Author Description

A month-by-month guide to the night sky in the year 2004, together with a starfinder to make skywatching easier. The booklet features 12 monthly charts showing the night sky objects visible above the horizon late in the evening, whilst notes opposite each chart describe the visibility of the planets and the phases of the moon. The guide includes information on sunset, sunrise and nautical twilight times, in addition to a table highlighting the principal meteor showers in 2004, and notes on other important events in the astronomical calendar. The starfinder or planisphere is a device which can tell you the positions of the stars at any time, on any day of any year. It works in a very simple way: just dial in the date and time by rotating the inner plastic disk, the time, until it lines up with the relevant month and day of the year calibrated on the outer ring. The portion of sky shown on the starfinder will show the arrangement of the stars above you. An essential piece of kit for any skywatcher.