives observing tips to improve viewing skills. Informative "Where to find it" instructions and "What you'll see" explanations for each object give night sky viewers an extra hand. A concise "fact file" is provided for each object, and readers can award themselves "points" for their skill in finding the object, with higher scores given for spotting the night sky's more elusive or hard-to-see features. The book is organized by season -- winter, spring, summer, fall -- with an opening section on "things you need to know," such as marker objects (for example, Sirius, the brightest star in winter's night sky) and how to use them to search beyond. It also covers such topics as asteroids and dwarf planets, noctilucent clouds, northern lights, the International Space Station, sunspots, eclipses and much more. 101 Objects to See in the Night Sky is an ideal guide for astronomy novices and classrooms.

Genres: Astronomy

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 2014

Reviews

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great list. I really like the 'point' structure given to see objects. I will use this as a teacher to encourage students to get 'points'. I'll ask students who achieve milestones of 50 points to write up their highlights. For anyone who hits a big single rare view, I'll ask for a presentation.

[S.Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

its cool to read this book and release how much big the universe is and how much is in it. this book is just about what you can see from earth who nows maybe in 80 years they'll write what you can see from mars. i also liked that on some constellations they told you about the greek mythology.

[Aprilleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a bit more than 101 objects are included in this volume, as most of the “objects” include multiple items. There are 35 “objects” to look for in the solar system, followed by four chapters covering deep-space objects to be found in each season.

Each entry indicates whether the object can be seen with the naked eye, ordinary binoculars, or a small telescope (no larger than 130mm, conveniently the size of my personal telescope). Each entry also includes a Fact File with useful information, a list of items to see along with point values that seem to roughly correspond to difficulty, at least one photograph, and descriptions of where to look and what you’ll see. There are even short descriptions of legends associated with the various constellations. I'm really loving the layout of this one. It would be even better as a spiral-bound volume that would lay flat on my observing table.

Some of the “objects” will be a matter of luck or careful planning, like a total solar eclipse or the Northern Lights, but nothing in this book should be out of reach of an amateur with modest equipment.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book of suggestions to look at in the night sky - with a point-system. For example, a full moon is easy, so 1 point, but how about the last quarter moon: 3 points! (You'll have to be up past midnight and find a crescent moon just prior to sunrise). Or Earthshine? 1 point (that's when you see a slender crescent moon, but yet you can easily see the rest of the round moon - reason?: light from the Earth is bouncing so bright that it lights up the dark parts of the moon)
Tough ones are like: 10 Points for Seeing a comet, or a solar eclipse

[Lore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for beginners, especially for making a list of objects to see and photograph.