This book is great for those that are interested in space and want to see what you can find with a telescope or without. There are a bunch of great tips in the beginning so you can know what might be visible to you or not.It then takes you through all the cool things you might be able to see. I'm looking forward to trying this book out during our next camping trip!

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have been enjoying astronomy books lately, especially ones geared towards kids or newbies. This one is fun and inviting and I would recommend it for anyone gift hunting for a stargazer.

Nonfiction | 8 to Adult
Here’s an excellent gift for a new astronomer of any age. I’ve already ordered a print copy for myself. Simple illustrations make it accessible for the youngest readers, and it’s both useful and informative for all new stargazers. Barker opens by recommending you find dark skies at a high altitude if you can, choose a clear night, give time for your eyes to adjust to the dark (so bundle up!), and don’t worry if you don’t have a telescope. In fact, Barker even cautions the reader against buying a bunch of gear to get started – just go outside and look, ideally from an isolated camping spot. She supports this in how the book is organized – sights that are easily found with the naked eye, things that will be easier with a telescope, and “a few things that are trickier still” but can still amaze you thanks to the Internet.
After a few pages of helpful information to explain about latitude, seasonal skies, star charts and “rules of thumb” to help you figure out astronomical distances, Barker delves into the skies, introducing readers to constellations, galaxies, stars, comets, planets and even how to find the Apollo 11 moon landing site. Nilsson’s illustrations are in blue ink, giving step-by-step instructions to help you find your goal. Barker offers sights for viewers year-round, in both the southern and northern hemispheres, and encourages readers to build on their knowledge. Once you have found Orion’s Belt, you can find Sirius the Dog Star, Betelgeuse, the Pleiades, and the Orion Nebula. Barker also encourages viewers to follow stars and constellations throughout the year, and guides readers into discovering even more within familiar sights with binoculars or a telescope. She offers tips like trying a few hours later if you only see three of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, or looking for the larger northern polar ice cap on Mars. She finishes with a two-page glossary and a page of apps and online sources. This is an absolutely terrific new title for budding and amateur astronomers. My thanks to Princeton Architectural Press for the digital reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
More discussion and reviews of this title: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43886271

On a clear, bright night away from the light pollution of city lights and noise, I enjoy sitting back and looking up at the stars. If you’ve grown up in urban or suburban life I highly recommend you find time to get away from the noise and activity, ideally during a time when major activity is taking place to take advantage of the opportunity to see a busy night sky. Activity is based on timing and positioning - time of day/evening when the various constellations move about the sky and reach their peak position; time as in season of the year as the earth tilts on its axis, various stars and planets are more or less visible; positioning is your location on earth, relative to the activity and view in the sky. If you are really interested in seeing what the sky has to offer, pay attention to events such as meteor showers, eclipse, Northern lights, etc. as they provide many opportunities for the curious to see more activity with less “down time.”

I would also recommend a telescope. Understanding this is not feasible for everyone it is extremely helpful and be the best way to observe several of the scenarios described by the author. There is, thankfully an alternative, several actually. There are multiple apps available on the iOS and Google Play stores that will leverage GPS and AR (Augmented Reality) to superimpose the stars, constellations, space stations, Milk Way, planets etc. into their proper positions in the night sky to help you identify what you are looking at. While these apps provide a lot of detailed information and assist you with positioning and peak times, do not become so engrossed in the app that you are not watching the sky itself...an app will not tell you when a shooting star zips across the sky or pieces of a rocket ship in orbit pass by overhead.

The book is a helpful, universal (no pun intended) guide to get amatur star-gazers accquainted with our massive solar system. Depending on your location and time of day/season you will always have something new to look at and explore further. So much of life on Earth remains dependent upon celestial bodies, neighbors, surrounding us in the sky. If you find yourself far enough North and far and away from cities and massive light pollution you will notice the sky looks dusty or hazy...that’s the Milky Way! Wolf Lake in Canada around this time in Fall (Oct) is wonderful for stargazing in addition to a clear view of the Milky Way. The book acts as a solid early beginners guide to stargazing, and while it is meant for anyone to be able to pick up, the author does not shirk from the level of detail. One suggestion I would make, and this could be an individual issue on my end - the digital copy either is missing pages or did not organize them correctly in the right order. For example I am reading chapter 26, I flip the page and it is chapter 20.

This is a straight forward basic book on how best to view the night sky and 50 interesting things to see. It covers using both the naked eye, binoculars and telescopes along with the best times to view the items in the book.

I recommend this book for those looking for a good introduction to night time viewing of the sky.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook  page.

I enjoyed this distinctive book – I've seen guides to the constellations before (and perhaps books about the drugs you need to be on to have invented them in the first place, but that's a different matter), but this book covers more. After sensible and useful advice about what to look and what not, and how, we see our 50 objects, ranked in ease of sight, from many naked eye things down to things you need an astronomy club's richly-bought telescope for, and on to the Hubble. It's a small shame that that ranking leaves us once or twice with things presented in the wrong order – find B by finding A, when we've not got to A yet – but that's not too common. A bigger problem might be that with the extended need of technology to see these things, so the book assumes a much greater knowledge – M13 is an example, where we get told to find things that help us spot it, even though we're never guided to those first things. I felt we were at a distinct advantage at the end if we'd noticed there was a glossary, when it seemed ideally user-friendly to start with. So it's not perfect, but in adding lunar mare, atmospheric effects like sun dogs and so much more to the things the stargazer primers usually stick to, it gets my vote. A healthy four more stars to look at.

