gustave
super member
Reged: 05/24/08
Posts: 149
Loc: Annandale, NJ
|
|
Does anyone know of field books with detailed information including charts of various degree field sizes for star clusters. I know there is quite a lot of NGC/Messier material online(Messier45.com for one)that one can extract,compile and and aggregate.I am currently doing this and enjoying it but I would think someone must have published a reference book on open/globular clusters that does pretty much the same.
--------------------
CPC 11
Earthwin Power Switcher
TV 101 Genesis
SV70ED
|
bicparker
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 1706
Loc: Plano, TX
|
|
Best overall book that is cluster specific is:
Star Clusters by Brent A. Archinal and Steven J. Hynes
This is a very in-depth and well written book that includes a lot of corrections and updates to earlier catalogues and references (Brent and Steven did a terrific amount of research to get the information in there as correct and up-to-date as possible). It is an easy reference to recommend.
And yes, it covers all types of clusters (open and globs).
--------------------
Bic Parker
17.5" f/5 dob
10" f/10 SCT
5" f/8 refractor
80mm f/6 refractor
66mm f/6 refractor
Plus a few others out of the rotation
|
GlennLeDrew
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/18/08
Posts: 1283
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
|
|
Another possibility that might begin to address your needs is the volume devoted to star clusters in the Webb Society series.
--------------------
Home-made 11X50 right angle bino, 8.1 deg. FOV
Modified 26X100 bino, 3.5 deg. FOV
Home-made Mk II RA bino, using interchangeable objectives and eyepieces
My Gallery
Mediocre minds discuss people. Good minds discuss events. Great minds discuss ideas.
|
gustave
super member
Reged: 05/24/08
Posts: 149
Loc: Annandale, NJ
|
|
Thank you for the info Glenn.I'm looking forward to having a look at your suggestions. Star Clusters sounds just like what I'm after.
--------------------
CPC 11
Earthwin Power Switcher
TV 101 Genesis
SV70ED
|
Tony Flanders
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/06
Posts: 3469
Loc: Cambridge, MA, USA
|
|
Quote:
Star Clusters sounds just like what I'm after.
Anybody who really cares about clusters needs to own it; it's the essential reference work. That doesn't preclude other books, of course.
Do you know about the online resources, by the way? Harris for globular clusters, WebDA for open clusters? Those are necessarily more complete and up to date than any hardcopy work.
--------------------
Tony Flanders
First and foremost observing love: naked eye.
Second, binoculars.
Last but not least, telescopes.
And I sometimes dabble with cameras.
|
JayKSC
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/01/05
Posts: 985
Loc: Florida
|
|
As others have mentioned, Archinal's and Hynes' Star Clusters is the essential reference for star clusters. It's also a good read on Cloudy Nights for its detailed chapters on the science behind these interesting objects.
- Jay
South Florida
--------------------
Refractor manic. 
My Sketches
|
stevecoe
"Astronomical Tourist"
Reged: 04/24/04
Posts: 2645
Loc: Arizona, USA
|
|
Tony;
Is it possible for you to post the complete URL for those websites?
Thanks;
Steve Coe
--------------------
TeleVue 102 refractor on CGEM mount
10 inch f/4.7 Newtonian
Author "Deep Sky Observing" Springer-Verlag
Author "Nebulae and How to Observe Them" Springer
Canon Xt astrocamera with Hutech modification
|
Tony Flanders
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/06
Posts: 3469
Loc: Cambridge, MA, USA
|
|
Quote:
Is it possible for you to post the complete URL for those websites?
Your favorite internet search engine will do the job fine. But sure.
The Harris globular-cluster database and WEBDA. Harris is pretty much self-explanatory, same cannot be said of WEBDA.
--------------------
Tony Flanders
First and foremost observing love: naked eye.
Second, binoculars.
Last but not least, telescopes.
And I sometimes dabble with cameras.
|
EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 14731
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
|
|
Quote:
Star Clusters by Brent A. Archinal and Steven J. Hynes
Star Clusters is an excellent resource, however it is a desk reference, not a field book. I own it an would recommend it, but look for another choice as a field guide.
edz
--------------------
Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards.
member#21
|
CaptainTruss
member
Reged: 07/10/06
Posts: 62
|
|
Webb Society Handbooks are great and cover everything! There's a book for each object type. They're great books and pretty darn cheap too.
--------------------
Are you a serious deep sky observer?
http://www.avertedvision.net
14.5" F/6 Truss
10" F/4.5 Truss
120mm F/8.3 Refractor
4.5" Dobsonian
ETX-70
50mm Galieoscopes
|
gustave
super member
Reged: 05/24/08
Posts: 149
Loc: Annandale, NJ
|
|
Thanks Prof...that's a good tip.
--------------------
CPC 11
Earthwin Power Switcher
TV 101 Genesis
SV70ED
|
gustave
super member
Reged: 05/24/08
Posts: 149
Loc: Annandale, NJ
|
|
Thanks Prof...that's a worthy tip.
--------------------
CPC 11
Earthwin Power Switcher
TV 101 Genesis
SV70ED
|
bicparker
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 1706
Loc: Plano, TX
|
|
Quote:
Quote:
Star Clusters by Brent A. Archinal and Steven J. Hynes
Star Clusters is an excellent resource, however it is a desk reference, not a field book. I own it an would recommend it, but look for another choice as a field guide.
edz
Ahh Ed! I still take mine into the field. It gets a little more wear, but I hate my books to look too unused  .
