The Universe Today Ultimate Guide to Viewing the Cosmos: Everything You Need to Know to Become an Amateur Astronomer

by David Dickinson

The Definitive Resource for Viewing the Night Sky

David Dickinson, Earth science teacher and backyard astronomer, and Fraser Cain, publisher of Universe Today, have teamed up to provide expert guidance on observing the night sky.

The Universe Today Ultimate Guide to Viewing the Cosmos features the best tips and tricks for viewing our solar system and deep sky objects, as well as detailed charts, graphs and tables to find must-see events for years to come. This comprehensive guide is complete with stunning and exclusive photography from top night sky photographers, as well as advice on how to take your own incredible photos.

Take your recreational viewing to the next level with activities

Finding comets and asteroids
Tracking variable stars
Monitoring meteor showers
Following solar activity
Tracking satellites
Timing lunar and asteroid occultations

With star charts, practical background information, technological resources and telescope and astrophotography guides, this is the ultimate resource for any backyard space enthusiast.

Genres: Astronomy, Space, Science, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

Published October 23, 2018

About the author

David Dickinson was born in Dublin. With an honours degree in Classics from Cambridge, David Dickinson joined the BBC, where he became editor of Newsnight and Panorama, as well as series editor for Monarchy, a three-part programme on the British royal family.

Reviews

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I noticed "Lightyear" used on page 16, and its not defined yet. Nor is there a glossary/terms. The index in the back does not list Lightyear either. Then parsecs are used on page 24 for absolute magnitude, and the same problem - no definition of the parsec. Book has nice diagrams. The "top astronomy events for 2019-2014" detailing eclipses, moon phases, occultations is ~nice, but a bunch of valuable pages are gone. I'd rather see maybe a small 1-time table of these annual excellent events, and then put the resources/websites right next to the data so reference to future years can be done on the web. Constellation map in the back is small and very skimpy. There are LOTS of web resources listed in this book. I'll have to check these out more.
I would recommend the following instead:
1. Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe by Terence Dickinson (spiral bound) - great maps showing whats up in the sky, where it is, and some quick tid-bits on the item.
2. Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope - And How to Find Them by Guy Consolmagno - how to navigate with your scope by star-jumping. Shows very good b/w sketches of EXACTLY what you can expect to see with typical couple of scope sizes.
3. The Backyard Astronomer's Guide by Terence Dickinson, Alan Dyer - great scope buying tips, software, accessories, etc, etc!
Grab Stellarium freeware off the internet to simulate your sky https://stellarium.org/
Download monthly skymaps from: http://www.skymaps.com/
Go to https://www.heavens-above.com/ and put in your city. Gives you ISS flyover times very accurately. Interactive sky chart. Other satellite timings. Probably my most-used resource.
Also, always good to find your local club - usually a very friendly and willing-to-share tips kind of group.

[Mark Fallon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for amateur astronomers by and amateur astronomer. Both practical and inspiring.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is a wonderful source of information about the Stars and astronomy, but I got lost with too many technical terms and no definitions

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction for new and just beginning astronomy bluffs like me
I learned a lot if fill in detail that made the night sky come alive to me.