Ebook: A Visual Astronomer's Photographic Guide to the Deep Sky: A Pocket Field Guide

How many times have you ‘found’ a deep sky object (DSO), ticked it off the list, and moved on, or used the ‘Tour’ function on your GO-TO ‘scope and said, ‘Oh that’s a just a smudge’ or ‘Can’t see it – I’ll move on to the next one.’ If this has happened to you, then this book is for you. It will challenge you to go back to the ‘smudge’ and really look. Can you see the faint wisp or the detail in the southeastern corner? Can you see the small cluster within the cluster? Try to classify the open cluster for yourself. Compare it to the ‘accepted’ Trumpler classification. Whether you have a GO-TO ‘scope or not, this book gets you to rediscover one of the great things that got you into this hobby in the first place – looking through the eyepiece of a telescope. So pack away the DSLR, CCD camera, the guide ‘scope, and laptop and open your pencil case! You’re in for some fun!

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This book is meant for observers who see a deep-sky object – either by star-hopping or by using a Go-To telescope – but do not observe it in detail because they don't know what to look for. It provides photographic images of all the objects discussed... not just images, but images that look exactly like the visual view through the eyepiece of telescopes of various apertures. Visually, deep-sky objects almost always look quite unlike the usual CCD images published in astronomical guides. The human eye doesn't see color at such low light levels, and the contrast of extended objects (such as nebulae and galaxies) is completely different. The author lives in a less-than ideal location for visual observing, with the city of London only about twenty miles to the south. He uses this to advantage, and amateur astronomers will find this book invaluable because it shows them what they will actually see from a typical suburban location, not a rare view under perfect skies.