Stargazing: Astronomy without a Telescope

by Patrick Moore

On a clear night, the vastness and beauty of the star-filled sky is awe inspiring. In Astronomy without a Telescope Patrick Moore, Britain's best known astronomer, tells you all you need to know about the universe visible to the naked eye. With the aid of charts and illustrations, he explains how to "read" the stars, to know which constellations lie overhead, their trajectory throughout the seasons, and the legends ascribed to them. In a month-by-month guide he describes using detailed star maps of the night skies of both the northern and southern hemispheres. He also takes a look at the planets, the Sun and the Moon and their eclipses, comets, meteors, as well as aurorae and other celestial phenomena--all in accessible scientific detail. This captivating book shows how, even with just the naked eye, astronomy can be a fascinating and rewarding hobby--for life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Astronomy, Science

Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name.

Sir Alfred Patrick Caldwell-Moore, CBE, Hon FRS, FRAS, known as Patrick Moore, was an English amateur astronomer, who is the most well known English promoter of astronomy. Moore wrote numerous books on the subject, as well as make public, television and radio appearances, over the course of his long life. He is credited as having done more than any other to raise the profile of astronomy among the British general public.

Reviews

[Aprilleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually a great book for a beginner as it breaks the sky into small sections and uses simple star diagrams to help you locate the stars and other objects discussed in the text. It covers both the northern and southern skies and limits itself to things that can be seen with the naked eye or a binocular. I particularly like that the monthly chapters include a list of what months and times the charts are good for (the April charts, for example, are accurate for 10 pm in April, but they’re also good in other months offset by two hours per month).

My biggest complaint is the irritating sans serif font. I also would have loved to see the material on star legends from chapter 4 placed in the text with the constellations they describe.

The glow-in-the-dark star charts are interesting, but don’t forget to charge them first be exposing them to some light before you head outside.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patrick Moore: amateur astronomer, xylophone enthusiast, and backwards wanker (thanks, wikipedia!). For an 'amateur', he was apparently a pretty big deal in the astronomy world, and so I felt fairly safe leaving my stargazing education in his old, bigot hands.
It's taken me a long while to get through, but in the end I have to say that it was a decent introduction. There wasn't a great deal to actually read, since about half the book deals with the northern hemisphere and therefore wasn't of much use to me. The rest of it was interesting but also fairly dry and slow-going. It's easy enough to follow, however, since the book is aimed at people who know little to nothing about astronomy. Apart from constellation guides, the book also talks a bit about the planets, our sun and moon, comets and meteors etc, although not in much depth. I feel like I could make some shaky stabs at identifying stars now that I've read it, although I really wish this edition came with photos instead of basic illustrations to guide the reader. If you're interested in this book, definitely spring for a newer edition! Photos and (most likely) expanded content!

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed his voice. It was a nice quick read.