7 NOVEMBER 1908, Page 43

Messrs. King, Sell, and Olding send us The Star Almanac

(3d net) and The Stars of the Year (1s. net), both by H. P. II. The first is a sheet measuring two feet six inches by one foot eight inches. In the corners are discs giving the principal stars of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In the centre is a map of the stellar universe, with measurements of tho years which it takes light to traverse the distance to the earth, these distances varying from three thousand five hundred years downwards ; also a representation, from a photograph, of the Great Nebula in Andromeda. Various items of important information are given, as the zodiac constellation, the time of the world, eclipses of 1909, the position of the planets, and the phases of the moon. We must not forget to mention two fine portraits of Sir William and Lady Huggins. It is a very ornamental exposition of astronomical knowledge. The Stars of the Year, after an introduction in which some leading facts of astronomy are set forth, gives maps for the "evening sky" in every month of the year, with "a table of the sun, moon, and planets," supplying dimensions, distances, rotation, &c.