Lights in the Sky

• Part 1: Identifier.- Daylight.- Dawn and Dusk.- Night.- Part 2: Astronomical and Meteorological Phenomena.- Dawn: Zodiacal light.- Season for pre-dawn sighting.- Red sky, Shepherd's warning.- Crepuscular rays.- Daylight: Haloes and coronas also detached arcs.- Sundogs and mock suns.-Iridescence.- Glories.- Heiligenschein.- Rainbows and fogbows.- Dusk: Zodiacal light Season for twilight sightings.- Red sky Shepherd's delight.- Solar pillars.- Green flash.- Spectre of the Brocken.- Mother of pearl clouds.- Volcanic dust ( Krakatoa 1888, via El Chicon 1981 to Pinatubo 1990).- Other dust: Bishop's ring, green and blue suns.- Night: Light pollution.- Milky Way.- Messier objects.- Caldwell objects.- Gegenschein.- Lunar haloes.- Lunar rainbows.- Aurorae.- Nacreous clouds.- Noctilucent clouds.- Meteors.- Other phenomena: marsh gas, fireflies: Lightning.- Ball lightning.- UFOs: Human perception.- Mistaken identities.- Astronomical and meteorological.- Man-made.- Extraterrestrial visitors?- Burden of proof.- The Fermi paradox.

From the reviews: "Most astronomy books focus on one particular area of observing. Michael Maunder's book covers virtually everything. Subtitled Identifying and Understanding Astronomical and Meteorological Phenomena, it not only covers the usual suspects like galaxies, comets, meteors and satellites, but also a whole range of weather-related phenomena such as aurorae, noctilucent clouds and solar effects. ... We did find the book useful-and it certainly makes you pay mare attention to the sky in the hope of spotting something different." (Paul Money, BBC Sky at Night, March, 2008) "A book ... about things one sees in the sky. Amateur astronomers and others who scan the night sky with regularity will find the book very useful and instructive ... . deserves to be one of the books on practical astronomy included in the series recommended by eminent English astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, and it would be an asset to any library. Filled with illustrations, mostly in color, it should be educational for any inexperienced stargazer. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty." (A. R. Upgren, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (9), 2008) "The author has made a sincere attempt to cover every possible facet of the subject. With a systematic approach, all aspects are listed - atmospheric, meteorological, optical illusions, aircraft, you name it. ... In fact, the pictures are uniformly good and nearly all in colour ... . the illustrations alone will qualify it for a place on my bookshelf." (A J Mullay, Astronomy Now, July, 2008) "Lights in the Sky is essentially a field guide to natural sky light - 14 chapters of the whys and wherefores of everything from auroras to zodiacal lights. ... People who look at the sky are big-picture people anyway. If you're one of those types, this book is for you." (Jeff Kanipe, Sky and Telescope, October, 2008) "The book describes the myriad glows, bows, halos, and glories that grace the daytime and night sky. For convenience these are divided up into the dawn glows, daytime glows, dusk glows, and night lights. ... This book provides a useful and practical guide to observing a wide range of atmospheric and astronomical phenomena - and understanding what produces them." (Chris Lloyd, The Observatory, Vol. 129 (1209), April, 2009)