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Cool stuff in the sky

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#1 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 29 January 2005 - 02:28 AM

Back when I was a kid, I recieved 365 Starry Nights as a gift. This was a wonderful book that took you on a tour of the night sky over the course of the year. The part I liked about it was that it spent equal time talking about what was nice to look at and also explaining the science behind what we were seeing. It was designed for the casual reader who had only a pair of binoculars at their disposal. In fact, an alternate title of the book could have been Cool Stuff in the Sky (with binoculars). Unfortunately, at the time I didn't even have binoculars at my disposal and read it mostly for the science it contained.

Well, now I do have a pair of binoculars at my disposal (as well as 6" and 10" newts), and I am wishing that I still had that book so that I could remember all the cool things I read about as a kid. I'm tempted to go out and buy another copy, but I'm wondering if there is something better. Is there a slightly more advanced book out there along the same lines? Something that talks about the interesting stuff in the sky from both a visual and scientific perspective? A book that could be called Cool Stuff in the Sky (with a 6-10" scope)?

#2 wilash

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Posted 29 January 2005 - 07:16 AM

Burnham's Celestial Handbook volumes 1, 2, 3

#3 Blues

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Posted 29 January 2005 - 12:02 PM

Eicher's "The Universe From Your Backyard" and Houston/O'Meara's "Deep-Sky Wonders" are two books I think you'd find both useful and enjoyable. (I also agree with Will that the Burnham's are classics.)

#4 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 30 January 2005 - 03:54 AM

Thanks for the suggestions. I just spent a few minutes at amazon reading about these books. Here are my impressions:

Burnham's looks outstanding. It only has two (minor) drawbacks. First it is pretty old so the science will be somewhat dated. And second, the layout is somewhat awkward from an observers perspective (ie. it isn't obvious what to read at what time of year).

Houston looks like it is an excellent observers guide. Might be a bit light on the science though...

Eicher didn't have as much written about it on amazon. My impression is that it is kind of a mix between Burnham and Houston.

Are my impressions accurate? All of these are priced reasonably, so I might end up getting several. Right now I'm leaning toward getting Burnham with either Eicher or Houston to tell me what order to read Burnham in.

#5 AZDeepSky

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Posted 30 January 2005 - 10:16 AM

...now I do have a pair of binoculars at my disposal (as well as 6" and 10" newts), and I am wishing that I still had that book so that I could remember all the cool things I read about as a kid.... Is there a slightly more advanced book out there along the same lines? Something that talks about the interesting stuff in the sky from both a visual and scientific perspective? A book that could be called Cool Stuff in the Sky (with a 6-10" scope)?


As the previous posts make clear, there's no end to the books that might suit you. And why limit yourself to just one or two?

The truth is that the really meaty and current astrophysical - cosmological material is not to be found in observer's guides: e.g., Waller and Hodge, Galaxies and the Cosmic Frontier (2003). But such texts are largely devoid of information aimed specifically at the observer. And yet Waller and Hodge, interpreted though a visual observers needs, is enormously rewarding. You will never look, for example, at the Orion Arm of the MWG or M82 (a starburst galaxy) in the same way. (Retinal image will be the same. Meaning will be profoundly changed.)

So my :penny: :penny: worth: you need several books. For example, Kepple and Sanner, The Night Sky Observer's Guide is a very detailed observational guide. And then more astrophysically detailed books, like the aforementioned Waller and Hodge, Kaler's The Hundred Greatest Stars , O'Dell's The Orion Nebula , and so on.

And Burnham's is classic, if dated in some ways. You can find Burnham's in almost any decent used book store for half price.

Good reading and observing to you.
Cheers.
Max

#6 Blues

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Posted 30 January 2005 - 01:01 PM

Neither the Eicher nor the Houston/O'Meara books are big on the science aspects but are wonderful observing books especially for moderately sized scopes. They are a pleasure to read and use.

I also cherish my Burnham's (hardbound, bought for a steal in new condition on ebay) as well as "The Night Sky Observer's Guide".

As suggested by Max, it is often best to pursue the hard science in a separate edition from the observer's manuals, however, Craig Crossen does offer a wonderful introduction to the (relatively current state of the) science of astronomy in Kepple and Sanner's "Night Sky Observer's Guide".

