Astronomy Books

If you're looking for a unique children's bedtime story with an astronomical theme, pick up There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars . This beautifully illustrated book helps children discover the magic of the night sky, the growing problem of light pollution, and what can be done to save the vanishing stars. There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars (Available on Amazon.com)

 

 

The third edition of Nightwatch continues its tradition of being the best handbook for the beginning astronomer. Terence Dickinson covers all the problems beginners face, starting with the fact that the night sky does not look the way a modern city-dweller expects. He discusses light pollution, how to choose binoculars and telescopes, how to pronounce the names of stars and constellations, telescope mounts, averted vision, and why the harvest moon looks especially bright. Most of the lovely photographs in the book were taken by amateurs, which gives the section on astrophotography a particularly inspirational gleam.

 

Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars (Discovering Women in Science)
EnHeduanna: Chief Astronomer of the Moon Goddess of the City
Hypatia of Alexandria: Astronomer, Engineer, Physicist, Inventor
Hildegard of Bingen: Heard the music of the spheres
Caroline Herschel: She and her brother revolutionized the study of astronomy
Marla Mitchell: The most famous American astronomer of her time
Williamina Stevens Fleming: Founding mother of the Harvard women astronomers
Annie Jump Cannon: Built a star catalog of more than 350,000 stars
Henrietta Swan Leavitt: Discovered a way to measure distances between stars
Antonia Caetana Maury: Developed a new system for classifying stars
Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin: Called the most brilliant astronomer of her generation
Helen Sawyer Hogg: Canada's favorite astronomer for fifty years
Margaret Burbidge: Described the way chemical elements form in stars
Nancy Roman: Pioneered radio astronomy and orbiting observatories
Beatrice Tinsley: A brilliant career cut tragically short
Jocelyn Bell Burnell: Discovered quasars
Margaret Geller: Found structure in the Universe
Carolyn Shoemaker: Looks for comets that threaten Earth
Sally Ride: Astrophysicist and first U.S. woman in space
Jill Tartar: Searches for extra-terrestrial life
Wendy Freedman: Builds big telescopes and settles Hubble Constant