Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders, First Edition

Reviewed by Ted Bade

Authors: Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson Publisher: O’Reilly http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596526856/index.html Released: October 2007 Pages: 519 $30 USD, $36 CND ISBN-10: 0596526857 ISBN-13: 9780596526856 Audience: Beginner/Intermediate (with Astronomy)   Strengths: Easy to read, great charts and tables, Lots of useful information, makes creating an observation plan easy.   Weaknesses: Chapter organized alphabetically rather then by season.

Introduction

 

From the viewpoint of a person who is a relative novice to astronomy as a hobby, the Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders, is just terrific! This book provides a wealth of information that anyone observing the night sky will find very useful. I found the information in this book a real benefit to my hobby and expect I will be making use of it for many years to come.

 

Other then a lot of physics in college, my formal education in Astronomy consists of a basic course taken at a local Community College. To compensate for this lack of knowledge, I have read a lot of books related to Astronomy. Only a couple of these books have stood out from the rest as valuable to me. The Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders is one of these special books.

 

The authors of this book suggest that the observer should have a plan when observing. They suggest staying with one or perhaps a couple constellations and working with then in a night, rather then hopping all over the place. So their book presents the information about Deep Sky Objects (DSOs) in a constellation to constellation basis, although I have used observation lists, I have never tried their constellation method. With this book as a guide, I realize this will be an easy method to follow.

 

My best observing sessions have been when I had a solid plan and the worse when I had no real plan and simply worked at random.

 

This book essentially has two parts. The first part is an easy to read discussion of Astronomy as a hobby. It discuses observing techniques, and some basic information about Astronomy and observing Deep Sky Objects. This includes a brief yet informative discussion of various types of DSOs, and suggestions about observing sessions.

 

There is also a nice chapter discussing the equipment needed for observations. Although the information in this section is brief, it is thorough. I wouldn’t recommend is as a reference for making a purchase decision, but it does contain enough information to be a useful introduction and provides references to more detailed books on the subject.

 

You will find information on the various naming conventions and ways of classifying objects that Astronomers are so fond of. There is a little discussion on participating in several different formal observing programs (although not something I can participate in using my computerized telescope!). All useful information geared toward the beginner.

 

The second part of this book is the magical part. The authors provide 50 chapters, each on a different constellation. Each chapter describes a variety of DSOs and interesting multiple stars contained therein. The chapters are organized alphabetically using the name of the constellation.

 

Each chapter starts with an overview box which describes the constellation, when it is best suited for viewing, as well as listing the DSOs in this constellation and whether they are viewable with either binoculars or with typical urban sky pollution. The text of the chapter concerns the constellation, in general offering a little history as well as descriptions of the featured objects. There is also a overview table listing featured DSOs and multiple stars providing tabular information about them such as magnitude, size, location and so forth. This is followed by a drawn chart showing the relative locations of major stars and other objects in the constellation. Reading this first section gives one a great overview of what can be expected while exploring the constellation.

 

Moving deeper into the chapter, one finds a section describing each of the featured objects. There is a text description of the objects and some information about observing them. There are also two very valuable diagrams. One is an actual image (photo) of the object, the other is a zoomed in subsection of the constellation’s chart, showing the relative location of the object. These two diagrams are very valuable to me as a beginner. Being able to see what the object looks like is very useful.

 

Often, when looking for an object I have never seen before, I have absolutely no idea what to expect. While the image in the book will be a lot brighter then what I will see with my telescope, it gives me an great idea of what to expect. These aren’t high end artistic images, but simple black and white images. I think these are a lot better for the beginning observer. With your amateur telescope, you are not gong to see images like those printed from the Hubble. With a really good telescope, you might see more detail, but it’s always going to be shades of grey. These images are more realistic and thus more valuable.

 

I must admit, I am a geek astronomer. I bought a computer-controlled telescope and use the computer to get me to most objects I view. However, the computer controls aren’t perfect, since I didn’t splurge on the GPS model. Finding the object is a function of how well the telescope has been aligned. Often the computer will get me to the area of the object and it is up to me to fine tune the position until I am actually see the object.

 

The chart provided in this book gives a nice close up view which corresponds to a lower powered eyepiece. With the eyepiece in the scope it becomes easier to shift the view this way and that until the object is located or at least the telescope is pointed in the right direction.

 

All this information makes for an extremely useful reference for any beginner. The objects the book considers are good for most locations (even urban skies) and don’t require a large telescope to see, some are even viewable using binoculars.

 

There are a lot of objects features in this book. I am a novice enough not to know if any very important objects were left out of their lists, but I don’t expect there are. Perhaps, after a few years of applying this book to my hobby, I might say, they should have included this or that object, for now I am very satisfied.

 

My only complaint about the book is that the constellations are arranged in the book alphabetically. This method might be good for a lot of material. However, I feel that for an Astronomy reference, the constellations should be organized by the season in which they are best viewed. As I write this review it is mid-December, I find myself with an evening free to observe and the skies are clear.

 

Since I am new to astronomy, all those stars in the sky are so many bright lights. I don’t know one constellation from another. If the constellations were organized by season, I could open the book to the winter season and select a couple of areas to investigate. Luckily, there is a chart organizing the constellations by date, starting with January and going to December. To make using this book easier, I might get four hi-liters and color code the beginning of each chapter by season!

 

Conclusion

 

The Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders is a wonderful reference book. It is hard to stress enough how useful this book is to me as a novice observer. It is clearly written, easy to read, and offers both charts and diagrams to make an observation session as easy as possible. I highly recommend this book for any novice to astronomy. Even a somewhat experienced observer would probably find a lot of useful information in this book.