Exploring the Solar System with Binoculars: A Beginner's Guide to the Sun, Moon, and Planets

In this journey of discovery, Stephen James O'Meara shows you how to observe our Solar System's wonders with ease, using nothing more than the unaided eye and inexpensive handheld binoculars. The guide presents a new way to identify and appreciate the wonders of the Solar System in detail, such as lunar and solar eclipses, sunspots, the Moon's craters, the planets, meteors, and comets. It is a unique observing guide for all amateur astronomers, proving you don't need big and expensive equipment to enjoy astronomy from your own backyard. You will learn a variety of skills, including how to find Venus in the daytime, how to identify faint features in bright comets, how to increase your chances of seeing an abundant meteor shower, and how to track the changing aspects of the planets and their moons. A must for Solar System explorers everywhere!

Listen to a Podcast interview by EarthSky: About Steve O'Meara: Stephen James O'Meara, award-winning visual observer, is columnist and contributing editor for Astronomy magazine and former Eye on the Sky columnist for Sky & Telescope. He is the recipient of the prestigious Caroline Herschel Award, the Lone Stargazer Award, as well as the Omega Centauri Award for "his efforts in advancing astronomy through observation, writing, and promotion, and for sharing his love of the sky." The International Astronomical Union named asteroid 3637 O'Meara in his honor. As the first to sight Halley's Comet on its return in 1985, his remarkable skills continually reset the standard of quality for other visual observers. For more exciting titles by O'Meara, please visit http://cambridge.org/us/astronomy/omeara/.