Find the Constellations

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share a commission.

Find the Constellations

Find the Constellations contains star charts, a guide to the constellations, and details about seasons and the movement of the objects we see in the sky.

Buy from Amazon
About the Book

Find the Constellations contains star charts, a guide to the constellations, and details about seasons and the movement of the objects we see in the sky, this classic book makes H. A. Rey’s passion for astronomy evident on every page.

New updates concentrate on the planetary and solar system information in the latter part of the book.

Facts and figures for each planet have been revised, and new scientific information has been added, such as Pluto’s reclassification as a dwarf planet.

Within Find the Constellations, there’s also a brand-new online resource that allows readers to track the positions of the planets in the night sky till the year 2100!

About the Author:

Hans Augusto Rey was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1898. As a child, he spent much of his free time in that city’s famous Hagenbeck Zoo drawing animals. After serving in the army during World War I, he studied philology and natural science at the University of Hamburg. He then married Margret Rey and they moved to Montmartre for four years. The manuscript for the first Curious George books was one of the few items the Reys carried with them on their bicycles when they escaped from Paris in 1940. Eventually, they made their way to the United States, and Curious George was published in 1941. Read more about him here.

A Few Reviews:

“What a fantastic little book! It’s the perfect way for even a grown-up like me to get the constellations down – I think H.A. Rey himself said, “So simple, an adult could understand it”. Well put! If you aren’t already clear on constellations and want to get there (stargazing was my reason), this is a great first start. It’s also naturally perfect for kids down to the youngest ages. The book is very much enhanced by the cute little figures that make comments on the sidelines. Interested sky watchers will ultimately need one or more books, with a lot more detail. This won’t tell you a huge amount about the stars themselves, as it’s more focused on the patterns that make up constellations and the basics of the sky. His other book The Stars is more detailed, and a good second step, but for a lot of detail, you’ll also want to add in something like Nightwatch by Terrence Dickenson, or any of the other excellent, more specific guides out there. Lots of options once you have the basics down. But here’s the thing: if you don’t know the constellations, most of those more complex resources will be confusing and hard to use. A lot of star guides assume you already know how to find Sagittarius and the Great Bear (Ursus Major). They assume that you can find the Big Dipper and Orion in your sleep, that you got Polaris down pat, and that they can start with pretty much any constellation and you won’t be sitting there scratching your head trying to figure out how to get there when it’s dark outside. This book helps solve that problem. Also, I know this has been mentioned elsewhere, but it’s worth repeating: if you live in a light-polluted area (i.e., at night you see fewer than a hundred stars with just your eyes) then expect some of the stars on his charts to be “missing” or extremely hard to find unless you are using binoculars or a telescope. H.A. Rey wrote his book in 1954, and he would have found it much easier than we do today to find a truly dark sky. Most of this book should be fine even then, but get almost any pair of binoculars (if you buy new, consider 7×50 or 10×50 from Orion or Celestron, but if you already have some start with those) and that should let you find most of the “missing” stars. Or else go find a Dark Site and do your viewing from there. Of course, if you are lucky enough to live someplace with limited light pollution, all of the stars will be there!” – Amazon Reviewer Kratze

Click here for more books on Astronomy

Look Inside
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."