Touring the Universe through Binoculars

Touring the Universe through Binoculars

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About this book

You've heard the phrase "two heads are better than one?" Well, when it comes to viewing the night sky, two EYES are better than one, as well. And while many of us began our night sky pilgrimage using binoculars, often those binoculars were quickly cast aside in order to "graduate" to telescopes.

Binoculars are NOT just a beginner's steppingstone on their way to their first "real" telescopes; they are valuable observational tools in their own right. Touring the Universe Through Binoculars proves just that by discussing the entire binocular universe, listing more than 1,100 sky objects from celestial pole to celestial pole. 

 

Table of contents

 Chapter Page
Why Binoculars ? 1
The Moon 3
The Planets 25
Minor Members of the Solar System 37
The Sun 47
Stellar Happenings 55
A Survey of the Night Sky 81
Appendices
Caveat Emptor! (Let the Buyer Beware!) 263
Mounting Concerns 269
Care, Maintenance and Other Tidbits 276
Binocular Manufacturers 279
Converting Universal Time to Local Time 281
For Further Information 283
Bibliography 285
Index 287

 

 

About the author

Philip S. Harrington is a former staff member of New York City's Hayden Planetarium and instructor at the Vanderbilt Planetarium in Centerport, New York. He is an adjunct professor at Suffolk County Community College, Selden, New York, where he teaches courses in stellar and planetary astronomy. He is a founding member of the Westport Astronomical Society and is also one of the coordinators of the annual Astronomer's Conjunction, held every summer in Northfield, MA. He has authored 9 books including this one in the field of amateur astronomy and for his many contributions to this field across the past five decades, he was awarded the 2018 Walter Scott Houston Award at that year's Stellafane convention in Springfield, Vermont.

 

Reviews

"The descriptions...give readers the feeling that someone is standing next to them explaining what they are seeing... I recommend it to anyone who wants a good guide to the beauty of the night sky. Philip Harrington has done an excellent job of sharing his universe with the rest of us." Michael Porcellino, Astronomy magazine (March 1991)

"Harrington's book...is unusual in that, unlike other guides intended for binocular users, it is not a watered-down list of leftovers culled from manuals written for telescope owners. Instead, the author works hard at addressing the special problems encountered when observing with binoculars. His pages are filled with objects that most manuals never mention because they are not suited for the narrow fields of view offered by telescopes." Walter Scott Houston, Deep-Sky Wonders column, Sky & Telescope (February 1991)

"...at least a half dozen books on binocular observing are available. The latest of these is the biggest and in many ways the best....Touring the Universe Through Binoculars is a wonderful new resource...It will be a standard on our shelves for years to come." Alan MacRobert, Sky & Telescope (March 1991)

 

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