An introductory guide to navigating your way around the night sky and identifying what you can see on any given night. Designed as a comprehensive introduction for the beginner and those who want to find out more, Collins Night Sky covers everything that can be seen with the naked eye and binoculars, as well as what is visible using a small telescope. There are sections on how to observe and understand the objects that comprise the night sky, the moon, the movements of the stars and planets throughout the year and astronomical events. The constellations are given a comprehensive treatment. Each one includes a chart, a photograph, a description of its features and history, the best dates and times of visibility, the mythological representation and a list of interesting objects. The circular starfinder works in a very simple way: just dial in the date and time by rotating the inner plastic disk - the time - until it lines up with the relevant day of the year calibrated on the outer ring. The portion of sky shown on the starfinder will show the arrangement of the stars above you.

Author Biography

Storm Dunlop has written numerous books on astronomy and meteorology, and has acted as editor and consultant on many more. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, a member of both the International Astronomical Union and the American Association of Variable Star Observers, and is a former President of the British Astronomical Association. Storm is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Sussex. Wil Tirion never had any education in astronomy. He education was focused on graphic arts and design, although the starry sky and especially star maps have always fascinated him. In the field of astronomy and uranography (mapping the sky), he is what they call autodidact. In 1977, just for his own enjoyment, he started making his first star atlas, with stars down to magnitude 6.5). It was published in the Encyclopedia of Astronomy, edited by Colin Ronan, (Hamlyn, London, 1979) and in 1981 as a separate set of maps by the British Astronomical Association (B.A.A. Star Charts 1950.0). In 1978, still as a hobby, he started working on a larger atlas: Sky Atlas 2000.0., showing stars down to magnitude 8.0. Its publication, in 1981 (by Sky Publishing Corporation, USA, and co-published by Cambridge University Press), resulted in requests from several publishers for star maps for different purposes. In 1983 he decided to quit his job as a graphic artist and designer, and became a full time uranographer. Since then he has created several star atlases, like the Bright Star Atlas and the Cambridge Star Atlas and has cooperated with other people on larger atlases like Uranometria 2000.0. He has also created numerous star maps for astronomy books and magazines. In 1987 he was honoured by receiving the 'Dr. J. van der Bilt-prize', a Dutch award for amateur astronomers. In 1993 this was followed by a second, more international 'award', when a minor planet was named after him: (4648) Tirion = 1931 UE.