DSO Book

[chich0]

Hey guys,

I want to get a book on various DSO's specific to the southern hemisphere.

Sorry if this has been asked before, but i tried searching and found Hartung's however I can't seem to find it for a decent price.

Amazon has it for $600 roughly. lol.

Is there anything else you can recommend?

[ericc]

Hi Chris,
I am lucky enough to have a copy of Hartungs(which is the guide I seem to most often use).
I do also use and really like "The Night Sky Observers Guide vol 3" --its a very in depth and comprehensive guide for the more Southern situated DSOs--although I suspect that its really produced more for using a larger scope(than mine)?
Good luck--I hope others chime in with their favorites!
Cheers-Eric

[Gem]

Hartungs comes up sometimes in the classifieds here.

If you want to buy it for $600 - heck, I'll sell mine!!!!! :rofl:

[Gem]

Hmm.... did I miss something?? I just check the classifieds here on ice, and Hartungs is going for $370.
I bought mine (2nd ed) from Bintel around 1995 and it was at a normal price... what happenned??!?!? :question:

[astroron]

16 years and Supply andDemand :rolleyes:,as the book is no longer in print:(
Just like works of art, these books are in demand .
Cheers :thumbsup:

[chich0]

Yeah it is really expensive now.

Too bad i won't be owning one until maybe it gets re-printed? if it ever does?

[rogerg]

Probably not quite up to the quality you want, but I have a PDF available for free download (http://www.rogergroom.com/page/project_ngc_download) containing a couple of thousand NGC images, in RA sequence. I find it very useful if I want to find a nice object to photograph. It's main limitation is that it doesn't have much above +20 declination and most are below 0 declination.

Roger.

[Suzy]

The Night Sky Observers Guide...
The Night Sky Observers Guide series is a great book. It's quite intense and covers a ton of deep sky objects with finder charts for everything, sketches on lots of objects, and observation notes as to what can be see through different sized apertures.
At the beginning of each constellation it gives a large table listing of binocular objects and stars of interest. It's a hard cover book with a whopping 504 pages!

There are a lot of dso's in this book more specific to larger scopes, but there's still plenty of stuff in it for 8-10" scopes, not a lot for 4-6" scopes, and pretty much favors 12-14" and in particular 16" scopes.
I love this book and wouldn't be without it.. a book I will grow into as I get more experience.

Our own Paddy has done a wonderful review of it here in this forum.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/46-627-0-0-1-0.html (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../46-627-0-0-1-0.html)


Atlas of the Southern Night Sky...
Another thick and fantastic book. Beautiful colour photographs, descriptions of the objects, followed by a map on the facing page.
Paddy has done a review of this book also (good work Paddy!)
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/bookreviews.html (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../bookreviews.html)


The Southern Sky Guide (David Ellyard)...
I just could never get into this book.
For me, I find the maps difficult to read and having the constellations broken up makes it even harder. The descriptions on the facing page aren't well laid out either as the object descriptions are merged thru large paragraphs instead of being listed.


Hartungs Astronomical Objects for Southern Telescopes...
I did a thread on this a while back.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=63394&highlight=hartung's (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=63394&highlight=hartung%27s)

This is an observers companion book describing the objects beautifully. There are no maps however. Anyone that owns one of these books, displays it with pride of place on their bookshelf I'm sure (as I do).



The following two books aren't specific to the Southern Sky but does include the Southern Constellations. I have added them because I think they are great books.

Collins Stars & Planets (Ian Ridpath)...
This is my favourite book and my right hand at the scope. The objects, stars and astrophysics are listed beautifully, with the map of the entire constellation on the facing page. The map is very easy to read and the book is a nice handle-able size by the scope.
However, this book won't give you really deep dso's- that's where the Night Sky Observers Guide comes into its own.
http://www.amazon.com/Collins-Stars-Planets-Guide-Ridpath/dp/0007424426/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312641053&sr=1-2


Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas...
Spiral bound and easy to handle, it's filled with a ton of goodies.
I've just gotten this book so I haven't had the opportunity to really to put it to use yet, but it looks easy to read and well laid out. Many of us here on the forum have got this book. And it's so cheap at $20 from the Book Depository in the UK (free shipping!) - great value!


In summary...
I doubt that you'll find one book that will do it all. Like me, you'll probably find that you'll wind up with several books and maps. Some books cater for the brighter objects and are quite easy to read and navigate thru, others are intense, some books cater more for "observing", i.e. more a teaching guide on techniques and what to look for in objects (such as Stephen O'Meara's Deep Sky Objects- Messier Objects- fantastic book, and Hartung's), some books list the astrophhysics and objects of interest better or clearer than others, etc. I have lots of books/maps- each used for different observations.

All the best with your hunt on a suitable book, Chris. :)

[chich0]

Nice!

Thanks Suzy, just what I was looking for :)

Do you recommend buying all volumes of Night Sky Observers Guide? Or just the Southern hemisphere?

Thanks!! :)

[Suzy]

I have Volume 2 and plan on getting the complete set. This series should last me a good life times worth of observing, so I think it's good value.:D
Get them from overseas, it will be way cheaper. ;)
I got my book from Powell's in the U.S. http:///www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780943396606-1 (http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780943396606-1)

I found this link which explains the book well also..
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009PhiJA...1b..25M

[chich0]

Cool!!!

Thanks :thumbsup:

[barx1963]

Hi Chris
The Deep Sky Observers guide is excellent, if possible get all 3 Vols as the Vol 3 only covers Southern areas not visible from the US or latitudes thereabouts, so you really need all 3 to cover what we see here in Oz.

I have also puchased all 3 of the O'Meara deep sky guides ( the Messier Objects, the Caldwell Objects and Hidden Treasures) although not exclusively Southern most objects are visible and they are not biased to the north, with the abvious exception of the Messier volume.
Descriptions and hints are very detailed and are a great inroduction to deeps sky observing, helping you to learn what to look for.

Malcolm

[chich0]

Hrmm, there are quite a few good books out there.

I think I will get my hands on most that have been recommended!

:thumbsup:

[ericc]

+1 for Malcolm and Suzys advice--when you can afford it,a 3 vol set of "The Night Sky Observers Guide"will cover all bases nicely.
In the meantime,just keep a look out for a secondhand Hartungs on this site,they do pop up every now and then.
Good luck.

[barx1963]

I was lucky and picked up a 1984 reprint edition of Hartungs on this forum for $20, not the original or the Malin version but very helpful so keep looking. Only prob is the co-ordinates are out of date.

Malcolm

[glenc]

Another book is called Treasures of the Southern Sky.
The authors are Robert Gendler, Lars Lindberg Christensen and David Malin.
http://www.springer.com/astronomy/astronomy,+observations+and+techniq ues/book/978-1-4614-0627-3

Also Steve O'Meara is writing a book on 120 James Dunlop objects.
This list is a bit bigger http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-649-0-0-1-0.html