Good Astronomy Books

Recommendations

If you only buy one book for astronomy, "Nightwatch" should be it, and it was one of the first ones I purchased. Terence Dickinson goes through everything step by step for the beginning astronomer, and it's a wonderful resource for anyone wanting to get more 'in depth learning' of night sky objects, equipment and techniques.

I own this next book, and I purchased an edition of it about 15 years ago. I STILL refer to it today. It's a great resource for understanding telescope optics, how to get the most out of equipment, how to do astrophotography, and much more. If I lost all my other astronomy books, I'd re-purchase this one, without a doubt.

Many people own wide sky charts, that show various objects, but on a large scale. Other charts are very, very "close up" - but knowing if you're looking in the right spot is difficult, because there's no way to tell if you're close to what you hope to see. The book "The Photographic Atlas of the Stars" is a collection of both night sky pictures AND negative-image charts that show EXACTLY what you're looking at in the sky. Look at the sky, it looks the same on the photo (well, nearly so, depending on light pollution), then find your object on the chart on the opposing page.

Some people don't like this book thinking that it doesn't show enough of the sky at one time. Well, you do sometimes have to flip between pages to find different objects. But once I used this book, I don't use any other sky charts (save when doing variable star estimations), other than a whole-sky planisphere. It's THAT good. I highly recommend it.

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One last thing: Please be sure to turn off your outdoor lights, or if you must have an outdoor light on, be certain it is a full cut-off fixture, and the minimum wattage required. No sense in lighting the underside of planes at night - it just ruins the night sky for everyone else! Besides, doing so really will save you money on your electric bills. For more information about light pollution, please visit the International Dark Sky Association.