Customer Reviews

Burnhams Celestial Handbook Volume 3

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Being an amateur astronomer I bought this and the other two volumes recently and I have found it indispensible. Im writing this review keeping solely the tyro's in mind, since one knowledgeable in astronomy would have already had this book. If you are getting interested in astronomy, this is the book to buy - it will surely deepen your interest. Get the book and take a journey through the starts that Burnham offers you in the first few pages.

There are plenty of astronomy books for amatuers with fantastic photos. And sometimes it can be intimidating to know what to buy. Burnham's book is worth every penny (and it doesnt cost much either). It does not contain colorful photos (though contains plenty of b&w photos taken from Lowell/Palomar and other observatories). All 88 constellations are dealt with in detail. First a list of double stars are given in each constellation followed by details of each bright star (including spectrum analysis for some). The book is set in "type-writer" font, so it gives a special feeling of reading some research paper.

A unique feature of this book, which is probably not found in any other astronomy book I have come sofar, is that, it also contains a perspective of a given constellation or star by several different cultures. Most astronomy books stop with Greek and Roman myths - giving a feeling that no other culture was knowledgeable in astronomy. Coming from Indian background, I found it very intriguing that Burnham mentions several stories and myths from Indian folklore (including those that I heard from my granny!). For eg, Varahamihira (c 100 AD?) in his "Brihat Samhita" compares Ursa Major (aka called "Seven Sages") to string of pearls. I was surprised to see Burnham mention this.

One other way I use the book is to first locate some star in the telescope (by lazily moving it around), notice the color, constellation and other characteristics, then look into the book about the details and compare with what you saw. Thats a fun way of learning.

Though more experienced astronomers would observe that some Burnham's values are of older epoch, this should not really bother a beginner. Burnham has certainly packed a wealth of information into three volumes. Again this is a book that will accompany for life on observing the wonders that are up above the sky.

For the first few months that I owned these books, I went to bed each night reading them. The quantity of information makes these books the most useful astronomy guides (short of a good atlas) I have ever seen, but it is the extra comments (from theological to philosophical to historical) that make them truly wonderful. Much of the information is badly dated, but if I had to recommend one book to someone who loves to look through telescopes, this would be it, hands down.

Even if these 3 books are a little bit outdated (1983), it is still in irreplaceable source of information on all the celestials beauties to be seen on an amateur telescope

First - Research the author's history. Interesting person, and he poured a lot of himself into researching and writing these books. For me, at least, knowing his history and what he accomplished made the books much more interesting. The entire set is three volumes that list the constellations in alphabetical order. Each volume has a section of the alphabet. They don't contain any solar system objects, and even say so on the front of each book. So no one should be confused looking for solar system data while reading.

These books examine the major constellations and the objects that define them. As you read the data on stars, etc., you'll also learn some of their history through the ages. The reader will need to realize that the astronomical facts listed were current when the books were researched and written, but may not be exactly accurate all these years later. They're still pretty close in most cases. Some mythology involved in star naming history is also included.

The books are written in old typewriter style and the pictures are all black and while. Some may not like this format, but I liked seeing more time put into the research and history instead of fancy graphics. In the age of Hubble it's also nice to see some old photos taken with early refractors and the 200 inch Palomar telescope when it was THE best available. Makes an interesting contrast to what we can easily find on the internet today. Those old plates are really intersting to compare to what's available today. Makes you appreciate the Hubble's fantastic photos and how easy we have it today to simply log on and get regularly updated astronomical data and photos in seconds.

Plus - the books look cool sitting on your bookshelf. Each volume is about three inches thick (and a bit heavy), with a lot of information in one place. And you don't need power or batteries to carry them outside or enjoy them in your favorite easy chair.

Overall I'm still reading through these books and do use them regularly for quick reference before and after observing. The diagrams and photos may not be fancy, but are organized by constellation for easy research. The charts are easy to read and just look plain cool to dig into when planning what to observe. For me it's just easier to quickly look through the books than powering up the iPad or laptop and surfing the web to find something. They may not be for everyone, but for me it's really fun to use a bit of history.

As an added comment - Just received the March 2012 Sky and Telescope magazine. It contains an article on the eclipsing star Epsilon Auriga in the Auriga constellation. The article details current (2012) thinking that a dark disk "cloud" (with a possible central star) is causing the eclipse. The Burnham books (Volume 1) lists this same idea as one of three possible theories being considered at the book's copyright date of 1966 (and revised in 1978 with an intro by Burnham). Interesting that they were considering an idea then that seems to be correct today.

this book breaks down the constellations and talks about them in depth. list of stars and ngc / messier objects within each constellation the book covers. a great product for someone with a telescope looking to make their life easier. you will want to buy a professional star chart to use in correlation with this series of books.