#7 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 30 January 2005 - 03:06 PM

I guess what I want first and foremost is a guided tour of the sky, but I would find it rather tedious if all the book talked about was "vast fields of stars" or "gloriously immersive" or "marvelously beautiful". In other words, I just want it to have enough scientific details to keep me interested. Besides, my knowledge of astrophysics is pretty decent already. All I really need is little tidbits about why cluster X is different that the other 800 clusters listed in the book, for example. AZ is right that I was asking too much from just one book (and also that I shouldn't limit myself to just one), but to keep myself from being overwhelmed, I'd like to start with just one or two.

#8 David Brodeur

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Posted 30 January 2005 - 04:23 PM

For a guided tour of the sky, Eicher's "The Universe From Your Backyard" will do nicely. You will want to have a star atlas handy, too, as the charts in Eicher are not always adequate for locating the objects discussed. Also, while providing a good sampling of objects, TUFYB is not comprehensive - many worthwhile objects are not included. If you want comprehensive, get the Night Sky Observer's Guide.

Burnham's is a unique and wonderful work that will give you lots of science, as well as history, literature, and mythology. The best way to get the Celestial Handbook is to buy the hardcover edition, available only as a used book. After having the bindings break on my softcover set, I found a pristine hardbound set at Half Price Books for $20.

#9 John Flannery

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Posted 31 January 2005 - 07:59 AM

hope no-one minds me plugging the binocular handbook I wrote . . . the original post about it is over in the Binocular forum but I've put the link below. The idea of the Handbook was to be one of a set of observing challenges booklets for the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies. You can download it as a 1.4Mb pdf (64 pages) and it details 110 interesting objects for the binocular observer. Just to add, although the intro mentions that the "challenge" is open to IFAS members only, that's not the case as there has been such big interest in the Handbooks from abroad.

all the best,

John

link to Handbook is -- http://www.cloudynig...5/o/all/fpart/1

#10 desertstars

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Posted 31 January 2005 - 10:28 AM

hope no-one minds me plugging the binocular handbook I wrote . . .


As long as it's a free download, plug away! And thanks for bringing it to our attention. :grin:

#11 John Flannery

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Posted 31 January 2005 - 12:49 PM

hi Tom,

many thanks! I had actually editted the post to put in a little more about deep-sky books with a science content but the info got lost in the aether somewhere :o

I got a copy of Gerald Rhemann and Craig Crossen's "Sky Vistas: Astronomy for Binoculars and Richest Field Telescopes" over the weekend. Not cheap, but it was a case of a late Christmas present to myself!

the book is lavishly illustrated by Rhemann's photographs and Crossen delves into the astrophysical quantities of deep-sky objects in some detail. It has to be said that he highlights only those objects accessible to the optical instruments mentioned in the title.

a quick glance through it late last night gave me a little idea of what it's about. However, I thought he glossed over globular clusters a bit -- to be fair, binoculars will not show a globular more than a spot of light ('cept in those 20-inch monsters I saw at RTMC last year!)

another source worth checking out is the Springer-Verlag "Practical Astronomy" series that is editted by Patrick Moore but has a wide range of books. One nice edition is the book on stellar evolution which shows how you can track down DSO's that are examples of various stages of stellar evolution.

all the best,

John
South Dublin Astronomical Society

#12 Guest_**DONOTDELETE**_*

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Posted 02 February 2005 - 07:41 PM

For anyone interested, I ordered the Burnham set and Eicher last night. Thanks for all the input.

J

#13 Starman1

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Posted 07 February 2005 - 07:49 PM

I recently positively reviewed a new book that not only lists the 500 or so "best" Deep-sky objects, with 2000 coordinates, but also contains astrophysical information about each one. It's a nice guidebook to use in the field, too.
It's "Concise Catalog of Deep-Sky Objects" by W.H. Finlay, Springer-Verlag Press, 2003.
It's available here
if anyone is interested in obtaining this fine book.

#14 desertstars

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Posted 08 February 2005 - 11:32 AM

Looksa like a book worth checking out. Would you care to expand on that brief review a bit? Perhaps in a thread of it's own where it can be discussed more specifically?

#15 Starman1

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Posted 08 February 2005 - 12:43 PM

Tom,
I reviewed the book on that amazon.com page, a little further down the page. If that's not enough, send me a PM and I'll tell you what you want to know about the book.


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