Usefullness of an out of date book

[Hunter Parasite]

I have a book called The night sky for jan. to dec. 2005. it lists all the astronomical events for that year. Can it in anyway help me for observations this year?

[cpotting]

Well, without having actually seen the book...

It should still be useful for such things as which stars, constellations, nebulae, galaxies will be visible at what times of the year. Meteor showers should also be okay.

However, any time of day given for 2005 would only be "approximate" for 2006/7.

As for any other events (planets, eclipses, conjunctions, oppositions, etc), I don't think it will be of any use.

I still have my Peterson's A Field Guide The Stars and Planets from 1983. I still use the sky maps from it from time to time.

[Hunter Parasite]

thanks, i thought i had bought that book for nothing.

[buggs_moran]

Personally I am a big fan of the useful online resources.

Skymaps.com posts a nice simple skymap for each month and a list of some of the things visible with the naked eye, binocs and a telescope.

Abrams planetarium had a nice list of celestial events each month, but it is down as of this writing. Maybe they are doing work on the site...

Calsky.com is MUCH more in depth and includes a multitude of objects for observation. You will need to know how to find objects with RA and Dec. Not too bad if you have charts & setting circles or a goto telescope.