365 Days of Skywatching

halenger

Thank you slashdot and even moreso, thank you Universe Today. I thought this would have been posted about by now but looks like it hasn't been. I've downloaded it but I haven't checked it out. Hopefully it's worth it. It's 13.5MB to download.

Looks to be a pretty comprehensive book anyway. From the screenshots it seems to have a lot of history etc in it too. Should be worth a read. A page a day sure.

It's based on the "What's Up" column from Universe today.

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/whatsup_2006_book.html

This is a FREE 407-page downloadable book containing What's Up material for every day in 2006. You can download the book to your local computer, go to the day you like and print off the page to take outside with you nicely formatted. It's also got tons of other material including general skywatching advice, equipment selection, and hundreds of beautiful photographs. We've been working pretty hard on this. :-)

And yes, this book is absolutely free. Download it, send it to your friends, print it off. Oh, and if you could tell everyone you know, we'd really appreciate it. :-) We'll still be having the same old web content as well, and some additional material to support the book. I'm still getting that all together, but I didn't want to delay the release any longer.

albertw

And for more free downloadble astronomy guides have a look at
http://www.irishastronomy.org/observers/challenges/index.php


At the moment there are 3 handbooks written, we are working on more.

1. The Novice Observing Challenge
Compiled by Seanie Morris this handbook provides the perfect introduction to the hobby and science of astronomy. Everything that a beginner, or nearly-new, astronomer needs to know is covered here with explanations and advice as well as practical observing projects.

2. The Binocular Observing Challenge
Subtitled "110 extraordinary objects to see through ordinary binoculars" this handbook, which was compiled by John Flannery, serves as an excellent incentive to dust off the binoculars and see what you can really see through them. John's handbook has diagrams and charts to help find the objects as well as detailed descriptions to help appreciate what you are seeing.

3. The Messier Objects Observing Challenge
Mick O'Connell has put together a lavish observing guide to the next level of observing. This book gives detailed background information on Charles Messier, his catalogue of objects, and the deep-sky as well as star-charts and guides to help navigate your way through the most famous list of deep-sky splendours.

redman

Thanks for those