Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe

Dickinson's star charts are very handy, each covering a reasonable field of view and mapping the most interesting amateur objects. He gives good advice for planet watching, which he notes "is one of the few astronomical activities that can be conducted almost as well from the city as from dark rural locations."

Altogether, the maxim for Nightwatch is indeed "practical": this is a book to be used, not just read. Spiral-bound to lie flat or to fold back undamaged, this is a field guide that pulls its own weight in the field. Author Timot hy Ferris says, "Like a good night sky, Nightwatch is clear and wind-free". Try it and see for yourself." --Mary Ellen Curtin, Amazon.com

Nightwatch is a balanced mix between informing the complete novice about the workings of the Universe and providing those with a bit more experience some useful star maps and tips on viewing using binoculars or small telescopes.

This book has been put together immaculately and with a lot of thought as to the layout, even down to the ring-bound spine, which helps the book stay open during star-gazing.
Its inevitable that the serious amateur will grow out of this book since it wasn’t designed to include detailed star atlases, but it should be purchased as a good starting point to familiarise yourself with the night sky.

Nightwatch is very highly recommended to anyone who wonders about our Universe.


The Best !   May 2, 2005
Craigers (Norway)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

As a new beginner to Astronomy, I bought two books, this being one of them, and the other being "Turn Left at Orion".
Both have their individual merits. TLAO is great for providing fine detail to how to find the object that you are searching for, and shows what it should look like in the telescope and/or binoculars. This is something thats missing from Nightwatch.
NW does however provide very good star maps based on individual constellations, and seasonal skycharts, all of which provide general locations for all major objects. This is what is missing from TLAO.
Used in conjunction, both books work well, however Nightwatch is the book that I prefer. Reason being, that Nightwatch is a much more complete reference book for the "seeable" cosmos. Fantastic background material and pictures of the major objects which serve to whet the appetite for scope viewing. I have located many objects through use of the constellation maps. If I have trouble finding them, that is when I turn to TLAO. NW also has the advantage of having a spiral bound format which makes the book highly user friendly in "the field"
I would highly recommend this book to anyone having a passing interest in the night sky for its sheer completeness.


Now I understand!   January 28, 2004
27 out of 27 found this review helpful

I am a beginner; I have other astronomy books, but these always seem to be impenetrable hence I was an unsuccessful and disillusioned beginner.

Within an hour of reading the book I was navigating my way around the sky with good success and growing confidence. The information is well laid out and guides you easily in simple steps. It also avoids the "list everything" approach of my other books and details those things that are worth the effort to look for (whether with binoculars or smaller telescope). I am sure that this information is in other books - but the layout of this makes it considerably more useable. Physically its ring bound; so you can fold the pages back and orientate the sky maps. Secondly it leads you step by step from a guide constellation to get an orientation and mapping this to the sky maps. Once you know what you are looking at the maps help you to see what is *worth* looking at with the equipment you have.

I am sure that I will grow out of this book at some point in time and need to use my other more encyclopaedic books - but the point is that without Nightwatch these other books would collect dust forever.


A worthwhile book for the novice/serious amateur astronomer!   April 18, 2000
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Nightwatch by Terence Dickinson is (or should be) a required reference text and guide that provides an astronomically large cornucopia of informative knowledge to the novice, as well as more informed and knowledgeable serious, amateur astronomer. Perhaps some professional astronomers would glean some delight from such a well written and well presented tome. In my humble opinion, this massive missive is a necessary addition to any library requiring extra books.