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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Double Stars for Small Telescopes, November 6, 2006
This clearly written book covers the basic information needed to understand the attraction double and multiple stars has to the amateur astronomer and most importantly, how to find them.
Reading the introduction, you realize that the author has an excellent understanding of her subject matter that communicates well to the reader. This shows in her ability to explain and keep my attention (no easy task). Her explanations and examples kept my interest and made me want to start observing immediately. The charts and graphs included illustrate very well the technical aspects of observing with detailed descriptions of the many subtle colors of the stars as they appear to the eye through the telescope. The explanations illustrate how stars are measured by magnitude, color, temperature and separation. A handy chart is printed on how far apart the stars will be separated in various scopes by their aperture.
Four constellations are illustrated labeling the binary stars by season to help you get started right away. An easy to understand legend in front of the first catalog page helps to locate your target and where to look. The catalog is organized by constellations. With each star you are given the right, assent ion, declination, name, year, position angle, separation, magnitude, spectral type, status and observers comments. Most comments, made by contributing astronomers, include the aperture and power of the telescope used.
If you have setting circles on your scope or better yet, a "go to" scope, it makes finding the stars are a snap. Otherwise you need a good atlas and plenty of patience.
Sissy Hass gives us one more pleasure for the use of our scopes in observing the unlimited joys and beauty of our universe. This is a reference book I will keep close by for one of those leisurely nights where I am not rushed to find some other object before it moves out of sight. Where every night is Christmas with the multi-colored lights of a Yule-tide tree.
Book reviewed by Jack Fox, Richmond Astronomical Society
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Good overall, but some serious flaws, November 15, 2007
While the listing is overall a good culling of double stars from longer lists (i.e. the WDS catalog), and the comments are helpful and descriptive, there are three notable flaws not already mentioned by other reviewers. 1) The coordinates are given with no indication of the epoch. Presumably, they are 2000.0 coordinates, but that is nowhere explicitly indicated. 2) Coordinates are only listed to the nearest tenth of a minute in RA and minute of arc in dec. That's enough to make you wonder what's what in a crowded field. 3) In this era of GOTO telescopes, it's too bad the author chose to list the stars from the WDS catalog using discoverer codes (reminiscent of the now badly-outdated "Burnham's Celestial Handbooks") incommensurate with the way these stars are cataloged in common telescope pointing programs like Software Bisque's "The Sky." It's far more cumbersome to have to enter coordinates than to type a simple code like "WDS STT 34." For example, Haas uses the code "CorO" as an abbreviation for "Cordoba Observatory," whereas the WDS code (also used by The Sky) is "COO." (A web search on "CorO double star" yielded far fewer relevant hits than a search for "COO double star," which indicates to me that the latter is a more common usage.)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
The most complete, "practical" catalog of Double Stars on the market, October 20, 2008
I have read the other reviews for this book. And I agree with much (but not all!) of what has been written. How can that be you ask - since the reviews range from 2-stars to 5-stars? I believe some reviewers have missed the mark - specifically, they have missed the author's purpose behind writing this book.
Primarily speaking, this book is not - repeat - is not a trove of science! If you're looking for hardcore science, e.g., Common Proper Motions, star colors, Spectroscopic vs. Interferometric vs. Astrometric Doubles, or astrophysics, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! You will be greatly disappointed. So what is this book? For someone interested in observing double stars, it's the Practical Amateur Astronomer's best friend.
The first 10-pages contain general practical observing information pertinent to every amateur, from beginning to seasoned observer. The next section - the heart of the book - runs from pages 11 - 168 (the rest of the book). This section is a very detailed & complete "Catalog" of Double Stars. No where, that I know of anyway, is there a book (list) of approximately 2100 double stars. The book gives great detail, organized first by constellation and then by RA within the constellation. Data such as coordinates, star name, Position Angle, stellar magnitudes, the "type" of double and observing comments are given for each Double Star.
Ms. Hass, if one can find any fault, may have mis-named her book. First, a more proper name would have simply been "A Catalog of Double Stars" (sorry, I'm not that creative but you get the idea). Second, I even believe the "for small telescopes" is a bit misleading. Many of the stars in her "catalog" require a scope of 200mm - 275mm to split. To me, that aperture isn't "small". So even those backyard astronomers with scopes in the 8" - 12" range will find some stellar challenges within Ms. Hass' catalog.
Finally, could this book have been better? Definitely, yes. The two biggest improvements I would suggest are: (1) An included CD containing a spreadsheet of the entire catalog; and (2) Spiral Binding to make the book more useful "at" the telescope.
But even considering these two drawbacks, for the sheer volume, content & useful information ... 5-stars is definitely in order. If you like observing double stars, and you desire a list that will keep you busy for more than a lifetime, this book is it. It is a valuable reference every double star observer should have in his or her personal library.
Thank you, Ms. Hass, for such a complete and valuable resource - and one that I will use for the rest of my life as I try to work my way through the entire catalog!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Nice object catalog, but a poor observer's guide., August 25, 2008
When it comes to double stars, Sissy Haas is not only an experienced observer, she is a very enthusiastic observer as well. The double star articles Haas has authored for Sky and Telescope magazine over the past decade are among the best observing articles the magazine has published. Her excitement for double stars shines through in every paragraph.
