Posted on Sunday, December 11, 2016
Deep Sky Observing: An Astronomical Tour by Steven R. Coe
The definitive guide to observing deep sky objects such as globular clusters, galaxies, planetary nebulae and supernova remnants.
When reading or using an observation guide to a specific type of objects, it's often the case that the reader would skip the introduction. In "Deep Sky Observing", the introductory chapters are an essential part to read many times to find out how to use the rest of the book and to get some tips for choosing the equipment, observation place and time and that too in great detail.
The main part of the book - a catalog of deep sky objects gives the locations and characteristics of the objects and in the beginning of each new type of object, you can also get an idea of what kind of things to notice, so that even many observations of the same object would be fascinating and informative.
Although a big part of the book is the objects, then those are something that you can get information on in many other places including planetarium programs and apps. The bonus of using or reading this book is though, that it gives answers to lots of practical questions that you haven't even realized you wanted to know such as why you should invite other people to observe with you, or share your hobby with others, or how could a computer be helpful with deep sky objects.
As the author mentions in the bgeinning - it's not for obsevation novices.
Labels: book review, deep sky observing