Overview
Helps you understand what these catalogs are, how they came about, how to use them effectively, and why it is a good idea to compare them to each other.
Allows for the creation of a personalized observing program for amateur astronomers at any level of experience.
Serves as an excellent reference source for amateur astronomers, libraries, astronomy students, teachers, and researchers.
Includes a brief but useful history of ancient star catalogs and their effects on the development of astronomy.
Part of the book series: The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series (PATRICKMOORE)
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (12 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Every amateur astronomer has at least heard of the many different catalogs of deep-sky objects; the most well known are the Messier, the Caldwell, the Herschel, and the NGC. All of these catalogs are, in general, readily available, but very few amateur observers are in a position to choose the best catalog for their particular deep-sky observing program, know how to use the catalog, or even realize just how many there are out there!
The Amateur Astronomer's Guide to the Deep-sky Catalogs is a single compilation of the historical and modern astronomical deep-sky catalogs. It discusses their origins, compares what's in them, explains how to interpret the data they contain, and even outlines how readers can create suitable 'custom' catalogs for their own use. The last section provides a set of three deep-sky catalogs created by the author, for observers of different levels of experience, from newcomer to expert.
Reviews
From the reviews:
“The book provides complete listings of the important deep sky catalogs considered useful for amateur astronomy. … The catalog listings will make an excellent resource for amateur astronomers giving co-ordinate locations and other information on thousands of galaxies, stars, and nebula. The all to brief bio’s provide a delicious taster into the lives of some fascinating characters and will act as a prompt for more in depth research. A thoroughly recommended book for all amateur astronomers.” (Paul Rumsby, Best Astronomy Books, October, 2012)Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Jerry Cavin first turned to amateur astronomy while growing up under the dark skies of Iowa. After leaving the farm, he completed a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He worked for 10 years as the Lead Software Engineer at the Control Data Corporation specializing in real time control systems. After getting married he moved to Austin, Texas and spent over 15 years at the University of Texas at Austin working as a Research Scientist Associate on electronic warfare systems.
He is currently working as a Systems Engineer at Overwatch System and will be completing his second MSc degree in Astronomy at the Swinburne Astronomy Online, via the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing in Melbourne, Australia.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Amateur Astronomer's Guide to the Deep-Sky Catalogs
Authors: Jerry D. Cavin
Series Title: The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0656-3
Publisher: Springer New York, NY
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4614-0655-6Published: 23 September 2011
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4614-0656-3Published: 27 October 2011
Series ISSN: 1431-9756
Series E-ISSN: 2197-6562
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 380
Number of Illustrations: 8 b/w illustrations, 3 illustrations in colour
Topics: Astronomy, Observations and Techniques, Popular Science in Astronomy, Geographical Information Systems/Cartography