how can I learn how to read the constellations?

Question

I want to learn how to locate planets and other spacely objects just by looking at the sky as some astronomers do. is there a book

Answer 1

I can highly recommend "Night Watch An Equinox Guide To Viewing The Universe" by Terence Dickenson. It will give you an idea of the scale of what you want to study.
There are also many sky emulators and telescope programs, both freeware and shareware available on the Internet. Many of them will teach you names of stars, constellations and deep space objects. Some will predict eclipses and locate the planets for you. Most have more features than you can shake a stick at.

Answer 2

There are many books on the market that explain the heavens, etc.There is also a new gadget on the market (about $250-300)that is like a small portable telescope. You can look at the galaxies, stars & planets and it lets you know which one you are looking at. I don't know what it is called or where it is sold but it was on the news. Maybe Sharper Image or Radio Shack carries it.

Answer 3

If you can find the book "The Stars: A new way to see them" by H.A. Rey, the guy that wrote the Curious George Books I highly recommend it mainly due to its drawings make more sense than any other book i've seen. I also recommend the program Stellarium a great open source planetarium program. You can find it at
www.stellarium.org. Happy Stargazing!

Answer 4

Try this website out. It is very fundamental.

http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/