Astronomy books.

[dirty_g]

Hi all,

Yet another annoying question from me. For xmas I recently aquired "Turn left at Orion" a great book actually!! Also I got Astronomy for Dummies. Love that book too actually. I learnt a fair few new things in that book. Anyway my question is are there any books very much written like "Turn left at Orion" but, that contain celestial co-ordinates, so I can use it in conjunction with my Eq mount? Turn left at Orion seems to be written more for Alt Az mount people(Though anybody can use it still). I would still recommend it for any budding astronomers though.

[aurora]

How are you finding objects with your EQ mount? Are you using setting circles or do you have digital setting circles?

If you are star hopping, you can star hop to objects regardless of the type of mount you have. I have a Dobsonian reflector (alt-az) as well as a refractor on a motorized EQ mount. I star hop with both of them.

If you want to be able to get Dec and RA, try a software planetarium program.

See this page, http://astro.nineplanets.org/astrosoftware.html
for lists of such programs.

[aurora]

If you are ready to move past the objects in Turn Left, I'd suggest getting the Sky Atlas 2000, and then get the accompanying book.

The sky atlas comes bound and unbound, laminated and unlaminated, and in desk or field versions. I prefer the bound, laminated, desk version (black stars on white) for use at the telescope.

Sky Atlas 2000 at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-2000-0-Deluxe-Laminated-Version/dp/0933346905/ref=pd_sim_b_2/102-1193221-6055362)

Sky Atlas Companion at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-2000-0-Companion-Robert-Strong/dp/0521008824/ref=sid_dp_dp/102-1193221-6055362)

Sky Atlas at S&T (http://www.shopatsky.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=35)

[artemis]

I read that

'Burnham's Celestial Handbook: Volumes 1, 2 & 3
An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System'

are great to have. They contain celestial coordinates and star atlases and so forth.

Amazon US

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/048623567X/skymaps (Volume 1)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0486235688/skymaps (Volume 2)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0486236730/skymaps (Volume 3)

Amazon UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestial-Handbook-Observers-Universe-Astronomy/dp/048623567X/sr=8-1/qid=1167744938/ref=sr_1_1/026-2748873-6098041?ie=UTF8&s=books (
Volume 1)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestial-Handbook-Observers-Chamaeleon-Astronomy/dp/0486235688/sr=8-2/qid=1167745008/ref=sr_1_2/026-2748873-6098041?ie=UTF8&s=books (Volume 2)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestial-Handbook-Observers-Universe-Vulpecula/dp/0486236730/sr=8-3/qid=1167745037/ref=sr_1_3/026-2748873-6098041?ie=UTF8&s=books (Volume 3)

Hope this helps

artemis

[Dave Mitsky]

Burnham's is a classic work but better still from a purely technical standpoint is the new "bible" of deep-sky observing, The Night Sky Observer's Guide (http://www.willbell.com/handbook/nitesky.htm). It may not be perfect but the NSOG is by far the best observing guide currently available.

Dave Mitsky

[JohnW]

Burnham's is a classic work but better still from a purely technical standpoint is the new "bible" of deep-sky observing, The Night Sky Observer's Guide (http://www.willbell.com/handbook/nitesky.htm). It may not be perfect but the NSOG is by far the best observing guide currently available.

Dave Mitsky
It's a good book, but it's aimed at big-scope owners. If you don't have very dark skies and a light-bucket, you'll be paying for descriptions of a lot of things you can't see. I borrowed it from the library and decided I was happy to stick with Burnham.

[Dave Mitsky]

That's true to some extent* but uninformed readers should be cognizant of the fact that the data is Burnham's is long out of date.

*It all depends upon what you consider to be a big amateur telescope. Since some amateurs now own scopes as large as 42 inches, anything 25 inches or larger should be considered to be big, IMO. The NSOG has object descriptions for apertures up to 18 inches, IIRC. Some objects have descriptions for relatively small apertures (i.e., 3 inches).

Dave Mitsky

[aurora]

I still think of a 12 inch scope as the boundary between big and small. I think of a 12 inch as the smallest of the big scopes.

And a 10 as the biggest of the small scopes.

Arbitrary, but also based on weight considerations.

[Dave Mitsky]

At any major star party nowadays, a 12" scope is lost among the large Dobs. ;)

Dave Mitsky

[JohnW]

That's true to some extent* but uninformed readers should be cognizant of the fact that the data is Burnham's is long out of date.

*It all depends upon what you consider to be a big amateur telescope. Since some amateurs now own scopes as large as 42 inches, anything 25 inches or larger should be considered to be big, IMO. The NSOG has object descriptions for apertures up to 18 inches, IIRC. Some objects have descriptions for relatively small apertures.

Dave Mitsky
I'm a refractor guy, Dave. 6" is big and 8" is colossal. :)

I agree that Burnham's needs to be read very critically now when it comes to astrophysics, and the positional data are slightly off, although more than close enough to find the object in an atlas and/or finderscope. What puts Burnham's in a class of its own is the historical overview - who discovered the object, comments of observers over the years, and artistic and cultural significance. It's beautifully written, and I often use it to observe vicariously on cloudy nights. (I live in Seattle. We get a few of those.) If I could only keep one astronomy book, Burnham's would be it.

[Dave Mitsky]

I'm a refractor guy, Dave. 6" is big and 8" is colossal. :)

I agree that Burnham's needs to be read very critically now when it comes to astrophysics, and the positional data are slightly off, although more than close enough to find the object in an atlas and/or finderscope. What puts Burnham's in a class of its own is the historical overview - who discovered the object, comments of observers over the years, and artistic and cultural significance. It's beautifully written, and I often use it to observe vicariously on cloudy nights. (I live in Seattle. We get a few of those.) If I could only keep one astronomy book, Burnham's would be it.

Speaking of 8" refractors, I spent some time looking at one galaxy after another through a friend's 8" APM achromat on the night of December 19. The high power views that we were getting were very impressive for only 8 inches of aperture.

I've done some observing with 24" and 26" achromats so I would tend to place them on the big side of things. ;) Locally, there are two 11" privately owned achromats that I've used as well as the 11" Clark (http://www.bautforum.com/showthread.php?t=21563) at the Grundy Observatory (http://server1.fandm.edu/departments/Facilities/default.html) in Lancaster. A friend of mine owns one of the very few 208mm Astro-Physics Starfire apochromats in existence.

As a literary work dealing with astronomy, Burnham's is without peer. However, IMO, the NSOG is the one to have if DSO observing is one's passion.

Dave Mitsky

[dirty_g]

Talking about books again..... I think the author of The Dummies guide to astronomy was paid off by meade as he does like to advertise their telescopes especially the ones with "go-to" functions.