This full size Dobsonian telescope is another ideal beginners telescope, its larger 8″ mirror collects more light and therefore offers better views of deep sky objects.

Whitehouse’s simple style draws on his own childhood aspirations and it is not hard to discern simmering frustrations as he ponders our lack of progress since 1969. From an astronaut's memoir to understanding the physics of the Universe, here are great books that each open up a new window into space. They also show a view that's right-side up and straight in front of you, making it easy to see where you're pointing. Even if you live in a densely populated, light-polluted area, there's more to see up there than you might imagine. The most exciting and informative segment is the ‘Introduction to the Lunar Atlas’, which divides the Moon into 16 sections and includes lunar photographs along with a map for the reader to learn the names of craters and mares.Over ten years ago, The Sky at Night's Chris Lintott started Galaxy Zoo, a citizen science project to classify galaxies. When you think of a volcano, you are probably thinking of something you made at school: a tall cone-shaped structure with bubbling ‘lava’ cascading down the side. An astronomical telescope's view, by contrast, is often upside down, is sometimes mirror-imaged as well, and is usually presented at right angles to the direction you're aiming. But opinions in the amateur-astronomy world are divided about whether "flying on automatic pilot," at least for beginners, keeps you from learning to fly on your own. The popular science genre is in desperate need of new voices that aren’t the typical standard we are unwittingly used to, and as a starting point I cannot recommend this book enough.

I like how the book tackles one object a day, and then leads you to a nearby star or constellation in the next. It has diagrams to show you how it will look, and practical descriptions based on his decades of experience. It takes a “star-hopping approach” where you start with the Big Dipper, and then go from one constellation to another. And as Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer say in their Backyard Astronomer's Guide, "A full appreciation of the universe cannot come without developing the skills to find things in the sky and understanding how the sky works.The Universe really will come to an end one way or another, and we have an idea how – five ideas, actually. There are billions of humans on this planet, and only a tiny fraction of us understand and enjoy the night sky. Aimed at astronomers aged from about 7 to 12 this book is a wonderful introduction to the practical side of astronomy.