My
books, atlases and tools
A Field Guide to Stars and Planets
Norton’s Star Atlas and Handbook
Deep Sky Companions – Messier Objects
Deep Sky Companions – Caldwell Objects
Carte Du Ciel (Free and powerful software)
Registax (For astrophotagraphers)
Interesting things to observe in small aperture telescopes.
I learned how to "star hop" from one star to another. This
skill is proven to be just as important as having a good
telescope.
A must-have classic.
By Phil Harrington. Same topic. Includes great descriptions
of some things "Turn Left" doesn't have.
Buy this book for its atlases! I have Norton's Atlas. But I
want something that shows stars of 7th magnitude to be a
good star-hopping guide. It seems my only option is Star Atlas
2000.0. No! This book has great (if not small) atlases of
the sky. They are easy to use. But if you have poor eyes,
maybe you need magnifying glasses.
For me, its sky maps are detailed enough, at least for
binocular viewing. And I don't need to invest $50 on
Sky Atlas 2000.0.
This is my favorite book to read when the sky is cloudy.
It is very inspiring. I get to know the greatest amateur
astronomers, their stories, and lots of other things. Every
time I open the book it seems to tell me just another
story to confirm that the love for Astronomy can be found
in so many great amateurs.
We are all star people. We are made of the same elements
that the stars are made of. So just enjoy the night sky --
commonly available to anybody who opens his/her eyes to
the above.
The handbook is a great reminder of all things astronomical.
The atlas, however, has one major problem -- the milky way.
It draws the milky way green and, if a star is inside it,
there's no size or exact location of the star. I really
don't like it! If your star is in the milky way it basically
means you'll have a hard time finding it.
But everything else is great. It's the Norton's. It’s
just
too big to be called “handbook”.
By Stephen James O'Meara
Nothing more need to be said. O'Meara is my favorite columnist
in the magazine "Sky&Telescope". He's also one of the greatest
observers of our time and a great writer. I enjoy reading this
book as not only a guide to visual observers but a great "novel",
a love story to the beloved night sky. Plus, imagine been advised
by the person who sees the surface details of
everyone else!
By Stephen James O'Meara
Everyone loves O'Meara's work on the Messier objects. But
this book is more controversial because it covers
the
which are much harder to see as people believes. But what the
author tries to convey is that these objects can be seen
through his small telescope beautifully, and all it takes
is patience and passion.
Some people on amazon find the book a self-exaggeration type
of thing but I don't agree. I took my telescope out and
looked at several
and O'Meara's descriptions are also superb companions in
these observations.
A lot of
so they are easy to be spotted in binoculars and small
telescopes. Don't be fooled by what you hear. Just try it.
By Walter Scott Houston and S.J.O’Meara
This is a fascinating book, a truly wonderful
collection of
entertaining yet useful essays written by the late
amateur
Astronomer Walter Scott Houston, who wrote the
Deep Sky Wonders
column for Sky and Telescope magazine for a long
time.
reading these essays adapted from his columns is
like talking
with a knowledgeable friend who shares the same
interest with
you. And it’s never dull.
But this is for serious amateurs only. If the
reader is having
a hard time aiming at the Orion nebula with his or
her telescope,
this is not the right book to read. Get “Turn Left
at Orion” instead.
Simple and small, easy to use. I especially love its printing
power. The print-outs are of excellent quality, and I have
all my 8th magnitude stars clearly there, together with all
the interesting DSOs.
Biggest plus -- it's free.
It's a popular software to stack time-exposure images. I'm
not a good astro-photographer so I seldom use it. But I did
get pretty good results from my Saturn shoots.