Celestial Delights The Best Astronomical Events Through 2020 (Springer New York, 2012)
Preface -- Chapter 1: The Meaning of the Sky -- Chapter 2: Moon Dance -- Chapter 3: Morning Stars, Evening Stars - Venus and Mercury -- Chapter 4: Eclipses of the Sun and Moon -- Chapter 5: Mars - the Red Wanderer -- Chapter 6: Distant Giants - Jupiter and Saturn -- Chapter 7: Introduction to the Starry Sky -- Chapter 8: Meteors and Meteor Showers -- Chapter 9: Unpredictable Events -- Appendix A: Timetable of Celestial Events through 2020 -- Appendix B: Phases of the Moon, 2011 - 2020 -- Appendix C: Greatest Elongations of Mercury and Venus, 2011 - 2020 -- Appendix D: Oppositions of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, 2011 - 2020 -- Glossary -- Index.
Celestial Delights is the essential 'TV Guide' for the sky. Through extensive graphics integrated with an eight-year-long calendar of sky events, it provides a look at "don't miss" sky events, mostly for naked-eye and binocular observing. It is organized by ease of observation – lunar phases and the brighter planets come first, with solar eclipses, the aurora, and comets coming later.This third edition also includes a hefty dose of sky lore, astronomical history, and clear overviews of current science. It provides a handy reference to upcoming naked-eye events, with information broken out in clear and simple diagrams and tables that are cross-referenced against a detailed almanac for each year covered. This book puts a variety of information all in one place, presents it in a friendly way that does not require prior in-depth astronomical knowledge, and provides the context and historical background for understanding events that astronomy software or web sites lack.