Just for those who don't know, the Star Clusters Book we are talking about is hardback bound in an identical manner to the Night Sky Observer's Guide, Uranometria 2000, and Arp Atlas of Galaxies volumes, all of which come from Willmann-Bell, Inc. This binding obviously makes for nice looking library references, but it is fairly robust, too, which is good if you want to use them in the field. Your choice. A lot of folks do use these in the field. They will wear well, but they will wear, just like any books will when exposed to the elements.
The Star Clusters book, in addition to its narratives, has several tables, catalog listings, and cross references that are terrific for field use (and I have used them many times). And there are, of course, many reference photographs and diagrams of many of the clusters that are helpful for identification.
Soooo.... keep it in the library to take it to the field.
--------------------
Bic Parker
17.5" f/5 dob
10" f/10 SCT
5" f/8 refractor
80mm f/6 refractor
66mm f/6 refractor
Plus a few others out of the rotation
|
bicparker
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 1706
Loc: Plano, TX
|
|
Quote:
Another possibility that might begin to address your needs is the volume devoted to star clusters in the Webb Society series.
Glenn, that was a good recommendation.... I have the whole Webb series and your post made me go back and look at the star clusters volume (Volume 3). I think one thing that especially stands out about the Webb Society volume is that it is chock full of sketches and observed descriptions of clusters, in addition to other catalog information. This is a dedicated visual reference and it is a good one. Thanks for reminding me about it and making me get re-acquainted with that volume.
--------------------
Bic Parker
17.5" f/5 dob
10" f/10 SCT
5" f/8 refractor
80mm f/6 refractor
66mm f/6 refractor
Plus a few others out of the rotation
|
starbux
sage
Reged: 02/08/06
Posts: 289
Loc: Silicon Valley, CA
|
|
You might consider "Star Clusters and How to Observe Them" by Mark Allison. Not without its faults, the book could use some serious editing. Still with the limited number of books of this type it is worth adding to one's collection after Archinal & Hynes book and the Webb Society Deep-Sky Observers Handbook volume (#3). There are plenty of cheap used copies on Amazon so it wouldn't be too major a purchase.
What might be nice to see someday would be an atlas dedicated to open and globular cluster (much in the same vein as the Cambridge Double Star Atlas featuring many of the more obscure clusters not included in other atlases.
|
scopethis
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/30/08
Posts: 636
Loc: Kingman, Ks
|
|
Mr. Steven Hynes also wrote a book about Planetary Nebulas.
|
CaptainTruss
member
Reged: 07/10/06
Posts: 62
|
|
Quote:
Mr. Steven Hynes also wrote a book about Planetary Nebulas.
That you'll have to sell your car and get a mortgage to buy! Ok, maybe it's not that bad but they go for $100 used. I bet it's amazing, I want it badly but I would like to talk to someone how personally has the book to tell me about it and see if it's really worth it as I'm a serious PN observer.
--------------------
Are you a serious deep sky observer?
http://www.avertedvision.net
14.5" F/6 Truss
10" F/4.5 Truss
120mm F/8.3 Refractor
4.5" Dobsonian
ETX-70
50mm Galieoscopes
|
TomN
sage
Reged: 01/14/09
Posts: 264
|
|
The original question was;
Quote:
Does anyone know of field books with detailed information including charts of various degree field sizes for star clusters.
..then the book Star Clusters may dissapoint. It is full of information but most of it not terrifically useful to the backyard astronomer in my opinion. I get most of the information about relative sizes from my Uranometria. It's the main reference I use to plan an observing session.
--------------------
Amateur Astronomer since 1962.
|
bicparker
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/07/05
Posts: 1706
Loc: Plano, TX
|
|
Tom,
Have you tried using Table 4.1 - Catalog of Clusters and Asterisms in the Milky Way, and Objects Misidentified as Such that is in Star Clusters? While I also use Uranometria as my primary reference, I have found this to be one of the better cluster references in the field since it includes size (going to the OP's original question), brightest star mag, surface brightness, Trumpler type (great for OC's), cross ref's to SA2K and U2K charts, and of course, the comments. There are other good table references in the book, but that is the one I go to most often. Probably this table's biggest value is that it contains a lot of corrected information (especially for visual observers) that has permeated several of the many clusters catalogs.
I would agree that for casual observations of objects in general, this reference might be TMI. And I wouldn't recommend it in such cases, either. But I think for dedicated cluster observations, this book really does fit the bill (at least it has for me). The widely varied nature of clusters makes it necessary to have additional information beyond just the size, plus it is really useful to know where the errata is on a lot of these objects (and there is a lot out there).
--------------------
Bic Parker
17.5" f/5 dob
10" f/10 SCT
5" f/8 refractor
80mm f/6 refractor
66mm f/6 refractor
Plus a few others out of the rotation
|
JakeSaloranta
sage
Reged: 09/18/08
Posts: 234
Loc: Sisu, Sauna, Sibelius...
|
|
I'll be honest - "Star Clusters and How to Observe Them" by Mark Allison is by far the worst astronomy book in my bookshelf and I constantly wish I had not spent $20 to get it.
Also Webb Society's books are pretty old (some from the 70s!) and the quality of sketches in the book leaves a lot to desire. I cannot recommend these either although I have the galaxies volume (I got for free).
There currently is no good observing books out there of globular and open clusters.
In my opinion Best resource is the internet where you get most of the stuff for free and easily. WEBDA has 1200 listed clusters, DSH's asterism database is pretty huge...
/Jake
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
[Re: 