**A portable, comprehensive field guide--brimming with concise
descriptions and stunning color photographs, and designed to fit into
your back pocket--from the go-to reference source for over 18 million
nature lovers.
**
Human beings have always looked to the skies: as clock and calendar, to
divine the future, for spiritual guidance. Even today, astronomers study
the night sky for the key to the mysteries of the universe, as they
literally look back in time to when it all began. By learning your way
around the sky, you can identify constellations that our ancestors knew
and even search out distant galaxies and clusters of stars that may
support worlds like our own. This guide covers the Northern Hemisphere
skies season by season, with close-up looks at 54 constellations visible
from northern latitudes, both the familiar and the less well known. This
easy-to-use pocket guide is divided into four parts: introductory essays
and drawings, illustrated tours of the sky, illustrated descriptions of
the constellations, and appendices.