Quick Reference to Night Skies of Canada

Quick reference guide to night skies.

From the back cover:

Your view of the night sky will depend on your latitude (how far north or south of the equator you are).  As the earth rotates, the portion of the sky you see will appear to move counter-clockwise around the earth's axis of rotation.  One star, Polaris (the brightest one in Ursa Minor), is close enough to the celestial pole that it appears not to move at all.  As the seasons change, the visible constellations and the time at which they rise above the eastern horizon will also progress.  From year to year, however, the stars will be in approximately the same alignment on any given day.  The four charts provided here are from a point of view in southern Canada, at 49° North latitude, at midnight or 10pm, at around the start of each of the four seasons.  Because they are meant to be used as you look upward, east and west are reversed from where they would be on a road map.  The dashed arc across the circular image of the sky is the ecliptic, the path along which our sun travels.  With the passing of every hour, the heavens appear to rotate about 15° to the west.  From day to day at the same time, they seem to move 4° to the west.  By taking these numbers into account, you can accurately use these charts for any day of the year.  The names of the constellations and stars are the standardized ones of western culture, but other traditions have their own names.

From Little Lamb:

This is a very thin lightweight guide easy to throw in a backpack or purse or perhaps a large pocket.  Quite durable and should withstand reasonable wear and tear while out on adventures.  Being specific to Canada, instead of all of North America, is a nice perk.  Lone Pine produces a great number of very handy guides regarding the outdoors and gardening in Canada, often with province specific guides and books for easy reference.  Great resources for teaching children more about various outdoor topics, such as animal and plant identification, recognizing what animal or bird made that track, and gardening.  I grew up with many Lone Pine books around the house and I'm now happy to share them with others.  Very informative and interesting for all ages, even the littlest ones will likely enjoy the beautiful pictures.

Pages: 12

Authors: Volker Bodegom

Publishers: Lone Pine Publishing 

BISAC: NAT033000

ISBN: 978-1-55105-910-5