This should be a mandatory buy for any backyard astronomer! It's an excellent (and small) atlas for star and object tracking. Works great for use with binoculars or a smaller telescope. For a larger telescope I'd recommend the Cambridge Atlas but this version is excellent.

One plus I find with this version (compared to others) is that when looking at a chart, the author provides an indicator on the edge of the chart which chart is nearby. So no having to hunt back to the index chart to figure out which chart to use.

No other atlas of this size packs the ease of use and object identification as this little guy. I've used at least a dozen small atlases for astronomical observing using small telescopes (4" to 14") and this is the easiest most informative atlas yet.

On the down side is the fact that it isn't for beginners. BUT, beginners should get this as it will help them become proficient and experts at locating the thousands of objects few people realize are available for observing in the night sky.

Fabulously detailed in a user-friendly package, this is the perfect guide to use at the eyepiece -- big enough to cover everything most amateur astronomers would want to see, but small enough to be convenient and portable. This is a compendium of sky maps -- no mythology, no astro-science, no photographs, just detailed maps of the sky - including double stars, variable stars, Messier and NGC objects and more, covering the entire sky (northern and southern hemispheres). This is an indispensable guide for the serious amateur astronomer and is highly recommended.

This "Jumbo" edition of the S&T _Pocket Sky Atlas_ is better than the original, because the maps and print are larger and easier to read. It no longer fits in a pocket (well, neither did the original, unless you had overly large pockets), but it is easier to use than Wil Tirion's _Sky Atlas 2000.0_, because it fits on a table better.

This atlas has been a great resource for my field observations. Its good for when you need a fast but detailed view of certain constellations. I enjoy browsing through it as well. I like the clear graphics and object reference indexing in the rear as well as the special enlarged area maps. The organization by season and North to South is easy to follow.