The Night Sky Observers Guide Vol. 2
by George Robert Kepple, Glen W. Sanner, Kepple, Sanner
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Book Summary Information
Author: George Robert Kepple, Glen W. Sanner, Kepple, SannerBrand: Books
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-12
ISBN: 0943396603
Number of pages: 506
Publisher: Willmann-Bell
Product features:
- Arrangement of the Guide:
- Each chapter is devoted to a constellation. The first page is devoted to generalcomments about the constellation. The second page is a map of the constellation which faces a stellar data table which usually fills the entire page.
- The remaining pages of each chapter contain photographs, sketches and finding charts - and all of these pages include writen descriptions of objects as seen through different sized instruments.
- Constellations Covered:
- VOLUME 1: Autumn and Winter
Book Reviews of The Night Sky Observers Guide Vol. 2
Book Review: compendium of a community
Summary: 5 Stars
the three volumes of the "night sky observer's guide" are the single most reliable, useful and stimulating guide to deep sky observing available in any format at any price. where other guides are excellent but introductory ("norton's star atlas and observer's handbook"), excellent but narrowly focused (mullaney's "cambridge double star atlas"), massive data dumps (cragin & bonanno's "uranometria deep sky field guide"), skimpy (luginbuhl & skiff's "celestial observer's handbook"), idiosyncratic (o'meara's "hidden treasures," "herschel 400", etc.) or downright antiquated (burnham's "celestial handbook"), the NSOG manages to define best practices across a wide variety of features. it is a pleasure and inspiration to use.
though the authors are nominally kepple & sanner, but the NSOG actually a collaborative venture with sustained support from publisher willmann bell, editing and 50 pages of front matter on astronomy and observing by craig crossen, and contributions from over 70 skilled amateur observers and astrophotographers using actual amateur equipment (described at the back of volume 1). these contributions include detailed observing notes -- which summarize how each object appears in 8" to 10", 12" to 14", or 16" to 18" reflecting telescopes -- and observer drawings that show how the object appears to an experienced viewer. where many handbooks provide visual documents without details, all the drawings and astrophotographs in NSOG indicate the field orientation, aperture, focal length and magnification (for drawings) or field orientation, aperture, focal length, film type and exposure time (for photographs). these visuals are deployed with a general constellation chart, several deep sky object finder charts, and even a finder chart key, to provide excellent visual documentation of most of the objects discussed in the text.
the three volumes are organized seasonally: volume 1 describes all the constellations best viewed in autumn or winter, volume 2 all constellations for spring and summer, and volume 3 all constellations in the southern sky; within each volume the constellations are listed alphabetically. in effect, the astronomer need only consult one or two volumes each month. each constellation chapter includes an overview of the constellation's history and contents, a marginal box of summary info (which helpfully explains how to pronounce the constellation name), separate exhaustive tables of constellation variable stars and binary/multiple stars, with short notes on the more interesting of these; and finally a long section on the deep sky objects. the descriptions for each object inclue its catalog designation(s), classification, position (epoch 2000), magnitude, brightness and angular size, and for the more famous or important objects, comments on its discovery and nature. the binding is robust and the paper is high quality, both designed to withstand nighttime moisture. the index points to the major citations of every deep sky object, listed by principal catalog name (NGC, Barnard, ESO, etc.). weirdly, there is no index listing for double or variable stars, apparently because you are supposed to know which constellation it is in and can find it listed in the chapter data tables.
these books are an extremely practical and welcome resource for amateur observers. in comparison to other sources available, it is surprising how little the NSOG leaves out, and how efficiently it has packaged everything it contains. easy to use and comprehensive, these volumes are a remarkable resource.
Summary of The Night Sky Observers Guide Vol. 2
Amateur astronomers today are exceptionally fortunate to be living in an era when high quality, and very large, optics are so affordable. In the first half of the 20th century the telescope deluxe for the amateur was the 6-inch refractor. However, such telescopes were so expensive that very few amateurs could afford them: the majority of stargazers had to content themselves with instruments in the 60mm range. Consequently, most observing guides published during that time emphasized double and multiple stars, with honorable mention for variable stars and planetary nebulae, objects which do well in long focal length refractors. Webb's 1858 Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes and Olcott's 1936 Field Book of the Skies were not superceded for so many decades simply because the average amateur instrument did not dramatically improve during the century after Webb. By the 1950s the mass-produced or homemade 6-inch parabolic mirror brought medium-sized optics into the price range of the average amateur, and with it the emission nebulae, open clusters, and galaxies that had been seen only as amorphous blobs-if seen at all-in small refractors. The The 1948 Skalnate Pleso Atlas of the Heavens had already displaced the classic Norton's Star Atlas as the frontline sky-chart for amateurs, but the observing guides badly needed rewriting. However, not until the 1970s and Burnham's Celestial Handbook was there an observing guide worthy of the 6-inAstronomy Books
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