Author(s): John Cox

General

Philip's Pocket Star Atlas is a highly practical atlas in a compact format for use out of doors. It contains a series of detailed maps showing the entire night sky, as well as a wealth of useful astronomical data. It is suitable for use anywhere in the world. This popular star atlas is now in its fifth edition, for which it has been fully revised and updated. It presents the sky in a series of 18 maps, showing stars down to magnitude 5.1. This includes all stars visible to the naked eye in semi-rural conditions. Accompanying the star maps is a brief round-up of the basics of astronomy, including celestial coordinates, the ecliptic, magnitudes, spectral types, constellation and star names, the Solar System, the movements of the Sun and the Moon, eclipses and deep-sky objects. Clear and colourful diagrams help to explain these sometimes complicated concepts for the less-experienced observer. In addition, Philip's Pocket Star Atlas includes a series of tables packed with useful practical information, such as the position and brightness of the deep-sky objects marked on the maps, dates of forthcoming solar and lunar eclipses, dates for when best to observe Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, plus the dates of the major meteor showers.