The Night Sky

Before you go out star hopping, peruse Jim Kaler's “Skylights”. He's been presenting his monthly sky previews for many moons now.

My friend, Dr. Nathan Miron, has also been writing astronomy articles for years. For a more general knowledge of astronomy and the sky check out his “Star Spangled Banter”.

John Walker's “Your Sky” is a different approach that might well be worth your time. I've been a fan of his work since the eighties.

Even if you have just a cursory interest in astronomy you'll want to know a little about “The Constellations and Star Names”. Spend a some time there…You'll soon be able to talk the talk.

A long time ago “Messier” got together with a few of his cohorts and came up with a bunch of blurry things in the sky that were not comets. They're still the best objects for small telescopes. Here are some twenty-first century versions of his list: “The Whole Messier”… “The Thumbs”… “The VMAS Messier List”.

Messier's scope was not the best. Many of the “The Deep Sky Objects” that we enjoy today were missed or ignored by Messier. Each observer has a ‘favorites’ list. Here's mine: “Jim's deep sky list” and “Jim's Sidereal DSO List” (That adds a sidereal clock etc..)

Here are some other well known ‘favorites’ for amateur astronomers:“The SAC110”… “The FNGC”… “The Caldwell Catalog” and “The Colorado Deep Sky Lists”