Built in Baltimore in 1797 under orders from President George Washington, USS Constellation is one of America's first warships, and according to this new study, remains the nation's oldest surviving warship. With the book's publication, the author believes he has put to rest a decades-old controversy among naval historians, the U.S. Navy, local governments, and various historic ship foundations. He argues that though greatly modified since built by David Stodder, the ship now berthed in Baltimore's Inner Harbor is indeed the original Constellation. Tracing her history from frigate to sloop of war, Footner examines Constellation's exciting operational history and four rebuilds, including her last in 1853, when John Lenthall, the Navy's chief constructor, redesigned her extensively.

Contains 250 questions and answers about astronomy, particular for the amateur astronomer.

Learning the constellations is difficult. Remembering them is even harder. Have you ever wanted to look up to the night sky, name any pattern of stars and be able to tell their stories? This book groups the constellations in a logical order, so that the reader can easily learn them by their origin, and see how their stories interact with one another as a group. The last pages of this book include an index of all 88 constellations, each with a slot where you can write your own personal tips and tricks in order to memorize them with ease. The Constellations Handbook is not just another guide listing all the constellations from A to Z and their location, it is the perfect companion for stargazing, and a learning journey through the ages.

"l hope that people all around the world never forget what a wonderful thing it is to lie on your back and look up at the stars" Pete Seeger What is the fascination that constellations hold for people? There are probably as many different answers to that question as there are people. For many, though, the constella tions are the stepping-off point into the fabulous, mind-bending discoveries and concepts of modern astronomy. For others it is their long and intriguing history that beckons. For some people the constellations provide the means for navigation and orientation over the surface of the Earth, and of course there are the millions who place some faith in horo scopes. But for most people the patterns in the sky are a beautiful part of their environ ment to be treasured alongside the forests, fields and rivers that make life worth living. However just as we are losing our green environment to pollution, so we are losing our sky. The glow from cities across the world swamps the stars in the night sky. Astronomers have had to retreat to remote mountain tops to escape that light pollution. The rest of us must make do with what is available. From the centre of a city, or any other brightly lit area, probably no stars at all will be visible even on the clearest of nights. From the suburbs, the brighter stars should normally be seen.