101 Amazing Sights of the Night Sky
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This is only vaguely related to Transcendence (I mention it in my bio), but my astronomy book just came out: https://www.amazon.com/101-Amazing-Sigh ... 591935571/
- Xephyr
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How heavy is this on astrophotography? I'm wondering if this would be a good book to give to my young cousin, who doesn't have that kind of equipment.
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Here's an extract: http://kronosaur.com/downloads/AmazingSightsExtract.pdf
The conceit of the book is to put together the 101 best astronomical objects. Most of these are visible with binoculars or a small telescope. Some of the later ones require larger telescopes and astrophotography (e.g., Pluto), but most can be seen with modest equipment.
Still, I hope people will enjoy the book as a kind of travel guide, even if they don't physically go out and see everything.
The conceit of the book is to put together the 101 best astronomical objects. Most of these are visible with binoculars or a small telescope. Some of the later ones require larger telescopes and astrophotography (e.g., Pluto), but most can be seen with modest equipment.
Still, I hope people will enjoy the book as a kind of travel guide, even if they don't physically go out and see everything.
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I like it. The writing's concise and approachable without sounding condescending or dry. Reminds me a bit of the few college textbooks that I still considered worth the price after the semester had ended.
- Xephyr
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My copies finally arrived today.
The book looks great - I like the dark background to the text, that's helpful for keeping your eyes adjusted at night. The pictures you selected are good too, it makes the book fun to look at, which will probably be helpful in keeping my young cousin engaged, who I am giving one copy to.
I'm a little disappointed that Mizar/Alcor didn't make the list, instead pushed off by Epsilon Lyrae. I think its cool that you don't need equipment to distinguish them, they're in a easily identifiable constellation, and it may be a sextuple system. But, I'm sure anyone who's spent time looking at the stars will have one or two favorites they wanted to see in the list.
All in all its a good little guide. I'm glad I bought two so I can keep one for myself.
The book looks great - I like the dark background to the text, that's helpful for keeping your eyes adjusted at night. The pictures you selected are good too, it makes the book fun to look at, which will probably be helpful in keeping my young cousin engaged, who I am giving one copy to.
I'm a little disappointed that Mizar/Alcor didn't make the list, instead pushed off by Epsilon Lyrae. I think its cool that you don't need equipment to distinguish them, they're in a easily identifiable constellation, and it may be a sextuple system. But, I'm sure anyone who's spent time looking at the stars will have one or two favorites they wanted to see in the list.
All in all its a good little guide. I'm glad I bought two so I can keep one for myself.
Project Renegade (Beta) : "The Poor Man's Corporate Command!"
Real programmers count from 0. And sometimes I do, too.
Real programmers count from 0. And sometimes I do, too.