See the Stars: Your First Guide to the Night Sky - Hardcover

Croswell, Ken

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1563977575 ISBN 13: 9781563977572

Publisher: Boyds Mills Press, 2000

Synopsis

What's the best way to find the stars and constellations? Astronomers tell us to go out on a clear night with two things: a pair of binoculars and an expert as your guide. With Ken Croswell's See the Stars, all you need are the binoculars. Save the complicated star charts for later. With See the Stars, it's easy for readers to experience the twelve best and brightest star patterns (one for each month) in the sky. On a clear night, young astronomers will have fun comparing color photographs of constellation with those in the night sky. Readers will learn about the life and death of stars, black holes, why stars are different colors, and more.

About this title

About the Author

Ken Croswell earned his Ph.D. in astronomy at Harvard University, where he studied the Milky Way Galaxy. He is the author of three critically acclaimed books: The Alchemy of the Heavens, an exploration of the Milky Way, which was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist; Planet Quest, about the discovery of planets around other stars, which was a New Scientist bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; and Magnificent Universe. He lives in Berkeley, California.

From the Inside Flap

What's the best way to find the stars and constellations? Astronomers tell us to go out on a clear night with two things: a pair of binoculars and an expert as your guide. With Ken Croswell's SEE THE STARS, all you need are the binoculars.

Save the complicated star charts for later. With SEE THE STARS, it's easy for you to experience the twelve best and brightest star patterns in the sky. On a clear night, just open to the page for the month you're in, look at an actual color photograph of the constellation, and face the direction given. You'll enjoy one of the sky's most amazing star patterns, including: ORION (January). Learn why stars are different colors, and see a cloud of gas and dust where new stars are being born. THE BIG DIPPER (February). This easy-to-find star pattern points the way to many other sights, including the North Star, and it has an amazing double star of its own. LEO (March). Find the mighty lion, whose heart is marked by a ! bright, blue star, Regulus. BOOTES (April). A bright, orange star named Arcturus shows what our Sun will look like billions of years from now. LYRA (May). This small constellation has one of the brightest stars of all, beautiful Vega. CYGNUS (June). Watch out for two black holes--mysterious dead stars from which nothing can escape. SCORPIUS (July). Find bright, red Antares, a star that rivals the beauty of the planet Mars. SAGITTARIUS (August). Use this teapot pattern to find the center of our Galaxy. CASSIOPEIA (September). Here shines a yellow star like our Sun. Does it support alien life? PERSEUS (October). Find Algol, a star that fades and brightens every 2 days and 21 hours. AURIGA (November). Can you see Epsilon Aurigae? Once every 27 years, something huge passes in front of it, dimming it for two years at a time. TAURUS (December). Here are the two best star clusters in the sky--plus a star that points the way to the edge of our Galaxy's disk of star! s.

Reviews

Grade 4-8-Specifically intended for fledgling star watchers living between latitudes 30 to 50 degrees North, this misguided effort uses labeled sky photographs to identify a dozen major constellations, one per month. Each full-page photo is accompanied by a simplified diagram, orientation instructions, a list of dates and times for best viewing, and a column or so of Croswell's engaging commentary on star names, colors and types, nebulae, black holes, and related topics. "Bo tes is supposed to look like a herdsman, but if you can see a herdsman here, you are a better astronomer than I am." The author closes with a clever identification guide to any neighboring planets that might wander into the picture, plus a chart of the 25 brightest stars. Twelve of those stars are either not mentioned in the text or are in the southern celestial hemisphere and generally below the horizon for most of the book's prospective audience. In addition, the whole one-per-month scheme imposes a rigid superficiality on the book, and there are logistical problems inherent in trying to hold black photographs up to nighttime skies for comparison. Fortunately, there are plenty of more practical guides available, from Gary Mechler's Night Sky (Scholastic, 1999) to H. A. Rey's classic The Stars (Houghton, 1973).
John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4-8. Astronomy enthusiasts will appreciate this well-designed guide to viewing star patterns. Croswell devotes a double-page spread to each of 12 constellations, one for each month. The right-hand page is divided lengthwise into two columns. The first column contains text describing the constellation and providing other related information. The second column has a black-and-white diagram of the constellation, and a "Where and When to Look" box that suggests the best month (and sometimes dates of that month), direction (overhead, northeast, etc.), and approximate time for viewing. The left-hand side of the spread is an actual photograph of the night sky, with each star in the featured constellation labeled. Croswell notes that a telescope isn't necessary, but recommends viewers use binoculars and a red flashlight. Younger students may need the help of an adult or older sibling. Lauren Peterson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

AUGUST: SAGITTARIUS THE ARCHER. Copyright 2000 by Ken Croswell.

Sagittarius decorates the southern sky on summer nights. It lacks spectacular stars, but it makes a neat pattern that resembles something you might find in your kitchen. Sagittarius is also special because it houses the center of our Galaxy.

Sagittarius is supposed to be an archer, shooting an arrow at Scorpius, the deadly scorpion to his right. Well, I'm sorry, but Sagittarius doesn't look like that at all. Instead, its eight main stars make the shape of a teapot. The three stars on the right are the spout, the four stars on the left make the handle, and the star at the top crowns the lid.

To find the teapot in the sky, go to a place with a clear view to the south. If you already know where Scorpius is, just look to the left of it. If not, look in the direction given in the yellow box. Remember that the stars aren't super bright, and look for a teapot. Nice, isn't it?

The eight stars of the teapot are between 77 and 310 light-years from Earth. You can look at them through binoculars. Far beyond, at a distance of 27,000 light-years, is the heart of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. The Milky Way's brightest stars, including the Sun, nestle in a disk that resembles a pancake--but this pancake is 120,000 light-years across and 2,000 light-years thick.

You probably know that the Moon goes around the Earth and the Earth goes around the Sun. But did you know that the Sun goes around the center of the Galaxy? Every hour, the Sun and Earth race half a million miles through space. But our Galaxy is so big that even at such speed, the Sun takes 230 million years to go around the Galaxy once. In contrast, the Earth goes around the Sun in just a year, and the Moon goes around the Earth in about a month. Every other star you see also goes around the Milky Way's center.

The Galactic center is just above and to the right of the teapot's spout. You won't be able to see the actual center, because gas and dust block the light of the stars there. The very center emits no light anyway, because it is a giant black hole. A black hole swallows everything that falls into it, even light. But we don't have to worry about being sucked into it, since it's so far away.

As the home of the Milky Way's center, Sagittarius hosts many sights, such as stars and star clusters, plus clouds of gas and dust. These gas clouds look like tiny patches of smoke, and you can see them by sweeping over the constellation with binoculars. Take a look at the Lagoon Nebula, above the teapot's spout. It's a cloud of gas and dust that's giving birth to new stars.

If you haven't yet seen Scorpius (July's featured constellation), this might be a good time to try; it's to the right of Sagittarius and bears a beautiful red star.

From SEE THE STARS by Ken Croswell. Copyright 2000 by Ken Croswell.

Edition details

• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1563977575
• ISBN 13: 9781563977572
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32