This guide gives an in-depth description of 50 stars and other bodies within the night sky, telling you how to view them (including what you might need in order to do so), where to look, what each body is and how it came to be seen in the night sky, and the stories that have been told about it. It's a great guide to stargazing that will intrigue, captivate, and entertain child and adult stargazers alike!

This is a simple but grown up book that will appeal to all ages.
The next step up from an I Spy book, it is all things to astronomy. It takes a confusing subject, and amid the vastness of the universe it brings looking up into the night sky within everyone’s grasp.
It made me want to rush out into the darkness and look up and marvel at the constellations. It made me want to buy a powerful telescope or binoculars.
However, the author was ahead of me and held me, the reader in check. By starting with the familiar and those objects visible with the naked eye, a clear and detailed journey was started through the night sky.
I have always been fascinated by the moon, planets and the stars. I remember an early school trip to the planetarium and spooky black and white coverage of The Sky at Night with Patrick Moore.
Sadly my enthusiasm and interest has never been sustained. I think it is like a number of natural sciences. I see a bird where birders see a curlew. I see a pattern of stars where astronomers point out the constellation. This book is the motivation to get out and started in this interest. It cautions about buying equipment and advises to join a club and attend special night watches. It tells you where to look, the best conditions, explains the time to adjust to night sight and stresses health and safety aspects around looking at the sun.
The book is cleverly illustrated with the steps to take to plot yourself across the space all around us. It encourages one to look up those pictures on the internet where powerful telescopes have captured stunning images.
Loved it. Would give it to any young person or friend in desire of a new hobby or keen to explore science.
It finishes with a glossary of terms most of which have already been spoken of in the text. Furthermore there are details of the best apps and websites on this subject.
A book which is perhaps 50 years too late in my life; yet many of these discoveries have only been made within my lifetime. I commend it to everyone and I hope it is well received and flies and takes a new generation into space and their imaginations.

I have always loved observing the sky so I loved getting to read this. It is a great introduction for anyone who doesn't know much about this topic. I loved the illustrations, and how there were a lot of fun facts and information on many different things that can be observed in the sky, without being overwhelming and over explanatory. This book makes you want to go out and observe the sky, see what you can spot and then dig deeper by internet research or joining a local astro group!
I would love to see the final copy though, because the ebook was all mixed up and made it difficult to read.

The final e-book I finished in May was an arc copy of a book that doesn't come out until much later this year but it sounded interesting so I read it early. It's a non-fiction read about...you guessed it, things you can see in the sky such as constellations, galaxies, planets and much more. There's so much interesting and beautifully illustrated information within this book that kept my attention and made me want to look up more information about certain specifics mentioned in the book. My only negative is that the arc/advanced readers copy I received was all jumbled in terms of it's layout and the pages which made for a confusing reading experience but regardless of that technical issue, it's an interesting non-fiction read that I'd recommend.

50 Things to See in the Sky is a super cool guide to discovering the mysteries of the universe hiding in the night sky. The book goes beyond the constellations we’ve all gazed at for years, expanding to include nebulas, sun spots, and a number of other wonders I’d never have thought to search for. As an adult reader, I realized how much I’ve missed out on when just glancing up every now and then as I move about the world. With a telescope, a little knowledge, and a bit of determination, you can see things that would have blown the minds of the masses a few short centuries ago.

I was most surprised at the in-depth nature of the guide. This isn’t just a list of things in space for you to check off. With each thing, you get a description of what makes it special and a set of instructions and optimal viewing parameters to follow for the best effect. Each entry is different, with some pointing out the various parts of a constellation and others giving the optimal dates to view a comet or the spots on a distant planet. It’s extremely accessible, making it the perfect companion for adult and child stargazers. Some equipment is needed for a few of these hard to see phenomenons, but it’s definitely worth it.

The illustrations add the perfect touch. It’s a great minimalist style that mirrors the distance removed when stargazing. We’re only seeing a minutiae of the details when we look to the sky and the artwork brings that haziness a bit closer while still leaving it up to the imagination to fill in the details.

Overall, 50 Things to See in the Sky is a great read that gave me a renewed appreciation for the many things just waiting to be seen. It’s a great fit for stargazers who want to expand their knowledge of what lies beyond.

Review to be published on 10/1: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/10/01/50-things-to-see-in-the-sky-book-review

This is a fascinating book that helps you learn how to observe the objects in the sky above us. It begins with instructions on what you will need and some tips and tricks to get the most out of your experience. The first 22 objects are things that can be seen with the naked eye - the north star, the moon landing site,and the space station. The next 14 you will need binoculars or a telescope to assist you in viewing - Andromeda Galaxy. and the Orion Nebula. The last 12 you will need and observatory or a website that show pictures from the Hubble. The authors include step by step instructions on how to locate a see each of the 50 things.they have included history and stories and background on each. There are diagrams and drawing along with advice and tricks on how to enjoy your viewing..This is a wonderful book in easy to read language.suitable for elementary age to adults. Resources and websites along with a glossary of astronomical terms is included.