Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series

Lunar and Planetary Webcam User's Guide Ref: B1846281970

SPRINGER

In the last few years, cheap webcams have revolutionised amateur astronomy by providing a very inexpensive alternative to purpose-made astronomical CCD cameras when photographing the Moon and bright planets.

Using a webcam is not difficult but most amateur astronomers who have tried to do this do not achieve the finest results, despite the webcam's potential. There are numerous imaging and image processing tricks and techniques, and all of them are needed to get the best results.

Along with webcam technology has come simple-to-use image processing and enhancement using a PC: the most powerful technique is 'stacking' in which the best frames from a short video are combined automaticallly to provide startlingly good results.

This book is also suitable for users of higher grade cameras such as those from Imaging Source.

Price: £19.50

Using the Meade ETX 100 Objects You Can Really See with the Mighty ETX Ref: B9781852333515

SPRINGER

In 1996 Meade, the world's largest astronomical telescope manufacturer, introduced the ETX, a low-cost and genuinely portable instrument capable of results close to the theoretical limits of optical performance. Since then several different models have been introduced, most of them controlled by on-board computers that automatically point the telescope at objects selected from a database of 12,000. Unfortunately not all these objects are visible when looking through the ETX! (They are included because they can be imaged with special equipment.) Mike Weasner is a world expert on the ETX range, and describes the "best" 100 objects to start with, and offers hints and tips about using and looking after the telescope to get the best possible results.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £19.50

Binocular Astronomy Ref: B9781846283086

SPRINGER

This book contains everything an astronomer needs to know about binocular observing. The book takes an in-depth look at the instruments themselves. It has sections on evaluating and buying binoculars and binocular telescopes, their care, mounting, and accessories. In addition there is a selection of fifty fine objects to be seen with 50mm and 100mm binoculars.
The advantages of using both eyes for astronomical observing are many and considerable, largely because of the way the human brain processes visual information. This book enables the astronomer to maximize those advantages.
Written for: Amateur and practical astronomers
Price: £19.50

CCD Astrophotography: High-Quality Imaging from the Suburbs Ref: B9780387262413

SPRINGER

This book details an approach to the problem of getting high-quality astronomical images under light-polluted conditions. The book is for amateur astronomers interested in CCD imaging, especially those who have to work under suburban conditions. It outlines the materials and equipment used for high-quality imaging. The many wonderful images produced allow the reader to see the product of – initially – a fellow beginner’s efforts. Respectable images are attainable with modest equipment. This book outlines a complete and thoroughly tested working program for every beginner to achieve high-quality digital imaging.
Written for: Practical and Amateur Astronomers
Price: £19.00

My Heavens! - The Adventures of a Lonely Stargazer Building an Over-the-Top Observatory Ref: B9780387737812

SPRINGER

Perhaps you are already a stargazer using a small telescope you bring out to your back yard on clear nights. Perhaps you have a larger telescope that is mounted outside and protected from inclement weather. Perhaps you just dream of someday owning a fancy telescope set-up and turning it skyward to view the neighboring planets and moons of the Solar System or the stars that wink at you from millions of miles away.
Whether you might want to undertake building an over-the-top dome observatory yourself or not, you are sure to enjoy this informative tale by Gordon Rogers, told with humor and humility, of his torturous but ultimately rewarding experience with building for himself, attached to his own home, a fancy and sophisticated dome observatory, just for the pleasure of sky watching on beautiful nights (of which there are far too few in England!). Read about all the thinking and planning that went into this venture, and the options considered and rejected. Read about the choices and mistakes made along the way. Finally, read and discover the joys of sky watching using state-of-the-art equipment, and share in the author’s frustrations and triumphs as he completed this project of a lifetime.
Written for: Amateur and Practical Astronomers
Price: £19.50

Spectroscopy: The Key to the Stars - Reading the Lines in Stellar Spectra Ref: B9780387367866

SPRINGER

This is the first non-technical book on spectroscopy written specifically for practical amateur astronomers. It includes all the science necessary for a qualitative understanding of stellar spectra, but avoids a mathematical treatment which would alienate many of its intended readers. Any amateur astronomer who carries out observational spectroscopy and who wants a non-technical account of the physical processes which determine the intensity and profile morphology of lines in stellar spectra will find this is the only book written specially for them. It is an ideal companion to existing books on observational amateur astronomical spectroscopy.
Written for: Amateur and practical astronomers, students in astronomy and astrophysics
Price: £19.00

Digital Astrophotography: The State of the Art Ref: B9781852337346

SPRINGER

The CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) has revolutionised optical astronomy during the past 20 years, and specialised astronomical CCD cameras are now even more affordable, colour is standard, and they provide spectacular results.
Digital Astrophotography: The State of the Art, provides some examples of the best images, and gives readers hints and tips about how to get the best out of this extraordinary technology.
Experts in CCD astronomy from North America and Europe have contributed to this book, illustrating their help and advice with many beautiful colour images – the book is in full colour throughout. Techniques range from using simple webcams to highly technical aspects such as supernovae patrolling. Computer processing, stacking and image-enhancement are detailed, along with many hints and tips from the experts.
Written for: Amateur astronomers, University observatories, graduates
Price: £22.00

