08/27/2024 Update: We are now accepting PRE-ORDERS for the 2025 RASC Observer's Handbook. By pre-ordering, you ensure your copy is reserved for you since quantities are limited. You will be charged now for this pre-order, but your product will not ship until December. This is the same process we have used in previous years for pre-ordering the RASC Handbook and Calendar.
We recommend placing an order for ONLY RASC pre-order items (Handbooks and Calendars) without other items on the order. Your ENTIRE ORDER will ship in one package in December. If you order other items on the same order, they will NOT ship until December.
**You must agree to the terms on the drop down item at the bottom of this page in order to add this item to your shopping cart.**
PLEASE NOTE: Handbooks will likely ship by USPS Media Mail, unless you select Priority Mail for your order. This helps us keep the best price for our customers on the item and the shipping. Shipping by Priority Mail will not expedite your order; it will still ship in December and in queue order. We work very hard to get orders shipped so they arrive before December 24, if they are placed by November 23.
The Astronomical League is the place to get the RASC Handbook and Calendar each year. These are great items -- If you haven't tried either before, this is the time and place. Many customers who purchase these items for the first time become repeat customers the very next year. The AL has secured very special pricing on these items and is passing the savings on to our customers.
ORDER EARLY to reserve your copy at the Astronomical League's special price ..... quantities are limited.
The 2025 edition is available in a special USA version! Applicable sections have been tailored to the USA!
League Sales is only selling the USA version.
Discounts for 10+ copies available! See
https://store.astroleague.org/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=200
The RASC Handbook, published since 1906, is an approximately 350-page guide published annually by The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. With more than 40 contributors annually, the RASC Handbook is appropriate for professional and amateur astronomers, students, Scouts, and others, and is considered a must-have reference of North American sky data for the active astronomer.
There are two primary kinds of data in the Handbook: information on astronomical events that occur during the current year, and astronomical data and other information that does not vary from year to year.
Yearly data includes such topics as: rise/set times for Sun and Moon; eclipses; location of the planets and bright asteroids; periodic comets; times of meteor showers; star occultations by the Moon/asteroids; orbital positions of the brighter satellites for Jupiter and Saturn; and cycle information of many variable stars.
Recurring data includes such topics as: orbital/physical data on the planets and their satellites; astronomical and physical constants; some optical properties of telescopes/binoculars; information on filters for astronomical observing; light pollution and sky transparency; descriptions of the various systems of specifying time; information on the Sun including sunspots and aurorae; a list of meteorite craters in the US and Canada; advice on using the RASC Handbook for teaching astronomy; information on the Gegenschein and zodiacal light; 40 pages of tables dealing with stars, star clusters, nebulae and galaxies; and maps of the Moon and the entire stellar sky.
Regular retail for this Handbook with shipping from Canada is $54, but the Astronomical League buys a bulk order and passes the savings on to you.
Quantities are very limited.
Order your Handbook now, don't wait.
