Astronomy.com blog : book reviews

BOOK REVIEW: Faces of the Moon, by Bob Crelin

Matt Quandt — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:19:00 GMT

Faces of the Moon cover image

Guest review from Contributing Editor and Columnist Glenn Chaple

If you’ve ever doubted that the elegance of the night sky can be expressed poetically, you haven’t encountered Bob Crelin’s young readers’ book Faces of the Moon. With a marvelous blend of science and rhyme, Crelin tells the story of the Moon’s phases in a way that a youngster (and many adults) will understand and appreciate. Bob’s verse and artist Leslie Evans’ beautiful illustrations bring to life a complete cycle of the Moon’s phases, from one New Moon to the next.

Each phase is covered in a two-page spread comprising Crelin’s poetic description and Evan’s artistic rendering of the Moon’s appearance and location at that time. A unique feature of Faces of the Moon is the cutout windows that "animate" the phases as you turn the pages. Index tabs depicting the various lunar phases make it easy to target a specific phase – a kid-friendly approach that eliminates the need for a table of contents or index. Faces of the Moon concludes with an explanation of the Moon’s orbit and phases and a list of Moon facts (done in rhyme, of course!).

I learned about Faces of the Moon during a talk presented by Bob Crelin at the Conjunction Convention last summer. His enthusiasm was so infectious that I immediately purchased a copy of his book for my grandchildren. Recently, I took my 5-year-old granddaughter, Katie, outside to look at the Moon, both with the unaided eye and through my telescope. I then brought her inside, took out her copy of Faces of the Moon, and asked her to point to the index tab that showed the Moon the way we had seen it. She correctly pointed to the First Quarter Moon. She may have been a bit too young to understand orbits and shadows, but she had no trouble matching what she saw outside with its corresponding page in the book. A few months of showing her the real Moon and follow-up references to Faces of the Moon, and Katie will have a better handle on the Moon’s phases than most adults (except, of course, those who purchase the book for their own children).

Teachers looking for a book describing the Moon’s phases can do no better than Faces of the Moon. They’ll appreciate the book’s reasonable cost (just $16.95, plus shipping) and its non-technical approach to a topic that youngsters often find confusing. A free teacher’s guide is available at www.bobcrelin.com/FOTM-TG.pdf.

 An optional Moon Gazers’ Wheel at an additional cost of $4.95 augments Faces of the Moon. By rotating the chart to match the Moon in the sky with the phase illustrations shown in the cutout, you can name the phase and determine the Moon's position in orbit, its rise and set time, and the time of day or night that this phase is visible in the sky.

You’ll find much more about Faces of the Moon by logging on to http://www.charlesbridge.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=5191. As my friend and longtime amateur astronomer Bob “Barlow” Godfrey says, “Please consider sharing this new book and Moon Gazers’ Wheel information with your family, local educators, astronomy clubs, scout organizations, libraries, and other community-based youth organizations.”

All you need to know about a roll-off roof observatory

Michael Bakich — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:44:00 GMT

I just finished reading John Hicks’ new book, Building a Roll-Off Roof Observatory — A Complete Guide for Design and Construction (Springer, 2009). This is the latest entry in British astronomy popularizer Patrick Moore’s Practical Astronomy Series. Hicks is a Canadian amateur astronomer and a professional Senior landscape architect who has designed and built observatories for himself and others.

If you’re in the process of or thinking about building an observatory, stop. That’s right, stop. Stop thinking about it, stop building, just stop. Go out and buy this book. I have been an observer for decades, and I’ve built several observatories from scratch. That said, I learned a lot and got some great ideas in just the first 26 pages of Hicks’ book. And that’s before he even gets into any of the meaty issues.

Chapter 2, “Observatory Design Considerations,” deals with real-world issues like zoning, site requirements, and owning versus leasing. And the “Questions to Ask Before You Begin” section will start you thinking about issues better dealt with before you build than after.

Chapters 3 through 12 tackle every section of a new observatory. You’ll learn how to fabricate several types of telescope piers, pour a concrete floor, and even how to choose and locate your door.

