Stars and Planets: The Sierra Club Guide to Sky Watching and Direction Finding

Stars and Planets shows step by step how to locate bright stars, planets, and constellations with the naked eye -- from anywhere on Earth. This easy-to-use handbook requires no astronomical equipment and is suitable for both beginning and advanced star gazers. Stars and Planets also introduces the reader to new stars, variable stars, comets. meteors, and other night sky phenomena.

Features include:
-- 25 tables and 80 illustrations, including easy-to-read constellation maps
-- A calendar for the phases of the moon and the position of the five naked-eye planets to the year 2000 and beyond
-- A new simple method of finding and identifying the stars that remain visible in or near cities even under a full moon
-- How to identify more than 20 constellations using only your hand for measuring How to find Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn
-- How celestial navigators accurately fix their position from the heavenly bodies
-- How to get compass direction from the sun and stars by different methods anywhere in the world. day or night
-- A pronouncing gazeteer for stars and constellations

W.S. Kals, an experienced sailor. backpacker, navigation instructor, and former planetarium director, is the author of How to Read the Night Sky and Land Navigation Handbook. He lives in Hypoluxo, Florida.