Go-To Telescopes Under Suburban Skies (2010) (Malestrom)

Neale Monks, "Go-To Telescopes Under Suburban Skies"
Springer | 2010 | ISBN: 1441968504 | 260 pages | PDF

Go-To Telescopes Under Suburban Skies is the first book specifically written for amateur astronomers who own, or who are about to purchase, a computer-controlled ΓΓé¼╦£go-toΓΓé¼Γäó telescope. Computer control and automatic location of objects in the night sky is now a feature of even inexpensive astronomical telescopes (under $200), no longer just of the more expensive models. The advantage of the ΓΓé¼╦£go-toΓΓé¼Γäó capability is enormous ΓΓé¼ΓÇ£ the telescope can be aimed at any object in the sky with great speed and accuracy ΓΓé¼ΓÇ£ and so is the popularity of these instruments.

GO-TO Telescopes Under Suburban Skies provides literally hundreds more targets beyond those offered by the built-in ΓΓé¼╦£nightly toursΓΓé¼Γäó that feature on the telescopeΓΓé¼Γäós computer handset (a feature incorporated by most manufacturers). Although most ΓΓé¼╦£go-toΓΓé¼Γäó telescopes have enormous databases of objects they can find ΓΓé¼ΓÇ£ usually running into tens of thousands ΓΓé¼ΓÇ£ the tours (thatΓΓé¼Γäós suggested objects to look at) are always very limited. Once youΓΓé¼Γäóve seen the planets and bright objects that the computer suggests, youΓΓé¼Γäóre on your ownΓΓ鼪

This new book answers the question, ΓΓé¼╦£What shall I observe next?ΓΓé¼Γäó in a way that is unique to ΓΓé¼╦£go-toΓΓé¼Γäó telescopes. Unlike all existing books on deep sky observing, GO-TO Telescopes Under Suburban Skies doesn't waste space on RA/Dec co-ordinates or Star Maps and Finder Charts for suggested objects. It is designed expressly to be used alongside a ΓΓé¼╦£go-toΓΓé¼Γäó telescope, using the NGC and SAO menus on the computer handset to quickly slew the telescope to each new target. This is unique, and makes the book much more information-rich than other observing guides.

Targets are arranged by season to maximise the chances of a given object being visible at the time of observing, and then are divided into four categories: three deep sky categories of increasing difficulty, and then one category of stars that covers things like coloured stars, multiple stars, and loose clusters/streams. The reader can quickly turn to the relevant season, and then work through the list of objects.

All existing books about practical deep-sky observing are biased towards non-ΓΓé¼╦£go-toΓΓé¼Γäó telescope owners and usually assume large-aperture instruments and/or dark, rural or desert skies. This book makes the more realistic assumption that the amateur astronomer has a relatively small telescope and is observing from a backyard in a suburban area.

Instead of devoting page after page to maps and co-ordinates, GO-TO Telescopes Under Suburban Skies leaves the computer to locate targets by using NGC and SAO catalog numbers, and so has the space to suggest many more fascinating deep-sky targets and provide detailed observing lists and information about what's being viewed.