Customer Reviews

Deep-Sky Companions: The Messier Objects

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am new to the hobby of astronomy and have been reading every book I can get my hands on. While I have come across several books that filled me in on planatary and lunar observations, these books were lacking in their descriptions of the Messier objects. Oh, I knew I should take a look at these celestial treasures. But which ones? And what would they really look like? Thank God for O'Meara's book! It was an unfortunate discovery for me that the pictures I see of various nebulas and galaxies are not the same views I will encounter in my 8-inch Newtonian reflector. (The cameras bring out more detail or the pictures are taken on bigger scopes.) However, what O'Meara does is describe each member of Charles Messier's 18th century catalogue, enclose a black and white photo, and then a detailed sketch of what he saw through a 4-inch telescope. The book is in numerical order so finding the various objects is very easy. When I am planning a night of observing, I simply leaf through the book, find some interesting objects and then check to see if they will be out that night. I can then study his descriptions so that I will know what I am looking for. Fantastic! This is essential for any beginning astronomer and I dare say it would be an interesting read for non-observers as well.

This book is a tremendous help to those of us setting out to find the Messier objects. The biggest problem with finding objects is figuring out what they should like like in a telescope -- sometimes I've got something in the finder or telescope and I'm not certain what it is. O'Meara solves that problem by providing photographs and his terrific drawings, not to mention is verbal paintings which could make a blind person see the objects. He devoted hours to each single object, waxing poetic at times about the merits and downsides to every single object. The first few chapters give some good history and background of Messier and other famous comet hunters. As a final plus, the book is printed on very high quality glossy paper so it's a pleasure to read. As a field guide, it would have been helpful to have it spiral bound, but that's my only suggestion for improvement. The author even includes a helpful appendix of other interesting sky objects that are not Messier objects, all of which are worthwhile telescope targets. A winner!

At first I was reluctant to buy this new book because I already own several Messier books. However, the author has clearly established this book as a must have for amateur astronomers that are interested in deep sky objects. The key to the success of the book is a combination of the text, photos, excellent finder charts, and the unique drawings. The author writes in a personal style and adds many new ways to observe and view deep sky objects, ie appreciate the messiers. This book in combination with the recently published "year round messier marathon" by pennington will allow relatively new amateur astonomers to locate and observe galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae.

I think an opposing opinion is a healthy thing, and here you have one. Here we have a book, not for the interested amateur who wishes to famaliarize him/herself with the topic, but for the experienced observer who has become so terminally bored that a heaping helping of fantasy is required to perk up the interest somewhat. For the observer wishing to learn, the "maps" in this book are the worst available and essentially worthless for someone not already reasonably famaliar with where to find these things. For the rest of us who don't live on a volcano in the middle of the Pacific ocean, no info is provided as to the conditions or aperture required to view a given object. O'Meara goes to considerable length to provide a sales pitch for the Televue Genesis, but the piddly photos featured in the book come from God only knows where -- definitely not O'Meara's scope; O'Meara couldn't even keep the photos to some kind of consistent scale, so the learning observer might go away thinking that M3 is three times the size of M13. In fact, the photos in the book are among the worst available. O'Meara tries to sell this deficiency by saying that he wanted to show what you would see in your telescope. The only problem with this is that the photos come from no "standard" telescope -- such as a 6 or 8 inch job -- and, for the most part, are not representative of what one will see in such a scope. I kept getting the feeling that O'Meara's whole purpose in writing this book was to tell us what a wonderful observer he is. The descriptions are indeed fanciful, wildly so in some cases. In comparing some of the hand drawings with the piddly photos, I was left wondering if maybe O'Meara's eyesight was influenced more by what he wanted to say he saw rather than the light emmanating from the object. And if O'Meara truly wanted the reader to gain some appreciation for fine detail present in an object, one has to ask if O'Meara ever heard the saying: A picture is worth a thousand words? For the hopelessly bored observer, or possibly for the snob, this book might be of some benefit. For the newbie needing a good, factual guide to finding, observing, and learning about the Messier objects, this book offers nearly worthless maps, the worst photography around, and instructions (maybe) on finding the object that will leave the less experienced amateur in the dark.

