Material Goodies
The OBU Bookstore
- The following items, always stocked in the OBU Bookstore for
your convenience, are recommended to help you, your family or your
students to become familiar with the night sky.
- Mail orders are accepted.
- Call (405) 878-2411 or send check or credit card
information to: OBU Bookstore, 500 W. University, Shawnee, OK
74801.
- Shipping and handling charges: $3 if the order is under
$25; $4 if $25 to $50; $4.50 for $50.01 to $75; $5 for $75.01
to $100; and if over $100, 5%.
- Chet Raymo, 365 Starry Nights. $15.00. This
book is a wonderful introduction to the night sky for 15 minutes
each night of the year. We recommend it to families as the one
book most likely to make you at home under the starry night. You
will be introduced to the constellations, interesting deep-sky
objects accessible to the naked eye or with binoculars, along with
stories about their mythological lore. Raymo manages to pack in a
surprising amount of astronomy into a very readable volume. This
book is required for GNSC 250
Planetarium Operations. We also recommend Raymo's easy-reading
reflections on astronomy, The Soul of the Night.
- Miller Planisphere. $6.65. The bookstore
continually stocks 5.5 inch Miller planispheres for 30 degrees
north latitude (Shawnee is 35 degrees north). These handy maps of
the night sky work every night every season of the year, and fit
in a purse or the small pocket of a backpack. Ten inch
planispheres are easier to use but less convenient to carry, and
40 degree planispheres are more suitable for Kansas or Colorado
nights. These are available at the bookstore or directly from
Astronomics in Norman, 2401 Tee Circle, or
1-800-364-0858.
Other Recommended Items
- Constellation Station
- A game for 1 to 4 players (more if you play in teams), great
for rainy-night parties or to help families become familiar with
the names and features of the 88 constellations. Multi-skill
levels enable knowledgeable and novice players, or parents and
children of different ages, to play together with equal chances of
winning. A NOVA science game manufactured by
Aristoplay.
- A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets
- Menzel, Donald H. and Jay M. Pasachoff. Peterson Field Guide
Series. Houghton Mifflin, latest version. Highly recommended: This
guide, plus Chet Raymo's book, a planisphere and a few nights each
month outdoors, are all you need to become familiar with the
nighttime sky.
- Magazines
- If you are using the above resources to become familiar with
the night sky and want more on a regular basis, consider
subscribing to
StarDate
(recommended for beginners or families) or
Sky and Telescope
(recommended for serious amateurs). Other magazines include
Astronomy and Mercury (published
by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific).
- Looking for a
Telescope?
- It would be wise not even to begin to think about buying a
telescope until you have become familiar with the stars, perhaps
through investing in Raymo's book, a planisphere, a field guide,
or one or more of the subscriptions mentioned above. If you think
you are ready, then ask about our skywatching seminars, and by all
means read The Light-Hearted Astronomer, by Ken
Fulton, available from Astronomics in Norman, 2401 Tee Circle, or
1-800-364-0858.
- The Ultimate
- Eventually every serious amateur astronomer needs their own
copy of Burnham's Celestial Handbook. This
three-volume labor of love is like Raymo's book cubed: an
indispensable treasure-trove of constellation lore, star types and
positions, and helpful descriptions of every kind. It is durably
bound by Dover Press, and available in hardback or paperback from
Astronomics in Norman, 2401 Tee Circle, or 1-800-364-0858.
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