Throughout the 144-page book, Hicks includes numerous diagrams and photographs to help illustrate his many points. In addition, Springer has included a CD-ROM with printable building plans. Oh, and one further option exists: If you’d like full-scale plans, just contact the author for details and cost.

All in all, if you know nothing about building an observatory or, like me, think you know it all, Building a Roll-Off Roof Observatory — A Complete Guide for Design and Construction makes great bedtime reading.

Book review: First Star I See Tonight: An Exploration of Wonder

Matt Quandt — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:05:00 GMT

Guest blog from Laurance R. Doyle, SETI Institute Principal Investigator

Ever forget to wonder about the stars? Robert Eklund’s First Star I See Tonight: An Exploration of Wonder will remind you. This book reminds me why I went into astronomy to begin with: The love of the stars, their beauty, grandeur, purity, playful order, our ancient ancestral relatives. Ah yes, wonder! Ah yes, perspective! I remember now.

If you have never gotten to know yourself staying up looking at stars, if you have not felt awe and gratitude for creation lately, this is the book for you. If you have not experienced membership in the long tradition — stretching back thousands of years past recorded history — of the astronomers, then you can begin to experience being a member by reading this book.

Eklund grew up in a community that was dedicated to wonder about the stars, a wonder disciplined by science but motivated by love. His father was a photographic assistant to the astronomers at the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin during the heyday of some of the greatest astronomers of modern times. Through poetry this little book helps readers understand why astronomers (and, for that matter, perhaps poets, artists, and photographers as well) spend the long hours of the night seeking the scientific answers to questions about the universe.

It is often said that it is scientific curiosity that is the motivation for a life with the stars (either professionally or not — at any rate, pay is not the motivation). But curiosity does not explain it completely, as all we who do it know. It is a love of the grandness of it all. It is the same reason one looks out the window — to be astronomers on spaceship Earth is to have the window seat.

This little book, through poetry and explanation, very faithfully communicates the love of the stars in the same way that John Muir communicated the love of trees. It is a book on what might be called the spiritual experience of astronomy, astronomy examined with the heart, the unspoken secret among all astronomers — professional and amateur of all ages — that the universe is a infinite play that we have a ticket to. If not before, you will love astronomy after reading this book.

Photo courtesy Virginia Hoge

New book keeps Apollo 11 landing alive

Bill Andrews — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:35:00 GMT

Just in time to keep the Apollo 11 anniversary celebration from dying out, out comes a book called Moonfire. Though, calling it a book seems like kind of an understatement.

Not content to simply reproduce Of a Fire on the Moon, Norman Mailer’s gripping contemporary account of the Moon landings, the publishers at Taschen also include some amazing pictures from LIFE magazine and NASA’s own archives. Many of these pictures have not been published or widely circulated before, so glancing through the pages will probably have a few surprises in store even for dedicated Apollo-philes.

From what I’ve seen, everything looks beautiful (and huge — approximately 14" by 17"; see the image below for perspective), but would it really be worth the $1,000 price tag? I know some fans who’d already think so, but to really sweeten the deal each of the limited edition books also comes with a signed picture of Buzz Aldrin in his space suit, standing on the Moon.

Maybe it’s because I was born after the space race died down a bit, but it always seemed like we became weirdly accustomed to this huge accomplishment. All the old newscasts played during anniversary coverage last week showed reporters and announcers in awe, experiencing sheer wonder, but for us now it’s old news. Even NASA’s upcoming return to the Moon leaves many underwhelmed.

It looks like this book does a superb job of capturing the excitement and awe of the original event, so for that reason alone I like it. Anything that convinces us of the importance of space travel will likely benefit all of us in the end. And, of course, Norman Mailer knew how to write and the pictures are quite pretty, so really there’s no shortage of reasons to like Moonfire.

