Astro Books

I have the exact same book, the Collins Gem guide, I got mine in 1989 and is my no.1 observing book, it is great at the scope but I've added alot of galaxies and other deepsky objects to its maps, its size is great for holding with 1 hand at the eyepeice. I find a bigger atlas cumbersome and needing a table.

I think the more books you have the better. There is always something in one that you didnt read in another and think to yourself "Hey i didnt know that".

My newest book is "Astronomy"by Ian Ridpath. It covers just about everything. It has lots of basic sections on "how to" and "what to" and as many again on astro physics etc. Star charts of both the north and south hems.............and a celestial calendar of events right upto 2015.

I have the exact same book, the Collins Gem guide, I got mine in 1989 and is my no.1 observing book, it is great at the scope but I've added alot of galaxies and other deepsky objects to its maps, its size is great for holding with 1 hand at the eyepeice. I find a bigger atlas cumbersome and needing a table.

Me too, Still have it as well. Its a cracker. its still being published but under a different title maybe "stars" I picked one up last year for a mate.

I have the exact same book, the Collins Gem guide, I got mine in 1989 and is my no.1 observing book

Same here... funny how you keep losing the darn thing and it keeps popping up unexpectedly from time to time! Mine went missing for 3 years, moved house in the mean time, then a year after the move I found it in a box that was one of the last to be unpacked! :lol: Sure is a little 'gem'.

You can get this book online for as little as €4-5 . I googled it the other night and found it easily enough. The name has changed from The Night Sky to Stars.............but its the same book.

www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780060818661

I've 3 copies of the GEM book (one in the car, one at home, and one in a grab-bag of observing gear). It's excellent! It's been challenged somewhat by Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas but the Sky & T atlas lacks the description of objects that the GEM guide has.

I'd also look out for a book called "Moon, Mars, and Venus" by Antonin Rukl on www.bookfinder.com If the author sounds familiar then he is! This book is the original pocket-sized version of the larger Atlas of the Moon that Sky and T publish. You can get it quite cheaply still and I've bought about 25 copies over the last decade to give to various people. Again, I've a couple of copies still scattered about the place.

Erich Karkoschka's "Observers Sky Atlas" is another great pocket book. Tables of about 250 deep sky objects are beside a series of probably the cleanest sky charts I've seen in any observing book. The star sizes are binned in such a way that it is very easy to star hop to stuff. I used his map of the Virgo Cluster to pick off the Virgo Messier galaxies with ease. The book is in the third edition now but www.bookfinder.com might let you search for earlier and cheaper ones. The only limitation is the number of objects it contains but these are ones well suited for binoculars and small scopes.

atb,

John