Backyard Astronomer'S Guide, third edition

This revised edition of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide is an indispensable reference to the equipment and techniques used by the modern recreational stargazer. Among the new and updated features for this edition is a 20-page full-color atlas of the Milky Way that provides the location of, and context for, hundreds of the celestial objects mentioned throughout the book.

Also new is a chapter on Astrophotography with Digital Cameras that specifies what equipment works best and how to use it to collect a color gallery of celestial portraits.

An updated section on telescopes for recreational astronomy features assessments of a wide range of new telescopes, from models for beginners to those designed for veteran astronomy enthusiasts. The section has special emphasis on computerized telescopes and how they work.An accessory Catalog spotlights the best of the accessories and flags the frivolous and irrelevant.

There are three new and practical how-to appendices. They include Polar Aligning Your Telescope; Optics Cleaning and Collimation; and Testing Your Telescope Optics.

Authors Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer - both full-time astronomy writers - bring decades of experience to the task of telling everything you need to know to get started in astronomy. They explain why telescopes often perform much differently from what the novice expects. They recommend the accessories that will enhance the observing experience and advise what not to buy until you become more familiar with your equipment. They name brands and sources and compare value so that you can be armed with practical information when deciding on your next purchase. Sections on astrophotography, daytime and twilight observing, binocular observing and planetary and deep-sky observing round out this comprehensive guide to personal exploration of the universe.

Dickinson and Dyer's elegant yet straightforward approach to a complex subject makes this book an invaluable resource for astronomers throughout North America. With more than 500 color photographs, charts, diagrams, and illustrations, The Backyard Astronomer's Guide is also one of the most useful and user-friendly astronomy books ever produced.

Terence Dickinson has more than one million copies of his 14 astronomy books in print in three languages. He is also the editor of the Canadian monthly astronomy magazine Sky News. Alan Dyer is the program producer at the Calgary Science Center Planetarium and is a contributing editor to Sky & Telescope magazine. He is widely regarded as an authority on commercial telescopes, and his reviews of astronomical equipment appear regularly in major North American astronomy magazines. Together, the authors have decades of practical experience in navigating the night skies. Reading the book is like having both authors at your elbow to help you navigate those skies yourself.

Hardbound, 368 9" x 11" pages.