Manchester Astronomical Society
Manchester Astronomical Society, Godlee Observatory, Floor G, Sackville Street Building,
University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BU UK
Tel: +44 (0) 161 306 4977 (24 Hour
Voicemail)
Established: 1903
Reviews
Collins Night Sky & Starfinder: Storm Dunlop and Wil Tirion. New edition, 2011. 256pp + planisphere. HarperCollins Publishers. £14.99. ISBN 978-0-00-743616-3.
Night Sky, Northern Hemisphere. Collins Nature Guides. Storm Dunlop, illust. Wil Tirion. 254pp. Reprinted in 2011 for Independent Book Sales*. £8.99. ISBN 978-0-00-778537-7.
These two books are superficially the same and follow a similar format but it was the Night Sky, Northern Hemisphere that was first brought to my attention*. It's a pocket-sized guide to help you find your way around the night sky, whether as a complete newcomer to astronomy or as a useful reminder to those, like myself, that there is a lot of fascinating things to be seen in the night sky with a good pair of binoculars. Night Sky and Starfinder is a larger format book containing rather more information and a small planisphere. Both books cover only the northern hemisphere, as seen from UK latitudes and do not include southern hemisphere constellations.
Both start off with a short section on choosing and using binoculars and recommend using them to find your way around the night sky before considering buying a telescope...very good advice indeed. Both include a brief mention on how to photograph the night sky and although basically sound, I was surprised that both discussed choice of film speed, increasingly irrelevant for the digital snapper. Small scale constellation photographs are included in both books but are of poor quality and essentially worthless. By comparison Tirion's excellent star maps are all that are needed as illustration.
The reader is lead via a general introduction describing the celestial sphere from the observer's perspective and the motions of the sun, moon and planets against the sky background towards a comprehensive description of the constellations and how to locate them season by season. This is by far the main question asked by novice astronomers; how to find your way around the sky, and is well treated by offering clear, half-hemisphere maps, one looking north and the other looking south for each of the twelve months of the year. They show the constellation outlines and stars down to about 4th magnitude and should make constellation recognition quite straightforward, even for the beginner. Having located the constellations, both books then treat each in turn, alphabetically, with notes on the brighter double stars, variables, star clusters and galaxies that can be seen when star-hopping with binoculars.
Although essentially the same format, more space allows Night Sky & Starfinder to describe the individual constellations more comprehensively than the smaller Night Sky guide book. Its photographs and especially its maps of the moon are bigger and much better and overall it contains much more information. In comparison, the Night Sky, Northern Hemisphere is basic but quite acceptable as a pocket guide for learning the constellations. However, although my review copy was reprinted in 2011 its tables of solar and lunar eclipses and maps showing planetary positions covers the period 2006-2010. Collins Night Sky & Starfinder is up to date for the period 2011-2015.
Either book is a good, concise, introduction to finding your way around the night sky, its constellations and easier to locate objects. What really lets down the reprinted Night Sky, Northern Hemisphere pocket guide is its out of date planet position maps. A new edition should correct this. The small planisphere tucked inside the back cover of Collins Night Sky & Starfinder is, in my opinion, next to useless but this should not detract from an otherwise excellent book. Of the two, I recommend the latter. The modest extra cost is well worth it.
Kevin J Kilburn