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Having completed Messier's list twice, once with a 8" and then a 12.5" IM looking to find a book ,something like JAMES O'MEARA'S Messier Objects.

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I think that some (not all) of the criticisms of the Caldwell list are quite legitimate. However, few people dispute that O'Meara's Caldwell book is a masterpiece. And since O'Meara included "Twenty Spectacular Non-Caldwell Objects" as well, it's fair to consider this book to be O'Meara's "110 best non-Messiers" list. Just throw out your 20 least favorite Caldwell objects and substitute O'Meara's instead.

If all you want is a list rather than a book, and if you live north of latitude 38N or thereabouts, I strongly recommend Alan Dyer's 110 best non-Messiers, published by the RASC. Or if you live farther south, the Saguaro Astronomy Club's list.

Truth be told, for all the controversy, all of these "best 110" lists include a lot of objects in common.

I wouldn't recommend tackling the Herschel 400 right off the bat unless you're sure you want a pretty serious challenge. It's not so much that the objects are hard to see -- in fact, most of them are fairly easy. But 400 is a mighty big number.

Kepple & Sanner belongs on the bookshelf of any serious deep-sky observer, but it's not the same kind of book as O'Meara's guides. I view it more as a reference work than anything else. Though I'm sure it would serve perfectly well as a to-do list if 400 is too small a number for you.

You might also consider working your way through Sue French's Celestial Sampler. She's one of the few authors that I like even better than O'Meara. (And no, I don't think that's just because I'm professionally associated with her.)

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Tony Flanders

First and foremost observing love: naked eye.
Second, binoculars.
Last but not least, telescopes.
And I sometimes dabble with cameras.

Edited by Tony Flanders (06/05/08 08:06 AM)

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