• Grade: 5 to 12

An abundantly illustrated guide to the year's best stargazing season.

"Summer brings with it fine stargazing weather; it also happens to be the time of the year when our galaxy, the Milky Way, arches high across the sky."
-- Terence Dickinson

The cool, clear nights from May to October offer astronomers the best opportunities for stargazing. Few sights in nature can compare with the splendor of a dazzling star-filled sky.

Summer Stargazing captures the grandeur of the universe with down-to-earth simplicity. All that is needed is a reasonably dark night sky, a pair of binoculars or a simple telescope, and this book.

The book features everything else the amateur astronomer needs, including easy-to-use color star charts that cover the entire North American sky for one year and photographic-quality charts for this main stargazing season.

With Summer Stargazing, astronomers can delve into the majesty of the starry night to explore:

• Planets of the Solar System
• Galaxies
• Remote star-forming nebulas
• Glittering star dusters and more.

Helpful advice is given for safely viewing special phenomena such as eclipses and auroras.

Summer Stargazing is both a stargazing guide and a pictorial celebration of the summer night sky.

Terence Dickinson, one of Canada's best-loved amateur-astronomy writers, gained renown for unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos. His down-to-earth style made him the award-winning best-selling author of 14 astronomy books, including NightWatch, The Backyard Astronomer's Guide, The Universe and Beyond and Hubble's Universe. The cofounder and former editor of SkyNews, Canada's national astronomy magazine, Dickinson was a recipient of the Order of Canada and two honorary doctorates. He died of complications from Parkinson's on February 1, 2023.

Terence Dickinson's profile page

An informative, useful, and beautiful guide to observing the summer night sky above North America. Illustrated with charts, many full-color photographs, including excellent ones by the author, this large-format book features succinct, readable discussions of topics such as binoculars, telescopes, observation sites, moon watching, stargazing, comets, auroras, eclipses, meteor showers, and identifying constellations ... This is precise, readable, and handsomely produced.

Booklist

An unusually attractive and straightforward introduction to the heavens.

Scientific American