My First Pocket Guide Stars & Planets

by John O'Byrne, National Geographic Society

Gazing into the night sky, children investigate our solar system, the universe, and major constellations. Star charts map the sky and help young astronomers navigate their way with the naked eye, binoculars, or telescopes. From Pluto to Pegasus, each entry examines a different heavenly body and answers the questions "how big and how far?" A special hand sky-measuring system that’s easy for kids to learn and use helps them understand scale and distance.

80 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

Reviews

[Јелена · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kompaktan i jednostavan vodič za sazvežđa. Pre svega namenjen mlađima jer je stil dečji.

[Catherine Petrini · Rating 3 out of 5]

This little pocket guide is an introduction to the night sky, aimed at children aged 6-10. It's clearly written and beautifully illustrated, though it is now a bit out of date -- Pluto is still a planet in this one.

[Prejudice Neutrino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Info is very dated, but still kinda decent. Also created for children under 10 years old, but even then it's still quite superficial.

[Danielle]

As a child, I had an immense fascination with space. I read every book in the school library on the subject and built up quite a collection of books myself. I didn't want to be an astronaut, but my dream was to work at NASA, most likely as an astronomer. This continued to be my dream until late in high school where, due to some personal circumstances, I thought I was not smart enough for NASA, that I would just fail at trying to achieve that goal I had for so long. So, I said goodbye to NASA and moved on to a safer option I knew I would excel in.

However, my old flame with space has recently came back alive and I have found myself pouring back over the books I cast away. I have come to kind of regret my decision to put myself down and say, "You can't do this." While I am almost done with my BA in English, it would be, quite ridiculous honestly, for me to change the direction I am going.

Even if I can't make a career off this renewed love (or at least, not at the moment), I don't want to give up on learning everything I can about it. So this teeny tiny book is step one of me refueling that passion I used to hold. Super quick read and probably a tad outdated, but I'm going through all my old books now and thought why not give this one a quick look over. :)

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book interesting because of the information about the different things in the book like the planets and the other things in the Universe. I also really liked the boxes at the bottom of the pages where it said “What You Will See” because it told what you will see with your eyes, through a telescope and if you could get closer.
This information was interesting to read about so you didn’t began to look for something you couldn’t see without a telescope.

But with that said there were times I wished for more information about some of the things in the book.
(And I know it is a pocket guide, and the idea is that it's easy to carry).