Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
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:
3.0 out of 5 stars
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:
5.0 out of 5 stars
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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