Astro Cards
The Night Sky Observer's Guide
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THE KEPPLE-SANNER
400 CERTIFICATE
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To all observers who view all of the five-star
objects or all of the five-star and four-star objects in our
two volume set
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book reviews: |
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Sky & Telescope |
July 1999, page 78-80 |
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Astronomy |
Aug. 1999, page 100 |
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Amateur Astronomy #24 |
Winter 1999, pages 14, 30-32 |
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SkyNews |
Nov-Dec, page 29 |
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Selected as one
of the 25 Hot New Products of 1999 |
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Sky & Telescope |
Dec. 1999, page 51 |
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The
Night Sky Observer's Guide places 5th in reader Voting among the
best of 25 Hot New Products of 1999. Sky & Telescope, April 2000,
page 60.
The first four products were Meade's Autostar, NexStar 5 (both
computer-pointed telescopes), TeleVue's Nagler Type 5 eyepiece,
and Sky Atlas 2000.0. If you're going to spend thousands on a
telescope and hundreds more on eyepieces and other equipment,
not spending another $69.95 on a 1000 page sky guide is like trying
to play a musical instrument without sheet music!
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ABOUT THIS BOOK
Amateur astronomers today are exceptionally fortunate to
be living in an era when high quality, and very large optics are so
affordable. In the first half of the 20th century the telescope deluxe
for the amateur was the 6-inch refractor. However, such telescopes
were so expensive that very few amateurs could afford them: the majority
of stargazers had to contend with instruments in the 60mm range. Consequently,
most observing guides published during that time emphasized double
and multiple stars, with honorable mention for variable stars and
planetary nebulae, objects which do well in long focal length refractors.
Webb's 1858 Celestial Objects of Common Telescopes
and Olcott's 1936 Field Book of the Skies were not superseded
for so many decades simply because the average amateur instrument
did not dramatically improve during the century after Webb.
By the 1950's the mass-produced or home-made 6-inch parabolic
mirror brought medium-sized optics into the price range of the average
amateur, and with it the emission nebulae, open clusters, and galaxies
that had been seen only as amorphous blobs - if seen at all - in
small refractors. The 1948 Skalnate Pleso Atlas of the Heavens
had already displaced the classic Norton's Star Atlas
as the frontline sky-chart for amateurs, but the observing guides
badly needed rewriting. However, not until the 1970's and Burnham's
Celestial Handbook was there an observing guide worthy of
the 6-inch Newtonian reflector, or the more expensive, but increasingly
popular, 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.
By the early 1980's another revolution in amateur optics was underway
thanks to the inexpensive and easily constructed mounting for large
aperture Newtonian reflectors invented by John Dobson. With these
big "light buckets" one can see score of emission nebulae, hundreds
of star clusters, and thousands of galaxies, and with details visible
in virtually all of them.
The Night Sky Observer's Guide
This hard bound "Guide" is for the seriuos observer
as well as the beginner, no matter what size telescope is used,
whether its a 3-inch refractor or a 25-inch Dobsonian. The "Guide"
not only answers the question "what can I observe tonight" but
decribes what details are visible through variuos size instruments
and shows where to find it. The Night Sky Observers' Guide is
a tremendous value, its two volumes contain:
992 pages covering over 5,500 objects
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2,030 |
Galaxies |
2,104 |
Double Stars |
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127 |
Planetary Nebulae |
433 |
Variable Stars |
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131 |
Bright Nebulae |
446 |
Photographs |
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69 |
Dark Nebuale |
827 |
Drawings |
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550 |
Open Clusters |
431 |
Star Charts |
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92 |
Globular Clusters |
143 |
Data Tables |
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But once again observing literature has failed to keep pace with
optics. The purpose of the Night Sky Observer's Guide
is to close this rewidened gap by providing the owner of a medium
or large aperture telescope with some idea of what to look for in
such instruments - both what object can be seen, and what details
may be seen within these objects. The Night Sky Observer's
Guide endeavors to assist the observer in the act of observing
- in truly seeing what there is to see in each of the objects described
in these pages - because the first step in astronomy is to actually
look with attentian at what is in the night sky. It began in 1987
when George Kepple and Glen Sanner, founded the Oberver's
Guide, a bi-monthly magazine that set out to describe, with
their readers as active participants, what could be seen with telescopes
6-ince and larger from mid-northern latitudes. Unlike an ordinary
magazine it would have a finite life because each issue was devoted
to one - or occasionally several smaller constellations. When completed
in 1992 32 issues had reviewed 64 constellations.
The object descriptions in The Night Sky Observer's Guide
derive from those in the original Observer's Guide, but the editors
have reviewed and edited each so it will conform to a set style.
In those instances where inconsistencies arose the editors reobserved
the object and rewrote the original Observer's Guide
descritption. The Night Sky Observer's Guide also
includes many photographs and maps that did not appear in the magazine.
Though both the Observer's Guide and now the Night
Sky Observer's Guide were aimed at amateurs especially interested
in observing galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters, neither magazine
nor these volumes have neglected double and variable stars. Data
tables for doubles and variables within a constellation are provided
near each chapter's beginning, and these stars are labelled on maps
and finder charts. Moreover, the most famous or visually impressive
double and variables are given written descriptions similar to those
for other deep-sky objects. Splitting doubles and plotting variable
star light curves are not nearly as popular with amateurs today
as they were thirty or forty years ago so these objects are not
emphasized in the volumes. Nevertheless, double stars in particular
offer the observer many fine, and even spectacular sights in the
eyepiece.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
George Robert Kepple and Glen Sanner have been life long amateur
astronomers. George, until his retirement, worked in the steel industry
as a grinding machine operator. Glen is a pharmacist. Until Glen's
recent move to southern Arizona both lived near each other in Pennsylvania.
CONSTELLATIONS COVERED
Volume 1: Autumn and Winter
476 pages Only $34.95
Andromeda, Aquarius, Aries, Auriga, Camelopardalis, Cancer, Canis
Major, Canis Minor, Cessiopeia, Cepheus, Cetus, Columba, Eradinus,
Fornax, Gemini, Lacerta, Lepus, Lynx, Monoceros, Orion, Pegasus,
Perseus, Pisces, Piscis Austrinus, Puppus, Pyxis, Sculptor, Taurus,
and Triangulum.
Volume 2: Spring and Summer
516 pages Only $34.95
Antlia, Aquila, Bootes, Canes Venatici, Capricornus, Centaurus,
Coma Berenices, Corona Australis, Corona Borealis, Corvus, Crater,
Cygnus, Delphinus, Draco, Equuleus, Hercules, Hydra, Leo, Leo Minor,
Libra, Lupus, Lyra, Microscopium, Ophiuchus, Sagitta, Sagittarius,
Scorpius, Scutum, Serpens Caput, Serpens Caude, Sextans, Ursa Major,
Ursa Minor, Virgo, and Vulpecula.
SPECIAL: SHIPPING ONLY $1.00 PER BOOK TO ANY USA ADDRESS.
Priority shipping in USA is $9:10 for a set of two books.
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