Being such a big fan of Haas' writing, I even went to library, photocopied her articles from back issues, and made my own double star "observer's guide" (this was before Sky and Telescope made their archive of back issues downloadable online). So it goes without saying I had high expectations for this book.
I was hoping Double Stars for Small Telescopes would be an observers guide filled with more writing like her Sky and Telescope articles. However, I didn't find anything like this in her book. Instead, Double Stars for Small Telescopes is basically an Excel spreadsheet dump containing data for around 2100 double stars, grouped by constellation.
Besides the normal catalog information you'd expect, Haas provides very brief observing notes in a "spreadsheet cell" for each object. Haas has included her observations, as well as those of other skilled double star observers to compile the list. What you get here is the combined wisdom of a group of skilled observers, listing their picks for best targets of the best. You can use it to form the backbone of a double-star observing program that will last for quite some time.
But still, the book is essentially just a list. A nicely prepared and formatted list, but a list nonetheless. The editors at Sky and Telescope could have taken Haas's past magazine articles and edited them into the book, like they did for Sue French's Celestial Sampler. But they inexplicably missed this opportunity, and that leaves me disappointed by the book overall.
Please don't misunderstand me - I still think this book is worth owning, and I definitely recommend it. But since this book is primarily catalog data, I actually would have preferred to get it as a digital download to import into my astronomy software.
I personally feel Double Stars for Small Telescopes is fine for what it is, but it could have been a lot more. I encourage Sissy Haas to write another book: a true observer's guide to accompany this catalog.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Poor choice, October 17, 2007
This is a poor choice for Double Star observers. Basically, it's one big spreadsheet of double star, with comments provided mostly by other observers than the author.
Better to get the tabular data online for free.
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Always useful information, but cheaply presented, July 2, 2006
Having made viewing many of the double stars in the Struve catalogue my annual observing goal for some time, I was happy to hear of this book becoming available. While generally pleased with it, I was disappointed in the final product for several reasons.
First, in this day and age, how can any book obviously designed to be used at the telescope not be bound in a manner so that it will lay flat when opened, preferably spiral-bound?
Second, there are almost no charts whatsoever, just four very basic constellation line drawings showing 15 of the more famous double stars. Surely some monthly charts illustrating in some manner the bright or showpiece doubles could not have been too difficult to include. I have drawn my own from the WDS catalogue data for years. If you have a modern "Go To" scope where coords can be entered and the telescope slews itself to the right point, or at least have digital setting circles, the book will be simple to use. For those without, you'll have to starhop on your own with other charts to the coordinate listings.
Finally, my copy arrived directly from Sky Publishing in a weak padded envelope with no protection and had about four inches of the corner permanently bent from being crushed in transit.
The observing descriptions of the double stars draw from Sissy Haas' own notes, notes from other observers, and from classic handbooks by Webb and Smyth. These are excellent overall and provide a sense of the observing experience far beyond what any robotic reading and sorting of the catalogue data can provide.
I wish there was a 3½ star rating. I gave it 4 in large measure because of the observing comments. Please, PLEASE Sky Publishing, do these "Stargazing Series" publications justice and give them a proper binding and more "meat" than just a listing of digital catalogue data.
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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
A Double Star Book at Last, July 4, 2006
I liked the observations of various astronomers and the practical knowledge the book offers and the lack of academic theory you get in some books when all you want to do is observe.
Great!
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5 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Selección de dobles, June 16, 2007
La parte principal del libro sin duda es la selección de estrellas dobles del WDS, con los datos en tablas. Están agrupadas por constelación y ordenadas por ascensión recta. Incluye las constelaciones de ambos hemisferios, tanto Norte como Sur. Al comienzo del libro aparece una rápida introducción al mundo de las estrellas dobles y su observación, así como unos mapas básicos de búsqueda de un par de sistemas (el libro no incluye cartas de búsqueda, unicamente los datos de cada estrella)
Entre los datos elegantemente tabulados están las coordendas del sistema, la designación, año de la última medición (incluye mediciones recientes), ángulo de posición, separación, magnitudes, espectro, estatus (doble física u óptica, si es conocido) y una columna especialmente interesante para los observadores visuales: comentarios observacionales sobre cada doble (que incluyen la apertura del instrumento y los aumentos utilizados)
Los datos están bien presentados y son buenos. Tienen algunos errores o desactualizaciones que arrastra desde el WDS, como no tener los datos de las magntudes fotométricas más recientes, o para un sistema de más de dos componentes (AB y AC por ejemplo), en ciertas ocasiones, tener una magnitud dada para la estrella A cuando se muestra los datos de AB e inmediatamente debajo, al mostrar los datos AC, la estrella A aparece con otra magnitud difrente a la de la fila superior, AB. Hay varios ejemplos así.
En definitiva, es un buen libro, recomendable para los que gustan de observar estrellas dobles o los que deseen incluir algunas al planear sus noches de observación. La selección es buena y la cantidad es suficiente para estar entretenido un buen tiempo.
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