Book review: Painting Apollo: First Artist on Another World

Matt Quandt — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:48:00 GMT

Special contribution from Astronomy magazine illustrator, Roen Kelly

Very seldom do I get a request to write for the magazine. Smart move on management’s part. However, it just so happened a book of paintings arrived at the Astronomy offices. The book, Painting Apollo: First Artist on Another World, showcases the paintings of Alan Bean. Who better to review the book but one of the staff artists?

The book is unique in that, as many of you know, Alan Bean was an astronaut. He is famous for piloting the lunar module on Apollo 12 and is the fourth man to have set foot on the Moon. At the age of 49, during the time he was training for a space shuttle mission, Bean decided to leave the space program. Why? Because he wanted to pursue his artistic talents full time. Twenty-eight years later, a body of glorious paintings fills the pages of this book.

It is fascinating to me because I illustrate pictures for Astronomy magazine all day but must rely on my imagination and references to depict scenes. Here is a person who went to space, walked on the Moon and has the ability to paint about the experience.

The book is divided in sections. Essays on Bean’s art from art critic Donald Kuspit, writer William L. Fox and museum director Louis A. Zona appear at the beginning. The book chronologically depicts Bean’s paintings from the Apollo missions from the time they were painted, 1982 to 2008. Quotes by famous writers, scientists, and visionaries appear in juxtaposition to Bean’s paintings. Afterward, Gene Kranz, Apollo flight director, describes what it was like to be a part of the space program during the time of the Apollo missions. At the end of the book are Bean’s indexed notes on his featured paintings.

Some of the paintings are didactic in nature, recording astronauts using tools and equipment. Other works are romantic and somewhat conceptual. For example, an astronaut is shown, with one foot on Earth, reaching out to grasp an object in space. The book’s reproductions pick up the expressive use of brush strokes. Large transparent footprints and craters appear on some of the paintings, as if the scenes were painted right on the surface of the Moon.

You can view a sampling of Alan Bean’s paintings online by going to www.alanbeangallery.com.

Book review: The Cambridge Double Star Atlas

Michael Bakich — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:58:00 GMT

A new reference, The Cambridge Double Star Atlas (Cambridge University Press, 2009), just arrived at the magazine. Written by experienced observer James Mullaney and beautifully illustrated by renowned celestial cartographer Wil Tirion, this is a comprehensive and gorgeous work.

The Cambridge Double Star Atlas is the first modern star atlas devoted to double and multiple stars. In it, you’ll find more than 2,000 stellar pairs. The authors painstakingly labeled each with its designation. Mullaney provides a key to his labeling on pages 3–5. It takes that much space because he drew his list from 84 different discoverers, catalogs, and observatories.

The book opens with a brief introduction that I suggest everyone read. Even veteran observers will glean something new from the insights here. Next, Mullaney presents a short catalog of 133 double and multiple star showpieces. This is his “must-see” list. Mine too.

Then comes the feature you’ll use most — 30 detailed star charts by Tirion. The book ends with three appendices: a list of the constellations with the map(s) on which they appear, a table of Greek letters, and all the double stars in the book. Consider this last appendix — which spans 56 pages — as your lifetime checklist.

I’m glad to see some thought went into making this work useful to those of us who would take it into the field. The publisher spiral bound the atlas so it would lie flat when in use. The authors and publisher also used colors you can read when you shine a red light on the pages. Red is the only color of reading light to use under the sky because it best retains your eyes’ dark adaption.

Tirion also plotted many other deep-sky objects — star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies — color-coding them for easy identification. So, while the primary function of The Cambridge Double Star Atlas is double stars, the work also functions as an all-purpose observing reference.

The Cambridge Double Star Atlas is a work of enduring value. The objects it contains will be equally as good a list in 2009 as a decade from now. As a double-star observer for more than 40 years, I can’t wait to turn my 4-inch Unitron refractor toward the sky and check off the targets on Mullaney’s list. I feel a bit of a thrill thinking about how many new pairs I’ll encounter on my celestial trek.

