Customer Reviews

Saturn and How to Observe It (Astronomers' Observing Guides)

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4 star:		(1)
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Saturn was the 3rd object I tried to view after the moon and the stars. I have always been fascinated by the planet and those rings; but nothing could have prepared me for the first time I viewed it with the Telescope; it was a moment that I will never forget. Suspended out there in the darkness of space was a Jewel that even with my Small 76mm Reflector Telescope was a breath taking scene. I was hooked for ever in its beauty; which is way I wanted to know more about viewing and observing this planet and looked for a book on the subject.

I have mixed feeling about this book. The technical content is Wonderful, Saturn's history, and the Rings, Oh those rings; full details about them, Saturn's atmospheric bands and key satellites are discussed in the most intricate details. Diagrams and some nice colour pictures help put the dots on the i's in some instances but are lacking in others. As an example, some of the rings pictures are in Black and White and do not clearly mark the edges and thus leaves it to interpretation of the text or a sketch on the following pages to show their boundary. Some of the technical material may be overkill for an amateur who is not versed with the technical lingo and aspects of astronomy.

The review of the equipment, eyepieces and the filters is good and relevant to Saturn rather than being there just to fill in papers, but they need a bit more organization specifically the filters usage table and a major update on the equipment on general and specifically astrophotography and imaging equipment as the book was written [according to the author] in 2003 even though it was published in Dec. 2005.

The Observation Notes and how to make your observations count is truly valuable and will help organize and make your observations more meaningful and reliable and maybe give you the chance to contribute to the science evolving around this superb planet and others.

Pros:

*Very Good coverage of Saturn's features.

*Helpful forms on how to record your observations.

*Some very good colour images.

*Helpful but outdated equipment review.

Cons:

*Needs an update as it was written in 2003.

*The style is not easy to comprehend, too technical and even boring sometimes.

*Needs a bit of organizing.

*Loose the BW images and have more detailed Colour Images and Diagrams.

*Update the Astrophotography and Imaging chapter and equipment.

My score is in between 3 & 4 stars.