9780395934319

The fourth edition of this best-selling field guide has been completely revised and updated to include the latest information from leading astronomical sources. All the time-sensitive material is new and valid through 2010: solar eclipses, phases of the moon, positions of the planets, and more. Twenty-four Monthly Sky Maps, all newly revised and in color, show exactly what you'll see when facing north or south in the night sky. Fifty-two Atlas Charts, also revised and in color, cover the entire sky, including close-ups of areas of special interest such as the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula. The hundreds of thousands of devoted users of the previous editions of this guide have been eagerly awaiting this new volume so they can continue to enjoy their hobby in the coming decades.

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Jay M. Pasachoff is the Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy and director of the Hopkins Observatory at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Editor’s Note v
Acknowledgments vi
List of Tables and Appendixes x
How to Use This Book 1

1. A First Look at the Sky 7
2. A Tour of the Sky 21
3. The Monthly Sky Maps 46
4. The Constellations 126
5. Stars, Nebulae, and Galaxies 144
6. Double and Variable Stars 194
7. Atlas of the Sky 209
8. The Moon 348
9. Finding the Planets 385
10. Observing the Planets 418
11. Comets 455
12. Asteroids 463
13. Meteors and Meteor Showers 467
14. Observing the Sun 474
15. Coordinates, Time, and Calendars 495
16. Telescopes and Binoculars 503

Appendixes 512
Glossary 548
Bibliography 557
Index 563

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The moon is often the most prominent object in the nighttime sky. The moon is somewhat more than one-quarter the diameter of the earth. This makes it the largest substantial satellite (moon) in the solar system in comparison to its parent planet. (Three moons of Jupiter and one each of Neptune and Saturn are physically larger than our moon; Pluto's small moon Charon is nearly half Pluto's size.) The moon orbits the earth every 271?3 days with respect to the stars. But during that time, the earth and moon have moved as a system about 1?12 of the way in their yearly orbit around the sun. So if the moon at a certain point in its orbit is directly between the earth and the sun, 271?3 days later it has not quite returned to that point directly between the earth and the sun. The moon must orbit the earth a bit farther to get back to the same place with respect to the line between the earth and the sun. The moon reaches this point in a couple of days, making the synodic period of the moon equal to 291?2 days. (The synodic period is the interval between two successive conjunctions coming to the same celestial longitude of two celestial bodies, in this case conjunctions of the moon and sun as observed from the earth.) It is the synodic months that are taken into account in lunar calendars.

Excerpted from A Field Guide to Stars and Planets by Jay M. Pasachoff
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A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets

A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets

0395934311

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