Here’s a guide to the books, charts, magazines and software mentioned in the Night Sky Course.
Resource | Rating | Author | Comments | ||
Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics | ***** | Zelik and Smith Second Edition |
Course used at Carleton U given by the late Prof. Dan Kessler |
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Horizons | ********** | Michael Seeds | EXCELLENT textbook | ||
Turn Left at Orion | ******** | G Consolmagno, D Davis | A *must* to learn starhopping | ||
Celestial Sampler | ******** | Sue French | She also wrote Small Scope Sampler – Sky and Tel. | ||
Messier’s Nebulae and Star Clusters | ******** | Kenneth Glyn Jones | Superb observing guide and companion | ||
Atlas of the Moon | Rukl | classic ref may be out of print | |||
365 Starry Nights | ****** | Chet Raymo | Nearly as good as Turn Left | ||
The Joy of Gazing | *** | David Levy | Might be vanity press – tiny book | ||
Deep Sky Objects | ********** | David Levy | Based a lot of the course on this – infectious joy! | ||
The Stars Belong to Everyone | **** | Helen Sawyer Hogg | Good and poetic explanation | ||
The Stars | ***** | H.A. Rey | Good illustrations – concept book | ||
The Isabel Williamson Lunar Observing Program | **** | Handbook from the RASC | Must be RASC member | ||
Star Charts | |||||
Pocket Sky Atlas | ******** | Roger Sinnott | |||
Phillip’s Color Star Atlas | ******* | Cox and Monkhouse | Important for understanding spectra – | ||
Sky Atlas 2000 | ******* | Wil. Tirion | Do your Messier and NGC certificate with this. | ||
Magazines | |||||
Sky and Telescope | **** | sky publishing | Focused on observing and imaging – american magazine | ||
Sky News | ** | RASC | Canadian beginner magazine | ||
Astronomy | **** | the more popular american magazine | |||
Journal of the RASC 2000 http://rasc.ca/jrasc | ***** | RASC publication some peer reviewed papers |
see also http://rasc.ca/rasc-publications | ||
Software | |||||
Stellarium | ********* | Free Software Linux and Windows versions | Use this to plan observations | ||
Earth Centered Universe – Observer’s Handbook Edition | ******** |