Astronomical Calendar 2010 - by Universal Workshop

This famous atlas-sized annual book is the most widely used and most attractive guide to what will happen in the night sky throughout the year.

Each page is the size of three or four of an ordinary book, allowing large spreads of mixed diagrams and text.

The Astronomical Calendar has been published continuously since 1974, and is used by about 20,000 (amateurs, telescope-owners, clubs, teachers, planetariums, libraries, enjoyers of the sky) in over 100 countries.

An introduction explains how to use the various components of the book and, if you are a beginner, what to select at first (since there are so many levels of information). For each month there is a large map of the evening sky; facing it, a diary of 40 or so events, many with paragraph-long descriptions.

Other features on the monthly pages are diagrams of where the planets are in their orbits, "Constellation Clues," "Telescopic Tour", "Observer's Highlights," and sketches of the most striking sky scenes.

Supplementary sections include Highlights of the Year, The Sun, The Moon, Special Moons, Young Moon and Old Moon, Eclipses, Occultations, each of the planets, Asteroids, Comets, Meteor Showers, Spaceflight, Deep-Sky Profiles, Light Pollution, Glossary, Magnitude and Elongation, Rising and Setting, Quick Reference, and a colored centerfold all-sky map. Some features are contributed by experts Fred Schaaf, Clifford Cunningham, Alastair McBeath, Alan Hale, Joe Rao, and Richard Nugent.

The cover painting and story for 2010 are about possible alignments of ancient Mayan temples with the sky—such as the pyramid at Palenque with its secret internal stairway—and about the three Mayan calendars.


Contents:
Cover-painting story
For the Beginner
Explanation of the Main Features
MONTH BY MONTH
Highlights of the Year
Sun and Seasons
The Moon
Special Moons
Young Moon, Old Moon
Dark of the Moon
Strip-Chart of the Moon
Eclipses (by Joe Rao)
CENTERFOLD MAPS
Mercury and Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus and Neptune
Pluto
Asteroids
Comets (by Alan Hale)
Meteors (by Alastair McBeath)
Occultations (by Richard Nugent)
Spaceflight (by Clifford Cunningham)
Light Pollution (by Fred Schaaf)
Deep-Sky Profiles (by Fred Schaaf)
Glossary
Magnitude, Elongation
Quick Reference
Rising and Setting