Product Description

Like the ocean, a starry sky has the capacity to fill us with wonder. A stargazer is anyone who's ever found themselves looking at the stars and wanting to know a bit more. Unlike its more scientific sister, astronomy, stargazing requires no equipment, except perhaps something comfortable to sit on and a star map (such as the ones in this book). Portable, free and completely fascinating, it can be done anywhere - even in the city. This book will guide you through what there is to see in the sky, why it's interesting and how previous generations have viewed and interpreted it. Organised month by month, we are taken through the various stories - mythological, historical and scientific - associated with the night sky and provided with simple diagrams to identify the constellations. Also explained are the sun - our closest star - the moon, planets, comets, meteor showers (or shooting stars) and satellites.This book also answers key questions like: What do we see when we look at the sun? How did the Greeks spin myths around forty-eight out of the eighty-eight constellations we recognise today? What, exactly, is the Milky Way? Why, on the 19th of November, might a stargazer see hundreds of shooting stars every hour? What does modern astronomy owe to astrology? No reader of this book will ever gaze up at the seemingly endless mass of stars in the same way again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69793 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
After reading this book, viewing the night sky will be a much more meaningful and rewarding experience. --Astronomy Now

A wonderfully entertaining beginner s guide to the heavens. --Good Book Guide

About the Author
Emily Winterburn comes from a background in physics and the history of science. As the Curator of Astronomy at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, she is responsible for one of the world's most important astronomy collections. Emily has written for the BBC and Astronomy Now magazine and has appeared on the BBC's What the Ancients Did for Us, the Channel 4 News and most recently In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg. The poster-girl for a new generation of astronomers, her engaging approach is very much in demand.

Customer Reviews

I could have Gazed all night!
I found this book fascinating especially as Christmas is coming up and we will be into the season for a few clear skies.

I disagree with the mention of old illustrations as the book is suppose to deal with it as an old pastime and give some historical context with which to inspire a new generation of Stargazers.

I found the Star Charts fine as they are supposed to look historic in style. The book is not supposed to be glossy "look at these amazing photos of stars" book. As that is not what Stargazing is about.

All in all a fascinating read and it tempted me into the garden at night!

An inspiring read
I thought this was a great read and unlike anything I've come across before. It's described as a guide to the night sky, rather than a conventional astronomy book, and as such, to a novice stargazer like me, is infinitely more accessible and interesting. It includes plenty of practical advice on how to find and recognize constellations and some scientific explanation of what you're seeing, but it also contains masses of information on the myths associated with the constellations and a history of the astronomers who discovered them. I found these sections, stories of the stargazers of the past, particularly engaging. Contrary to the views expressed by a previous reviewer, I thought the historical illustrations were beautiful and rather romantic, and very much in keeping with the themes of the book.

Stargazers still left in the dark
Please make sure you look at this book before you decide to buy it. The illustrations are disappointing and a couple of hundred years out of date! The publishers and the author have made little effort to inspire, or adequately guide, the new stargazer by the provision of inspiring pictures and diagrams.