Book excerpt: -- Perfect for beginners-- Perfect for children-- No telescope requiredExplore the night skies with this beautiful illustrated monthly guide to the stars and planets.This large-format almanac allows you to step outside and track the planets, locate the Milky Way, recognise the positions of the signs of the zodiac and watch meteor showers.Stargazers' Almanac 2012 is a beautiful month-by-month guide to the night skies. It's designed specifically for naked-eye astronomy -- no telescope required! -- making it ideal for beginners, children and backyard astronomers. It has become a popular Christmas gift -- and one which lasts the whole year round.Each monthly chart features two views of the night sky looking north and south, and a visual guide to the phases of the moon and the movements of the planets. The notes include fascinating insights into the science, history, folklore and myths of the stars and planets.This year the feature article is about how our world's calendars work. There is much talk about the Mayan calendar predicting the end of the world, or at least a cataclysmic transformation, on December 21, 2012. How does the Mayan calendar work? How does any other calendar work? Why do the dates of Chinese New Year, Ramadan or Christian Easter keep changing? Where does the week come from? Was there ever a February 30th?Stargazers' Almanac 2012 also features:-- Advice on how to navigate the night sky-- Overhead reference map of the sky-- Reference plan of constellations-- Glossary of constellations and Latin names-- Glossary of brightness of stars-- Guide to the signs of the zodiac and how they relate to the stars-- Loop and eyelet for easy wall hanging; presented in a sturdy cardboard gift envelopeThe almanac is endorsed by the British Astronomical Association's Campaign for Dark Skies. 'Sky glow' affects nearly all Britain's night skies with the result that the beauty of our starlit skies, twilight and emerging daybreak are being drowned in an orange sodium glow.Suitable for astronomy enthusiasts throughout the Northern Hemisphere's temperate latitudes.