Customer Reviews

Sky Catalogue 2000.0: Volume 1 (Sky Catalogue 20000 2nd ed)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a compilation of data on stars and their properties. As such it is quite useful for anyone who needs that type of information. To use it as an observing guide, though, would be like opening a dictionary in hopes of reading a good story. For someone to give the book one star because it was not the type of book that reader needed is misleading and unfair. Anyone thinking of buying this volume should look inside and the nature of the information will be apparent. There are numerous observing guides available for all levels of experience, some general and some specific to types of objects. The Night Sky Observer's Guide is an example of the former. Sky Catalogue 2000.0: Volume 1 was designed as a reference on 45,269 stars down to magnitude 8.05 - and only stars. It serves that purpose very well. Anyone needing astrometric data on fainter stars might consult the Hipparcos catalog available on-line. A final note - for most amateurs volume 2 of this work will likely be more useful since it covers a variety of deep-sky objects. But it too is primarily a reference.

This book contains hundreds of stars, down and including the magnitude 8.0. It is 99.999% accurate and no smudges! I recomend this book to anyone who is searching the stellar realm of the universe.

As the one reviewer said, this tome has limited appeal to the casual observer of the sky. However, it has its uses for the mathematically minded amateur astronomer. It has some detailed trig equations to calculate the movement (proper motion) of individual stars into the future and the past, for instance. You can find the distance of Sirius a million years in the future. There are interesting sections about such things as stellar spectra; their classification schemes, their true brightness as seen by the naked eye. You can find out a lot about your favorite umm, star. Among the 50,000 plus listed, to magnitude 8.

This is NOT to be purchased unless you are very advanced in astronomy. I was hoping for a rework of the "New General Catalog" and this, as a gift, was way beyond me. I feel the description of this tomb should reflect its complexity