Firefly Books: The New Atlas of the Stars

4.0 The New Atlas of the Stars

Very good photos; Transparent overlays; Good glossary and index.

Not good for field use.

Imagine yourself floating in space, your vision unencumbered by light pollution or atmospheric disturbance. The heavens are full of countless stars and other celestial objects. Would you be able to identify any of the major constellations, or Messier objects? Well, this is a question that can be put to the test when you open The New Atlas of the Stars. This delightful atlas contains 30 photographic star charts of both the northern and southern skies. The photos are unadorned of any constellation names, outlines, star names, or identifying marks related to celestial objects of interest. However, there are transparent overlays that can be dropped over each photo that gives all of this info and more. Now, remove the overlay, and it's back to being lost in space! What a fun exercise to test your identification skills.

In addition to this novel idea, the book also has key maps to locate star charts, history and legends of each constellation, detailed descriptions of stars, star clusters, galaxies, and nebulae. There is also an index that includes common and Latin names of celestial objects. The book is spiral bound and printed on good quality glossy paper.

I found this book to be fun and a good read. It's a nice addition to my astronomy library.