Skyguide: A Field Guide to the Heavens

Golden Field Guide Series

by Mark R. Chartrand

An illustrated guide to watching the stars.

Genres: Reference, Science, Astronomy, Nonfiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1982

Reviews

[Bryan Whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

This field guide is a good starting point for potential amateur astronomers (or at least so I hope, since it’s something I’d like to get into at that mythical point in the future when I have the time and the money to devote to it). The middle of the book is devoted to sky and constellation charts that are probably more interesting when you’re out in the field than they are just sitting at home and reading them; but hey, that’s why it’s called a field guide. The pages at the beginning and end explain some of the science behind what you can see in the nighttime skies. The language occasionally descends into jargon and/or complicated explanations that, to my math-weak mind, don’t make much sense. But I still feel like I got a lot out of it, and the bibliography in back also helps make this a good jumping-off point. One caveat: the edition I read was published in the 1980’s, and some of the charts (and probably at least of the science) were outdated. I imagine there’s probably a more recent edition out there somewhere.

[Stephen]

1

[Jonathon Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference book and excellent illustrations!

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back before Apps, yes there was a time before there was an App for everything, this was a good way to learn about what you see when you look up at the sky at night (assuming you don't live in a big city).

Now, obviously, there is an App for that (more than one actually), and I find the App more useful. So this is basically a reminder of the way things used to be. :)

[Tim Robishaw]

First book.