TOS Review: Celestial Almanack

Last week Thursday, when we came home from our 4 H meeting, it was such a beautiful night.  The sky was full of so many beautiful, bright stars that the children and I stayed out and gazed at the stars for a long time.  I wished I knew more about the different stars in the sky, so I could teach them to the children.  A couple of days later, I received a link to an awesome resource, Celestial Almanack  by Jay Ryan, that does just that, teaches about the night sky.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the sky displays his handiwork.
Day after day it speaks out; night after night it reveals his greatness. Psalm 19:1-2


The Celestial Almanack is a monthly publication that teaches about the night sky.  We received Celestial Almanack Vol 1 No.2 Feb 2012 and it is 21 page download that is full of information about what is going on in the night sky for the month of February 2012.  You will be able to discover that:


* The Sun is moving higher in the noon sky, and rises and sets farther to the north, and how this relates to the days growing longer;
* The constellation Orion dominates the evening skies.  Find Orion and his neighboring constellations, and how Orion can be used as a starting point for finding 35 constellations!
* Wow!  Jupiter and Venus are drawing closer this month, approaching a spectacular conjunction in March!  What an amazing sight!
* Mars and Saturn are visible earlier in the night, and are well placed before midnight;
* Discover these planets and also many bright stars on the evenings when they line up with the Moon;


and much more!


You do not need a telescope to see these beautiful, amazing sights.  They are visible to the naked eye.  With the Celestial Almanack you will:learn about the night sky, follow the phases of the moon, and discover the visible planets.  You will also learn to recognize the passing of the seasons and hoe these signs were used in the calender and celestial navigation.

Celestial Almanack can also be used as a monthly companion guide for the Signs and Seasons Classical Astronomy Curriculum.

Celestial Almanack Vol 1, No. 2 Feb 2012 costs $3.00!  and is available for purchase here.

Over the next 6 months there will be some rare sky events that the Celestial Almanack will be focusing on and you may want to be aware of:
1) the Jupiter-Venus conjunction on March 15 (once every 24 years);
2) the annular solar eclipse on May 20 (once every 18 years); and
3) the transit of Venus on June 5 (last one til 2117!)

I have to admit when I saw the $3.00 price tag, I expected it to be just a couple of pages about the moon and the stars.  Boy was I wrong!  This almanack is full of fascinating information!  It starts out explaining about the days of February and what makes it a leap year, the calender, and ground hog day.  The following pages talk about: the astronomical calender, the sign's of the seasons, seasonal skies-evening, and the dance of the planets.  What is even better was all of the different color charts and diagrams showing the moon, stars and constellations, and planets.  Even a very young child can appreciate and learn from the pages of this Almanack by looking at the pictures.  My six year old was fascinated by them, so I took him and my 2 year old out last night with me to study the sky.  He was so excited to be able to find some of the same stars in the actual sky that were on the computer!  I think the Celestial Almanack is a wonderful, inexpensive tool that can benefit anyone that is interested in learning more about the night sky.

To see what other crew mates had to say click here.

I received a complimentary download of Celestial Almanack  for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation.