Kathleen, I second Patricks endorsement of the Edmund material. Is it still in print? There is also quite a bit of fundamental astronomy, along with atm projects, in "All About Telescopes" by Sam Brown, another old Edmund publication. A planisphere is almost mandatory, and handy as heck. I have several stashed in various places, should the need arise. There are a couple of mini-planispheres available now that allow one to hide in the glove compartment, alongside those 10x25 mini binos and my insurance card & registration. For familiarization on a more detailed level, I have always liked Burnham's Celestial Handbook, in three volumes. I still carry my beat-up hardbacked set with me to the eyepiece. My primary atlas until 1996 was the 50-year-old-coordinates Skalnate Pleso (Rocky Lake Observatory), which I laminated in about 1977. I think I bought it from Patrick at the planetarium. Still my public star-party atlas. Now I like Sky Atlas 2000 and Uranometria 2000. Saving my bucks for the Millenium Atlas. But probably THE single most motivating and instructional material for me as a novice was Walter Scott Houston's monthly column in Sky & Telescope: Deep Sky Wonders. Selected material from the column have been reprinted in book form, available from Sky Publishing. Chuck --- "Warner, Kathleen" <kwarner@acs.utah.edu> wrote:
Hello all:
I'm also interested in hearing your thoughts on any books and/or software you have found useful in helping you to become more familiar with the night sky. If there are also some websites you have used to do this, I'd like to hear about those too.
Thanks all, Kathleen Warner
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