The Deep-Sky Observer's Year: A Guide to Observing Deep-Sky Objects Throughout the Year (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series)

Rating:
Summary: Good, but has flaws
Review: This book is a nice overview of some deep-sky objects, but has a number of flaws. Overall, I would say you should consider it as supplemental material only, not a primary reference. This is unfortunate, as a more thorough job of handling this topic would be extremely useful.

First, like most (if not all) books in this series, there is no index. This makes it difficult to try and cross-reference information on an object to other books or charts. I fail to understand why a book of this type would not have an index, as with modern word-processing software, they are easy to generate.

Second, at the beginning of each month, there is no table of objects giving catalog number, common name, constellation names and coordinates, as I would have expected. There is only a list of catalog numbers. The finder charts are skimpy, also.

Potential buyer's should be aware that almost half the book (first 108 pages out of 248)is introductory material on such topics as binoculars, telescopes, how to observe, etc. This material, while good (although all aperture sizes are metric, with no translation to inches), is not why I wanted the book. The sketches are nice, as it is always helpful to me to see eyepiece impressions, as opposed to photos.

Given the price, I would recommend one of the 2 volumes of the Night-Sky Observer's Guide as being a better use of the money, but as supplemental material, it may be useful.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but has flaws
Review: This book is a nice overview of some deep-sky objects, but has a number of flaws. Overall, I would say you should consider it as supplemental material only, not a primary reference. This is unfortunate, as a more thorough job of handling this topic would be extremely useful.

First, like most (if not all) books in this series, there is no index. This makes it difficult to try and cross-reference information on an object to other books or charts. I fail to understand why a book of this type would not have an index, as with modern word-processing software, they are easy to generate.

Second, at the beginning of each month, there is no table of objects giving catalog number, common name, constellation names and coordinates, as I would have expected. There is only a list of catalog numbers. The finder charts are skimpy, also.

Potential buyer's should be aware that almost half the book (first 108 pages out of 248)is introductory material on such topics as binoculars, telescopes, how to observe, etc. This material, while good (although all aperture sizes are metric, with no translation to inches), is not why I wanted the book. The sketches are nice, as it is always helpful to me to see eyepiece impressions, as opposed to photos.

Given the price, I would recommend one of the 2 volumes of the Night-Sky Observer's Guide as being a better use of the money, but as supplemental material, it may be useful.