Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders: From Novice to Master Observer

by Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson

With the advent of inexpensive, high-power telescopes priced at under $250, amateur astronomy is now within the reach of anyone, and this is the ideal book to get you started. The Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders offers you a guide to the equipment you need, and shows you how and where to find hundreds of spectacular objects in the deep sky -- double and multiple stars as well as spectacular star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.

You get a solid grounding in the fundamental concepts and terminology of astronomy, and specific advice about choosing, buying, using, and maintaining the equipment required for observing. The Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders is designed to be used in the field under the special red-colored lighting used by astronomers, and includes recommended observing targets for beginners and intermediate observers alike. You get detailed start charts and specific information about the best celestial objects.

The objects in this book were chosen to help you meet the requirements for several lists of objects compiled by The Astronomical League. Completing the list for a particular observing club entitles anyone who is a member of the Astronomical League or RASC to an award, which includes a certificate and, in some cases, a lapel pin.

This book is perfect for amateur astronomers, students, teachers, or anyone who is ready to dive into this rewarding hobby. Who knows? You might even find a new object, like amateur astronomer Jay McNeil. On a clear cold night in January 2004, he spotted a previously undiscovered celestial object near Orion, now called McNeil's Nebula. Discover what awaits you in the night sky with the Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders .

Genres: Astronomy, Science, Space, Nonfiction, Reference

519 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Robert Bruce Thompson was an accomplished author and scientist, publishing books on computers and the sciences. He built and sold science kits in support of home school education throughout the United States.

Reviews

[Jose Moa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome guide for backyard astronomers,it has valuable information over the best fitted telescope ,oculars, aperture and astronomical software for observing objets.

The guide takes constellation after constellation and gives coordenates,graphics for star hopping,interest by a stars rating and dificulty to see the observable objectes:star clusters,nebulae ,galaxies and doublé or multiple stars.

Includes : Messier,Herschel,Caldwell and NGC objects

[Berry Muhl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is far and away the most comprehensive guidebook of its kind that I've read, despite the fact that, unlike many others, it makes no attempt to exhaustively cover every constellation in the sky, focusing instead on just those with enough DSOs (deep-space objects) to draw the hobbyist's interest.

Beautifully illustrated with plentiful photographs, it goes through the sky constellation by constellation, providing directions for using absolute coordinates and star-hopping to find objects that are listed by the various astronomy clubs as requisites for membership or recognition. The authors' subjective descriptions of the visual interest of some objects comes into play, as does their variation from accepted values for the respective colors of members of multiple star systems. When an object is bound to be small or dim enough to be disappointing in an amateur scope, they let you know.

As I've noticed with pretty much every technical or scientific book I've read recently, there are some odd typographical and organizational errors here and there. In one set of paragraphs, the same Messier number is used multiple times to refer to two different objects. One clue to these issues is the statement the authors make regarding Messier's rush to complete his catalog and get it to the publisher before deadline (and I paraphrase: "We know exactly how he felt!!")

This is not a pocket book. It is a sprawling, floppy, softcover tome that you're going to want to work your way through well ahead of any nighttime excursions, in order to familiarize yourself with the format and sequence, as well as to follow their guidelines for properly equipping yourself. And of course you're going to want to have it on hand, along with the various sky maps that it recommends, any time you're actually in the field. This is a proper hobby, people, not a casual one-time activity.

[Aprilleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've got a real love-hate relationship going on with this book. I love the extensive collection of over 400 objects from six lists (the 110 Messier objects, the 110 RASC Finest NGC objects, and the Astronomical League's Binocular Messier list, Deep-Sky Binocular list, Urban Observing list, and Double Star list). All these objects are visible from the mid-Northern latitudes and are divided into 50 chapters by the constellation where they can be found (they skip those not readily seen from the mid-Northern latitudes). What I really hate about this book is that the constellations are organized alphabetically instead of in the order they would be best viewed over the course of the year. Who organizes an observing guide like that? They do provide a table of constellations in order of best viewing, but wouldn't it have been easier on the user to put them in that same order?

The first 64 pages cover deep-sky observing and equipment, with the first constellation, Andromeda, starting on page 66. The chapters start with a description of the constellation, including a diagram and brief mentions of the history and mythology surrounding some of the ancient constellations (Orion, for example). The chapters vary greatly in length according to the number of objects found in that constellation, and each object is described at a useful, but not overwhelming, level of detail. The charts are well-chosen, and some of the more interesting objects include a black & white image.

[Bruce Darling]

I liked its approach, organizes DSOs by constellation. However I could not read its tables in the Kindle version, so bought a paperback version - much more usable