Simple Stargazing

A first-time skywatcher’s guide from bright new talent, BBC Blue Peter astronomer, Anton Vamplew

Most books on stargazing claim to be for beginners, but by page 12 are talking about celestial equators and sidereal months. No wonder so many people have planispheres but no idea how to use them.

Working at the planetarium in Greenwich, Anton has met hundreds of enthusiastic but utterly bemused beginners of all ages, and has made sense of the night sky for them. In this book he introduces the night sky just as if he were by your side, pointing everything out. And contrary to popular belief, you don't need any expensive equipment to start skygazing. Anton takes you through all the things you can discover with just the naked eye.

The book is suitable for use in the northern and southern hemispheres – two sections give equal coverage to where to start and what you can see wherever you are in the world, whenever.

About the author

Anton has been the BBC Blue Peter astronomer for eight years, teaches GCSE astronomy, tours schools, gives lectures at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and produces a 'live' fortnightly as astronomy section on the BBC 7 Big Toe Radio Show. Increasingly, he is quoted in The Times and other broadsheets in astronomical news stories, and is currently appearing on BBC4 and Radio 4. He is illustrating as well as writing this book, and you can check out his award-winning website at www.vamplew.co.uk