O'Meara is torn between making this an observing guide (with useful finder charts, drawings and descriptions) and a cloudy nights armchair book (with scientific information, excellent photographs, and historical data). He includes a little of each, but not enough of either, for me to recommend the book unless you simply want to own every book on the subject matter. The seminal work on the subject, with far more information and better charts, is Kenneth Glyn Jones' 1968 book, "Messier's Nebulae & Star Clusters" (revised 1991). O'Meara's book is a very pale shadow of Glyn Jones' book, but I give it 3 stars for effort and because it may be easier to find. But you will be well rewarded to find Glyn Jones' book or the wonderful "The Messier Album" by Mallas and Kreimer.

This is a useful reference and particularly good for people who prefer detailed observation of objects. For people like me who prefer quantity over quality (i.e. if you don't spend an hour looking at the same object), I'd recommend Kepple's Night Sky Observers guide. Kepple's guides offer a combination of the most useful and comprehensive guides I've seen for intermediate and advanced observational astronomers.

The hardback format of this book isn't particularly good for the field, even though I've seen people referencing beaten-up copies with their red flashlights. It has good quality paper stock.

In sum, this is a standard work on the Messier objects and has substantial value despite its somewhat high price. However, I could think of other books I'd buy first -- Nightwatch for beginners, Kepple's set for more advanced users.

Most problems amateurs have with the Messier objects is a) finding them, and b) once they "think" they have found it, knowing what it "should" look like, and c) once they do actually have it, knowing and understanding what they are looking at. This book really helps with (b) and (c). A Telrad bullseye would have helped with (a), but one can't have everything. This is a great, easy-to-read and use companion for anyone who likes looking for the deep-sky objects.

One reviewer said the book lacked an index whereby you could look up, say, the Lagoon Nebula, without knowing its Messier number. That may have been what was revised, as my current copy of the book has an index at the back, and in the front it says "First published 1998. Reprinted (with corrections) 2000. Reprinted 2001." This looks like it will be an invaluable guide for observing, although I wish it was a bit smaller in size.

After buying 4 other books on astronomy and hoping for one that would get a new astronomer such as myself past looking at the moon and planets. This book did the trick. I found over 20 messier objects the first night with just this book and a star chart to guide me. The illustrations and drawings along with his description of how to find the objects put me on the money to objects that are not visible to the naked eye. The back cover is a quick star chart too. Comes in handy when your away from your table. I gave it 4 stars because it is a hard back book. It would have been perfect if he had taken the "Nightwatch" example and made it a spiral bound to lay flat.

When well known 18th century comet hunter , Charles Messier , compiled a list of "confusing objects" in 1774 , little did he think that the list would outlive his fame as the "comet ferret". The list ultimately reached 110 objects that appeared comet-like in the primitive refracting telescopes of Messier's day. The first inkling that these non-stellar objects were a facinating collection of star clusters , gaseous nebulae , and galaxies was the work of Sir William Herschel , who was able to resolve many of these hazy and mysterious objects into clusters of stars.

The author , Steven O'Meara , has carefuly observed all 110 objects with a 4" telescope from one of the darkest and clearest observing sites on Earth , the island of Hawaii , on the slopes of Mauna Kea. I really shake my head in wonder at the drawings the author has produced ; could anyone REALLY see these objects THAT well? I remain a little doubtful.

The book , nevertheless , has some rather small scale star charts to assist the backyard astronomer in finding these objects. Also provided is a B&W photograph , along with an "artistic" sketch by the author.

One thing I generally find fault with in these "observing guides" is the level of optimism conveyed to the average user re: the visibility of the object through any class of instrument , whether binoculars , telescope , or the naked eyeball. I personally believe that really experienced observers wildly overstate what neophytes can expect to see at any given time.

With that little rant aside , this is still a book that should be on the shelf of any budding backyard astronomer. "Four stars" is really a gift on my part--realistically 3 1/2 stars , but one of the few up-to-date pictorial and reasonably scientific books on the subject available today.