The Night Sky

Usborne Spotter's Guide

by Nigel Henbest, Steve Parker, Ted Dewan

Discover the mystery and wonder behind the planets and stars. You can learn all the names of the constellations. The rotation cycles of all the planets, and the different phases of the moon. Find out why the earth revolves are out the sun and what the temperature is on Mercury. Learn all the facts and be able to identify the stars, planets, comets and more lurking in the night sky.

Genres: Science, Astronomy, Nonfiction, Reference, Childrens, Nature, School

64 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1979

About the author

Educated in Northern Ireland and at Leicester University where he studied physics, chemistry and astronomy. He did postgraduate work at the University of Cambridge but left to become a science writer. He has written 36 books and over 1,000 articles on astronomy and space many of them in collaboration with Heather Couper. Previously he has been Astronomy Consultant to New Scientist magazine, editor of the Journal of the British Astronomical Association and media consultant to the Royal Greenwich Observatory. Along with Couper and Stuart Carter, director of the Channel 4 series The Stars he set up Pioneer Productions and now develops ideas and proposals for that company.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it so much because I like space. It also has interesting facts in it. I learnt lots of new things about space. This book made me feel curious because I wanted to find out more about the universe. I would recommend this book to people who love space. Get ready to read out of this world.

[Alexandria Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book packed with tons of information on the solar system.

[lidia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read as a 16 year old and I actually enjoyed. I think it was a fun way to learn about the Universe, and there are some basic information in there, that I think everyone should know.

[Dylan Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usual stuff

[Will Holaday · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun little book I picked up at Barnes & Noble. I do like to read things that aren't fiction or fantasy so this was a nice change of pace. Covered a lot of things in space that really opened my eye to how big the universe really is.

[Nicole Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Night Sky" is a really great field guide that students of a variety of elementary-school ages will enjoy! The text describes how to observe the night sky through brief, clear descriptions of the necessary equipment needed to do so. "The Night Sky" also describes galaxies, how close stars are to Earth, how they look to the human eye, energy in the universe, and the solar system in general in ways that children can easily understand. The text involves real-life pictures, drawings, charts with distances from the sun, diameters, orbital speeds, masses, etc.! The text even describes how scientists study stars on earth and shows pictures. The information is displayed in brief, little, two-to-three sentence descriptions with a caption randomly around the page, which allows a lot of information to be presented in an effective, engaging way! These little excerpts are easy to read and each topic is different, which keeps the children's attention. The text could be used in a unit about astronomy or stars and could used as a read-aloud for the children at the beginning of the unit, or it could be used for independent reading for the children to explore with during a science unit pertaining to astronomy, stars, or the use of the equipment mentioned throughout the text. Open-ended questions could be asked pertaining to the information presented in the text whether the children have read it on their own or in a whole-group setting!

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute little astronomy guide that gives you the basics on what to look for in the night time sky. What I like about it is is that along the way, as you are reading details about the objects in the night time sky, they give you exercises for you to try and see if you can spot said objects. They have it on a points systems sort of like a game and you have to see how many points you can score. Point is, it gets the reader to be interactive with the activities.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This looks like a small book, but it is packed with tons of info and great illistrations.