Burnham was an amateur astronomer who made it into the ranks of the professionals back in the Seventies. This is his disllation of the best sights of the deep sky from a lifetime at the eyepiece. Even if you never go beyond the usual showpieces like the Pleiades & the Orion Nebula, this is also a great armchair astronomy book, for he includes a lot of history about these objects, too. Unfortunately, the book could have used an editor, as interesting & useful tabls seem to have been slipped in wherever he wanted to put them in. Also, if you're unaccustomed to star-hopping, he used the old 1950 coordinates, not the 2000 coordinates, which makes this less useful for people with goto scopes.

Una excelente colección de todos los objetos que el cielo puede ofrecer. De lo mejor, tanto para los principiantes como para los más expertos.

readers of the reviews of burnham's "celestial handbook" on amazon.com may notice that much of the commentary focuses on burnham the man, and very little on the specific content and utility of these three volumes. on me therefore falls this cheerless but necessary task.

when viewed against the huge changes in astronomy since the late 1960's (when the "handbook" was actually written), the "self publishing" character of this work cries out at every level, almost from every page -- and i don't just mean in the electric typewriter typeface, neatly pecked out within black line borders ruled around every page. the book is, fundamentally, an antique. the celestial coordinate system used to locate all stars and galaxies (epoch 1950) is not merely "badly outdated", it is obsolete and completely useless. the data for binary stars, particularly for stars with orbital periods of a few centuries or less, is incorrect, and based on the early 20th century struve and aitken catalogs, not (for example) on the current u.s. naval observatory catalog (WDS). all the star position, magnitude, spectral type and proper motion data have been superseded by satellite surveys, and there is no catalog numbering at all for variable stars. the many black and white photographs are grainy and dark, and nearly all date from before 1950. reviewers who praise "the wealth of information" in these books simply do not know what is current and available for astronomers.

the book fails even rudimentary qualifications as a reference because it is so disorganized. topics are scattered and dispersed randomly across three volumes (a list of white dwarfs is put in the chapter on the constellation canis major, the list of stars with large proper motions in ophiuchus, the list of novae in cassiopeia), and in his preface to the *3 page* index (which is only found at the end of the third volume, which for that reason alone you must buy), burnham cheerfully quips "if you can't find it anywhere else, look in here!" none of the sources cited in the bibliography are now accurate or current; vast chunks of modern astronomy (galaxy clustering, high energy physics, cosmology) are omitted or grossly misrepresented (burnham refers to two colliding galaxies as "this oddball object with extending filaments" because the gravitational tides between interacting galaxies were then not understood), and the writing, though efficient, is salted with solecisms (star color can be "illusionary").

a considerable portion of the information is, instead, colorful and quaint, a look back at a lost time. burnham lived and worked during the remarkable post WWII transition period in astronomy, which carried both amateur and professional astronomers on the same tide. manufacturers from edmund scientific up to cave optical and questar were producing high quality instruments within reach of amateur budgets, and professional astronomers had just begun to systematize cosmology through discovery of the galactic red shift, black holes and stellar evolution; "sky & telescope" appealed to amateurs and the palomar sky survey to professionals; the mercury and apollo missions were in the news and "telstar" was a popular song. but weaving through the popular astronomy culture "back in the day" was an inherited vein of folklore, arabic star names, greek mythology, conventional wisdom, and grandfathered anecdote about the sky and its meaning that was garbled together in a popularized and rapidly developing space meme. burnham channeled those jumbled and disparate narratives, and folded them all into a heavy dose of tabulated and photodocumented astral data, most of it from before WWII. the result is both quirky and deflecting. you can imagine grandpa knocking his pipe ashes into the fire, setting aside his text on cepheid variables, and telling them youngins again about how orion hunted the bull, how hindus believed the world was born, or what that strange name "arcturus" really means.

of course, burnham had a larger purpose: to provide what amounts to an undergraduate course in astronomy, inserting factual or conceptual digressions at the point where they become relevant to a specific observable phenomenon or to a constellation where an unobservable object is hidden. and because the going frequently gets technical, he leavens his didactic bread with a salty bit of mythology or communal anecdote: we start a discussion of the brightest star in taurus the bull, and quickly digress into minoan archaeology, indian mythology, pictures of coins, some poetry. the result is a jumble-- hard to negotiate, difficult to consult, and unpredictable in its coverage. you get a list of white dwarf stars, but no list of giant stars; a list of novae, but none for globular clusters; a list of nearby stars, but not of nearby galaxies. it's all hit or miss. (be it noted as well, there is no information whatsoever about the planets of our solar system or the origin of planetary systems in general.)

i am not concerned that dover books garners royalties from burnham's ghost, or that no one has aggressively revised and updated what in concept could be a useful set of volumes; nor even that the books might be recommended in place of many well written and up to date volumes by living astronomers (starting with the evergreen "norton's star atlas and observer's handbook" and the extremely useful and thorough "night sky observer's guide"). my concern is that if you put burnham in the hands of any youngster, teenager or novice adult who might be interested in astronomy, you will convince them that this is a pastime for old men and their love of stories and mementos of times past. time to turn the page.