The northern lights in 3-D

Michael Bakich — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:25:00 GMT

I just received a copy of Prelude Lake (Nightscapes 3-D Publishing, 2008), a coffee-table book that showcases great images of the aurora borealis, or northern lights. In addition to the night sky photography by Bryan Rich White, the book also comes with a music CD by Jonn Serrie.

Prelude Lake also contains more than 60 stereo images. Each is a 7-inch wide “card” with a left and right image. The author included a handheld image fuser called a lorgnette with the book. To create a stereo image, just hold the fuser about 10 inches from the stereo card, look through it, and relax. I’ve been looking at stereo cards for many years, so it’s no problem for me to see these images in stereo even without the fuser.

Just so you understand, Prelude Lake is not a science book. It’s a picture book that contains little text. One short section that will interest amateur astronomers lists the author’s equipment, film (yes, film!), exposure times, and technique.

With the 3-D images and included viewer, Prelude Lake will be a conversation piece in anyone’s home. Just don’t spill your coffee on it.

Voyage of discovery through images

Michael Bakich — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:35:00 GMT

A new book just crossed my desk. It’s Shrouds of the Night — Masks of the Milky Way and Our Awesome New View of Galaxies by David L. Block and Kenneth C. Freeman (Springer, 2008). The authors research dark subjects (cosmic dust, dark matter, etc.), and in this book, they present images and data to help readers understand what’s going on within galaxies.

Block is the Director of the Anglo American Cosmic Dust Laboratory in Johannesburg, South Africa. Freeman is a professor of astronomy at the
Australian National University.

Shrouds of the Night takes you on a whirlwind tour of astronomical photographic history right up to present-day digital imaging. You’ll see sketches by Etienne Trouvelot, Otto Boeddicker, and Sir John Herschel. Several images by English astronomer Isaac Roberts exemplify late 19th-century astrophotography.

In the 20th century, American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard created an atlas of Milky Way regions. The authors chose to reproduce a dozen and a half of his images within Shrouds of the Night. Barnard’s photographs almost single-handedly proved that dark areas within the Milky Way were not holes devoid of stars, but rather clouds of intervening dust.

As the book progresses, the authors pay homage to the past but laud present-day accomplishments. It’s only in the past several decades that technology has allowed us to view the cosmos with “alternate” eyes. Humans started observing the universe through simple telescopes. Now supercomputers, ultra-sensitive detectors, and space telescopes have extended our vision beyond the merely visible.

Present-day astronomical and cultural images make Shrouds of the Night a fascinating read. It carries the size of a coffee-table book, but rather than going at it haphazardly, you’ll want to read it through from start to finish.

Everyone loves an eclipse book

David Eicher — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:57:00 GMT

Eclipses draw amateur astronomers like magnets to exotic places to see the biggest observing events of the year. The occasional eclipse book is a relatively rare item and a treasured keepsake — memories for those who went along and a dream book for those who didn’t but aspire to next time around. I recently received a beautiful book of eclipse stories from last year titled Eclipse 2008, produced by Aram Kaprielian of TravelQuest International.

The 99-page book is loaded with color photos and stories by travelers who went along on TravelQuest’s 2008 trips to Russia, China, the North Polar region, and even by those who saw the eclipse from a jet aircraft. Paul Deans, a freelance writer and amateur astronomer who formerly was on the staff of Sky & Telescope magazine, edited the book.

The stories are fascinating: Bill Kramer describes observing totality from the aircraft, or as he calls it “from on top of the world”; Beau and Pearl Pinkerton describe their vision of totality from the nuclear icebreaker 50 Years of Victory in the Barents Sea (see image spread below); well-known amateur astronomer and eclipse weather expert Jay Anderson describes the eclipse from a beach near Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia (the same spot where Astronomy’s expedition took in the view); and Paul Deans himself describes the eclipse as seen from near Weize, China.

This is really a very nice product, and one that eclipse chasers will want to have. For more information on the book, which retails for $39.95, see its listing on www.blurb.com/.

