Deep Sky Observer's Guide

'Deep Sky' refers to the universe beyond our own solar system. Using binoculars or telescopes, any sky-gazer can become a deep sky observer. Deep Sky Observer's Guide looks beyond individual stars to target: Star clusters Double Stars Nebulae Galaxies.The Deep Sky Observer's Guide introduces the basics of observing and explains what equipment is required. A chapter is devoted to each type of deep sky target. There are more than 200 such objects featured, with 126 color illustrations and star-finder charts.The Deep Sky Observer Guide is also available in a convenient pack (ISBN: 1-55407-025-2) that comes with deep sky charts and an observing calendar.

Neil Bone is a frequent lecturer for astronomical societies.

Wil Tirion is the world's foremost celestial cartographer.

Introducing the deep sky
The basics
Galaxies
Globular clusters
Diffuse nebulae
Open clusters
Double stars
Planetary nebulae
Supernova remnants
Taking it further
A brief history of deep sky observingStar chartsDeep sky listings- Objects by constellation- The Messier list- Objects by magnitude- Objects by season
Bibliography and resources
Index
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

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Chapter 1: Introducing the Deep Sky Astronomy is surely the most visual of the sciences, and this is largely why it has so captured the public imagination. Television news reports and the daily papers often carry the latest images from space exploration. Pictures of Mars, for example, were prominent on the front pages in August 2003, during the Red Planet's closest approach for 60,000 years, followed by extensive media coverage of the Spirit and Opportunity rover landings in early 2004. Of the great many images from the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to have entered the public domain, perhaps none enjoys more lingering iconic status than that of the Eagle Nebula, released in 1995. The HST's clear view from above the Earth's distorting atmosphere revealed the nebula in unprecedented detail. The nebula's "Pillars of Creation" -- long fingers of dark dust tipped by newly formed stars -- have become as familiar as the Voyager images of the outer planets. The Eagle Nebula is found in the constellation of Serpens, just north of the richest parts of the Milky Way in Sagittarius and Scorpius. While it can never be seen in such fine detail through a typical amateur astronomer's telescope as it was by the HST's sophisticated instrumentation, the Eagle Nebula (also known as M16) is a familiar sight for many whose passion is observing the deep sky. Quite when and where the term "deep sky" came into widespread use is unclear. It has certainly been used at least since the late 1960s as an umbrella description for objects far beyond the bounds of the Solar System. As an activity for amateur astronomers, deep sky observing has often been regarded as more of a pastime than an exercise in obtaining potentially useful scientific data, such as brightness estimates for variable stars, meteor counts, or details of changes in Jupiter's cloud belts. It does remain a largely recreational activity: amateurs' telescopic observations are never going to add new objects to the existing catalogs, for example, though it was notably an amateur observer who in early 2004 first detected a new bright patch, which soon became known as McNeil's Nebula, in the reflection nebula M78 in Orion (the "M" number is the nebula's designation in the best-known listing, or catalog, of deep sky objects). There is, however, a large and growing band of observers who take their deep sky studies a little more seriously, using faint, hard-to-find objects as a test of telescope performance, visual acuity and ability to navigate around the night sky. Skills acquired by the experienced deep sky observer are applicable to other fields of astronomy. Perhaps most obviously, hunting out faint comets -- in appearance, "mobile nebulae" -- demands exactly the same skills as finding faint deep sky objects. Discoveries in the CCD age While extensive sky surveys have long since swept up all the amateur-detectable deep sky objects, discoveries remain to be made. Some dedicated deep sky enthusiasts have established observing programs to search for supernova explosions in distant galaxies. Newly discovered supernovae offer professional astronomers valuable insights into the scale and evolution of the Universe, and amateurs carrying out semiautomated searches can help by providing early alerts. Some -- most notably the Rev. Robert Evans in Australia -- have made important supernova discoveries using only visual telescopic searches. Such searches demand a familiarity with the normal appearance of many galaxies if the presence of any new star is to be immediately apparent to the observer. The most prolific amateur supernova discoverers have in recent years used automated telescopes which are capable of rapidly locating upward of 30 galaxies an hour and are equipped with CCD (charge coupled device) cameras that take "patrol" images. The images are later compared with a reference image to check for the presence of potential interloper star