Burnham's Celestial Handbook.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

With all the excellent publications being produced for amateur astronomers in recent years, including a mass or free internet resources, I look over to my bookcase and there are three books which catch my eye and indeed receive regular attention. These three books were given to me by a dear friend and past ASV president when I was a teenager.

Some IIS members will be familiar with the 3-volume set of Burnham's Celestial Handbook. This set was the cornerstone of my observing sessions for years and what I considered to be a very popular compendium. Certainly back in the 1980's when I first started in the hobby, you just had to have Tirion's Sky Atlas 2000, Uranometria and a copy of Burnhams! Perhaps those publications aren't as popular these days, but I strongly believe that, with Burnhams 3-volume set, apart from the change of Epoch (written for 1950.0), this comprehensive collection of deep sky objects will never go out of date.

So useful is Burnhams, I went out and purchased a secondhand set to use in the field, leaving my good set on the bookshelf.

I urge anyone not familiar with Burnham's Celestial Handbook to locate a copy, either though their local astronomical club, or consider purchasing a set online wither through eBay or Amazon where the secondhand prices can be as low as under $10 each (I bought my used ones for between $3 and $8).

What is more interesting is the life this brilliant astronomer and how he came to write such a detailed account of the sky - arranged constellation by constellation - for the amateur astronomer.

What is terrible about Robert Burnham Jr, is how his life ended so sadly.

I encourage you to have a read of Robert Burnham's Wikipedia entry on the life of Robert Burnham Jr. and some of the links at the bottom of the page. So sad that a man who compiled such an immense quantity of information into his compendiums out of pure love of the night sky was forgotten for so long.

For me the single work of Robert Burnham Jr sits proudly beside the writings of Leslie Peltier as two astronomers who encourage me in my hobby in my early days.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burnham,_Jr.

Clear skies,
Stephen

p.s. I didn't know where is was more appropriate to place this thread in the General Chat or the Books and Media section, so I placed it here as more of an acknowledgement of Burnham's life and recognition of his famous work.

[jeff65 (Jeff)]

The first volume of Burnham's Celestial Handbook is the earliest thing I can remember saving to buy. I would have been 14 or 15 years old when the second edition paperbacks came out. I didn't even have a telescope! I eventually bought the other volumes and read the text of all three cover to cover.

While I have a set of these back in the US in storage, I just bought another set from Amazon when I saw they were discounted. With the least expensive shipping method I think they totaled a bit over $60 for all three.

As an adult I visited Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff around 1999. For me, it was special knowing this was where these volumes were produced.

I was distraught to read about what happened to Robert Burnham when I started getting back into astronomy last year. Very sad.

[The Mekon (John Briggs)]

I have had my set for over twenty years, I still use it for double star information, then if I find it does not match the observation, look up more recent sources.

I call the publication Burnhams, Burnhams, Burnhams whenever I have to refer to it

[ngcles]

Hi All,

There was an excellent article in Astronomy Magazine in 1998 that outlined Robert Burnham's life story including the apparently dud-deal he got on the royalties on his magnum opus, the sad loss of his beloved job at Lowell Observatory (after the proper-motion study was concluded) and his very sad waning years.

His three volume handbook is a masterpiece of its time. Most, if not all of us who dabble in a bit of astronomical writing are dwarfed by his massive contribution that is still worthwhile as an observing guide today and is an outstanding literary work. You cannot read it without being moved by his love of the heavens and legendary encyclopaedic knowledge.

I see from the Wiki article that his 80th birthday would have been the other day on 16th June. It is extraordinarily sad that one so loved for his great work lived his last lonely years in obscure anonymity. I hope he has a wonderful view of the heavens nowadays.


Best,

Les D

Edit: Here's a link to the article in Astronomy Magazine:
http://www.astronomy.com/~/media/Fil...navigator.ashx

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by ngcles

Hi All,

There was an excellent article in Astronomy Magazine in 1998 that outlined Robert Burnham's life story including the apparently dud-deal he got on the royalties on his magnum opus, the sad loss of his beloved job at Lowell Observatory (after the propewr-motion study was concluded) and his very sad waning years.

His three volume handbook is a masterpiece of its time. Most, if not all of us who dabble in a bit of astronomical writing are dwarfed by his massive contribution that is still worthwhile as an observing guide today and is an outstanding literary work. You cannot read it without being moved by his love of the heavens and legendary encyclopaedic knowledge.

I see from the Wiki article that his 80th birthday would have been the other day on 16th June. It is extraordinarily sad that one so loved for his great work lived his last lonely years in obscure anonymity. I hope he has a wonderful view of the heavens nowadays.


Best,

Les D

Couldn't have said it better myself, Les, thank you.

Yes, as convenient as a spreadsheet of DSO's downloaded from the internet is, it can in no way compare to the writings Burnhams.

Remiss of me not to mention his birthday. This was the reason for me starting the topic tonight, however I completely forgot to mention it!

I am glad that a memorial has been erected at Lowell. Since learning of this last year, it is on my itinerary for any future US trip.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Now, there's a classic

Robert and myself share the same birthday, but that's as close as I'll ever get to being 1/4 the astronomer that he was. So sad that his life ended in the way it did. He deserved much more.

Talking about classics, I once owned a copy of an early edition of the "Field Guide to the Stars and Planets" by Donald Menzel. Unfortunately, it was stolen, along with a lot of other stuff about 6 years ago.

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

I'm always scribbling and anotating mine during observations.
Can't do that with a PC!

[lone77star (Carl)]

Burnham's Celestial Handbook is an all-time favorite. I may even have met the guy when I borrowed a copy of the Yale Bright Star Catalog at Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona. That was 1973.

I have two copies -- soft cover for writing all kinds of notes, and hard cover for remaining relatively clean for my library of astronomy books.

[AdrianF (Adrian)]

Just bought all 3 volumes from the US for $36 including post, pre loved. Looking forward to getting them in the next week or so.

Adrian