Q&A with Stephen J. O’Meara about his new binocular book

Daniel Pendick — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:26:00 GMT

This month, Cambridge University Press published Astronomy columnist Stephen James O’Meara’s latest book for stargazers, Observing the Night Sky with Binoculars. The book — billed as “a simple guide to the heavens” — is for beginners. This is a new direction for Steve, who has published several guides to observing deep-sky objects with telescopes. I asked him why he wrote the book and how readers could benefit from it.

Pendick: How did this book come about? When and how did you get the idea?

O’Meara: It happened after I completed my research-intensive Deep-Sky Companion trilogy (The Messier Objects, Caldwell Objects, and Hidden Treasures), followed by the extensive Herschel 400 Observing Guide. These are all deep-sky works largely to challenge telescope users.

I became aware of the need for a simple book to help pure novices get into our hobby. It's something I've always wanted to do, but I didn't get fired up to write the book until I learned that a friend of mine in Boston had bought a pair of binoculars and was trying to learn the night sky.

He was struggling with some basic concepts, and he would call and e-mail me with questions. I was enjoying helping him so much, that I thought I'd take what I was teaching him and share the knowledge.

Pendick: Yes, I noticed the book bills itself as a “simple guide to the heavens.” Is this book for the true novice — somebody just making their first attempt to explore the skies with binoculars?

O’Meara: Yes, the book takes readers by the hand and helps them to learn the night sky first with the naked eye, then with binoculars. It's what I did when I was 6 years old. The approach is quite novel, in that I start out by teaching readers the basics by first getting them oriented, then by using the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) as a naked-eye and binocular proving ground. The Big Dipper asterism is not only bright and obvious, even under city lights, but it is circumpolar, so it never sets from mid-northern latitudes or higher.

After learning the basics, the reader can then go to the month they want to begin observing, and learn the brightest stars and constellations hugging the north-south meridian. It's a very simple and slow process (what's the rush?) that first targets a bright star, then the constellation it belongs to. I then have the readers explore the constellation for some of its brightest binocular wonders. The idea is that repetition leads to familiarization.

When finished, they can use the bright star or constellation they just learned as a platform from which they can then move on to other stars and constellations.

Pendick: Would you recommend that people who want to start stargazing first do the naked eye work and graduate to binoculars before buying a telescope?

O’Meara: Absolutely! Telescopes are great. I love them! But I also know how to use them and where to point them. I know the sky, so my telescope and I are a team.

I didn't start out with a telescope. I learned the stars from a star wheel that appeared on the back of a Kellog's Corn Flakes Box when I was 6. I then augmented this journey with an old pair of 7x35 binoculars that my father had in the closet and never used.

Only then — once I learned the sky, once I knew my way around the sky, once I learned about deep-sky objects in certain constellations and explored them with binoculars — did I acquire a telescope.

So, yes, I firmly believe that the first step for any beginner is to start off by learning the basics, working with something simple (like a star wheel and a pair of handheld binoculars), and "meeting" the stars, one by one. It's like a party up there, and it's easy to get lost in the crowd. So I like to take it slow. It's a very Zen approach.

That's why I think this book will be of great help. It takes that casual approach to learning the night sky that's both fun and informative. Step by step the person increases his or her finding skills and knowledge. And with that skill and knowledge comes self-fulfillment. As I like to say, you can spend an hour running through the Louvre, but in the end what did you see? What did you experience? What did you learn?

Once I introduce the reader to, say, a star and its constellation, I tell some stories about [the targets]. I try to engage their interest. The binocular challenges I include in the book will certainly test the interest level of the observer. If he or she is not excited about a wide-field binocular view, well, then maybe he or she may find the narrow field of view in a telescope even more disappointing. Those that endure in this hobby can well appreciate both the naked-eye and binocular sky, as well as the telescopic view. All of them are alluring in their own ways. That's why this hobby is so great!

Stephen James O'Meara's Observing the Night Sky with Binoculars: A Simple Guide to the Heavens is on sale now at Amazon.com and other booksellers. Let him know what you think of it at someara@interpac.net.