Galaxies and the Universe: An Observing Guide from Deep Sky Magazine [Paperback]

David J. Eicher (Author), Robert Bunge (Contributor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Kalmbach Pub Co (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0913135143
• ISBN-13: 978-0913135143
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 7.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,228,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good compilation of articles for the galaxy-phile, January 28, 2002

By 

Ritesh Laud (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Galaxies and the Universe: An Observing Guide from Deep Sky Magazine (Paperback)

Galaxies and the Universe is a collection of some of the best articles from Deep Sky magazine, which is no longer in publication. This magazine was popular among amateur astronomers in the 1980s and catered chiefly to those with large telescopes at their disposal. Hence, many of the galaxies discussed in these articles are too faint to make it into even the NGC!

Nevertheless, most of the galaxies described in this book can be seen in dark skies with telescopes in the 8"-12" aperture range. The articles cover a diverse array of subject matter: interacting galaxies, galaxy clusters, two articles devoted to M31, overlooked galaxies very near to popular showpiece objects like M51 and M13, and more.

This book is designed for planning an observing session, not really for cloudy night pleasure reading. The object descriptions are similar to those in the superb Night Sky Observer's Guide: a bit dry and clinical but get the job done. Most of the article introductions are well-written and may be enjoyed casually, but the meat of the book should be used to prepare an observing plan.

The photographs and sketches are generally excellent. There's a nice section in the middle with about fifteen pages of color photos. Star charts are few and far between so you will definitely need a deep star atlas with you, either paper or computerized. And I emphasize deep; Sky Atlas 2000.0 just won't do for these faint fuzzies! The vast majority of the objects here are below the magnitude cutoff for SA2000 and besides, the scale of SA2000 isn't sufficient to easily star hop to these galaxies.

This book is out of print but you can get it through Amazon's used book services like I did. It's easily worth the asking price if you're a deep sky buff. I only have an 8" scope so I'll reserve the use of this book for the future when I have more aperture!