Now in its 7th edition, this introduction
to the night sky for beginners has been in print since 1987 and
has earned some enthusiastic reviews. The Monthly Sky Guide (MSG)
was originally the working title; we never found anything
better.
In many ways MSG continues the tradition of 19th-century books
such as R. A. Proctor’s Half
Hours with the Stars. Each month
opens with an all-sky chart for mid-evening by Wil Tirion,
which is followed by descriptions of the main objects on show
with detailed charts of particular constellations of interest.
The book is intended for northern-hemisphere users only.
Information on the visibility of the
naked-eye planets for a five-year period was included at the
publisher’s request; eclipses were added in the fourth
edition. This time-dependent information introduces a degree of
obsolescence into the book, although the bulk of the text
refers to objects visible each year and so does not date.
Full-colour printing was introduced with the 6th edition in
2003; previous editions had been printed in two colours only.
The seventh edition (MSG7) was published in 2006
featuring improved maps by Wil Tirion. The planetary and
eclipse information in MSG7 covers 2007–2011. The book is printed
from layouts supplied by me in Quark XPress. The same printing
is sold in the UK, US, and Canada. Danish and Greek
translations are currently in print.
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