This is a beautiful book. It is easy to ready. The illustrations are exceptionally large, clear and easy to follow. There are 101 cosmic wonders, which include planets, moons, comets, galaxies, nebulae, star cluster and other celestial objects. A large font is used so reading is a breeze. With the small telescope this book leads you on an adventure through the sky starting closest to Earth. The introduction gives guides and encouragement as the sky can be disorienting. The author emphasis patience in learning. Each object has a description of Type, Constellation, Apparent Magnitude, Coordinates, Season, and Diffuculty. This is a perfect gift for anyone with a small telescope or a companion gift with a telescope.

My 10 yr old used this for a science project. It was very easy for him to use. He just painted it and put it together. Nothing complicated, the pieces were sturdy enough for him not to break anything. I don't know if he actually use the instructions though. He did use the paint to paint the planets. We haven't seen any glowing though even though he did use that too. But even without the glowing it still looks good and he likes it.

I'm at a loss for words. Absolutely phenomenal movie. Slow pace to start and a few times I almost lost interest, but I'm glad I did not.*** WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD ***For those of you wondering about the Arecibo message and what the differences were, I deciphered them out of pure curiosity.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Arecibo_message.svg/800px-Arecibo_message.svg.pngArecibo consists of 7 parts to the message that roughly breakdown into:- The numbers 1 to 10 (top white portion)- Elements that make up DNA (purple)- Formulas for sugars/bases of DNA (green)- Number of nucleotides in DNA and double helix (white & blue)- Graphic figure of human (red), average height of man (blue/white (left of red figure)), and population of Earth (block of white (right side))- Graphic of our Solar System indicating planets and which we come from (yellow)- Graphic of where message was transmitted from (purple/white/blue)In the movie it was stated that everything was identical up until the graphic figure of a human. Which means they also used math and consisted of the same cosmic origin (DNA). So from the human figure down, these were the differences.The message WE sent:Average height - 5'9"Body Shape - average buildHuman population - 4.3 billion (back in 1974)Solar System - Sun and 9 planets with Earth shifted upwards to indicate that's where we resideTransmission Origin - A graphic of the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico.The message THEY sent:Average height - 7'5"Body Shape - Thinner buildPopulation - 65 billionSolar system - Sun and 9 planets as well, however with one major difference. They also came from the 3rd planet from the sun, but their planet was 2 dots, meaning it's huge compared to Earth and probably similar in size to Uranus or Neptune.Transmission Origin - Likely the ship that is in orbit as it's circular just like the ship appeared to be.

I spent months looking to buy this telescope in Ireland.However the cost was exuberant to say the least.Even the UK Amazon was expensive but the US Amazon -Wow! What a bargin! even with customs duty, I have saved hundreds.This is a Great Telescope.Easy setup, easy to use. Control thru your laptop, I-pad etcLarge Database preloaded with Celestial delights of Galaxies, Planets etcSturdy, Strong & Great Value for the money.The delivery was less than 3 Days! Awesome!There aren't enough boxes to tick.Great Telescope, Great Service,Fantastic!

I got this book for my 9-year-old who is both very into art and starting to lose interest in science, which is a shame because she's always seemed very interested in the stars and planets. I thought this book would appeal to both her interests very well with its colorful and honestly breath-taking depictions, and I was right. She delved right into this tome, showing me pictures as she loved them and reading me sections from it.

The 8"f6 Dobsonian telescope is popular for good reason. It is simple to manufacture and easy to use. It is car portable, gives good views of planets, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies. It is small enough to give wide field views (as wide as 2.28* with a 41mm Panoptic eyepiece), and large enough to reveal the rings of Saturn, cloud bands on Jupiter, and high magnification views of double stars.This scope by Orion has better than average optics, and provides surprisingly good views of deep sky objects. Under a dark sky I have observed four galaxies in the Virgo cluster through this telescope.To provide the best possible views, all Newtonian telescopes require collimnation, so tools for this are required. The Kendrick Laser Collimnator is excellent.Finding deep sky objects with a Dobsonian can be difficult, especially in light polluted skies. You may want to consider the Orion SkyQuest XT8i IntelliScope Dobsonian Telescope with Object Locator. This allows you to spend less time searching and more time observing. Otherwise, a 7x50 straight through finder can help.You will want a low power wide field eyepiece (32mm-40mm) for finding objects, a medium power eyepiece (12mm-20mm) for deep sky, and a high magnification eyepiece (5mm-8mm) for observing planets and "lunar orbit".

I watched Cosmos last night and absolutely loved it! The lighting, cinematography, story and acting were all spot on! You really get drawn into the story and can feel for the characters. I compare it to Spielberg in his early days when he was making great classics. I cant wait to see what the Cosmos team dreams up for their next project!

Ever since I can remember I could look up at the sky and see the patterns in the stars. While I didn’t always know what constellation I was seeing, I could always pick them out. As I got older I learned to identify several, starting with Orion. I now have put names to many of those star groupings I have been seeing since I was a small girl. Not to mention that since moving to rural Montana I have found a few more given the amazing way the night sky looks here.National Geographic’s Backyard Guide to the Night Sky is a fantastic entry for anyone wanting to learn more about the wonder of watching the stars and planets. Even if you just want to walk out your door on a clear night and look up with the naked eye this guide will show you how to identify the named constellations, give you a map to where they appear at the different times of year and teach you about the different stars and other things of note in each constellation.The book also delves into other celestial objects like the planets and their moons, artificial satellites and asteroids. meteor showers, and comets. I know how much I look forward to the annual Perseid, Leonid and Geminid meteor showers. I can also attest to the excitement of seeing comets like Hale Bop and yes, I was lucky enough to see Halley’s Comet from a deserted island in the Sea of Cortez. It was HUGE!The Backyard Guide to the Night Sky is full of information about how the constellations were chosen, why the Big Dipper is NOT a constellation but rather an asterism. (read the book. HA!) It’s part of Ursa Major constellation. You will learn about the aurora (be still my heart) and so much more.I’ve enjoyed reading a chapter here and a chapter there in between my regular reading. If you have any interest at all in ordering the stars when you look up this book will be a perfect start.I received a free copy for my honest review