Observing the Sun with Coronado™ Telescopes Ref: B9780387681269

SPRINGER

At around the turn of the millennium, the introduction of the Coronado range of solar telescopes and filters heralded the ‘coming of age’ of amateur solar astronomy.
Before then, solar astronomy was mostly white-light only. Hydrogen-alpha systems were expensive and difficult to use, but today even the budget-priced Coronado PST (Personal Solar Telescope) provides a band pass of one Angstrom and is thermally stable. That means that today’s amateur solar observers can see – and image – sunspots, flares, prominences, plage, filaments, and active regions of the Sun, all in amazing detail.
Getting the very best out of a Coronado solar telescope still requires knowledge of specialist techniques and an accumulation of experience, which are what this book provides. In Observing the Sun with Coronado Telescopes, Philip Pugh has assembled a team of contributors who show just how much solar work can be done with Coronado telescopes, and explain how to get the very best from these marvellous instruments.
The spectacular solar images reproduced in this book speak for themselves – listen to the voices of the experts!
Written for: Amateur and practical astronomers
Price: £24.50

Creating and Enhancing Digital Astro Images Ref: B9781846285806

SPRINGER

The book will, in jargon-free blow-by-blow terms, describe how to create the best astronomical images you can with the digital camera equipment at your disposal. It will explain the steps we go through to extract results from the raw-and-dirty original imagery, and then transform them into high quality pictures that you could hang on your wall.
The advent of CCDs, and more recently inexpensive webcams, has led to a much greater proportion of amateur astronomers becoming involved in digital imaging. The low price of the new Meade Deep Sky Imager - $299 (2005) – suggests that within a few years a simple digital camera will become a standard accessory for any telescope.
There are as yet few books available on this aspect of amateur astronomy. This situation is likely to change in the next few years and there are going to be lots of people out there asking questions like "Flat field? What does that mean?", and trying to work out how to get the best out of their webcam, CCD or Digital SLR. They will also be wondering what is the best software to use.
To summarise; this is a book that tells practical astronomers (and that includes some but not all professionals) what is needed to get from standing in the dark with a telescope and a camera, to showing your spouse, local society friends or even supervisor the astonishing images that can be obtained with simple equipment but the right software and knowledge of how to use it.
(Grant Privett works for the Ministry of Defence in the UK, heading up the Advanced Image Processing Team.)
Written for: Amateur, practical astronomers
Price: £24.50

The Night Sky Companion - A Yearly Guide to Sky-Watching 2008-2009 Ref: B9780387716084

SPRINGER

The The Night Sky Companion is far more than just an observing guide. It is a year’s journey into the science and facts of astronomy and space travel, along with some of its history and the and the men and women who made it. If you’re a sky watcher equipped with any kind of astronomical telescope, binoculars, or even just your eyes, you are sure to find this book absolutely fascinating.
Taking a day-by-day look at the sky over the course of the whole year, Tammy Plotner has assembled a digest to appeal to all astronomers and would-be astronomers. Turn these pages and you’ll find observing recommendations – including how to locate the object you’re looking for – along with a wealth of information touching on every aspect of your observation.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a meteor shower, nebula, double star, variable star, lunar crater, or even the Sun: if it’s an interesting feature of the 2008 – 2009 observing year, you'll find it here!
Written for: Amateur and practical astronomers
Price: £19.50

A User's Guide to the Meade LXD55 and LXD75 Telescopes Ref: B9780387364896

SPRINGER

This is a fully comprehensive guide to "choosing and using" the LXD55 / 75 computer-controlled – "go to" – series of telescopes. It is intended both for beginners and more advanced practical amateur astronomers.
The LXD series of telescopes is unusual in having German Equatorial Mounts – GEMs – rather than the more common altazimuth design. Although setting up a GEM with a go-to system is more involved than setting up the equivalent altazimuth mount, there are many advantages in the system, including zero field rotation.
A User’s Guide to the Meade LXD55 and LXD75 Telescopes contains a wealth of information on setting up, using and maintaining the telescope, along with lots of hints, tips, and tricks for getting the very best out of it.
Coverage in advanced techniques for experienced astronomers and LXD users include imaging, interfacing with a PC or laptop, using available accessories, and troubleshooting.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £20.50

Making Beautiful Deep-Sky Images - Astrophotography with Affordable Equipment and Software Ref: B9780387713526

SPRINGER

Amateur astronomers, using commercially available equipment, have taken some beautiful and awe-inspiring color photographs of deep-sky objects. But how? Professor Greg Parker's astronomical photographs are widely known for their excellence, and a selection of them has recently been shown as a public exhibition in the UK. In Making Beautiful Deep-Sky Images, he provides a detailed account of how spectacular deep-sky images can be taken by amateur astronomers using CCD cameras, and how they can subsequently be processed and enhanced in the "electronic darkroom" for maximum beauty and impact.
You don't even have to own a big telescope. A range of telescopes and equipment is considered in detail, from Greg's 11-inch SCT down to lower-cost instruments.
Quite simply, this is a "how to do it" book for people who want to make stunning astronomical pictures.
Written for: Amateur and practical astronomers
Price: £19.50

A Buyer's and User's Guide to Astronomical Telescopes & Binoculars Ref: B9781846284397

SPRINGER

Both beginning/novice amateur astronomers (at the level of Astronomy and Night Sky magazine readers), as well as more advanced amateur astronomers (level of Sky & Telescope) will find this book invaluable and fascinating.
Amateur astronomers are always contemplating the "next telescope up" and this will point the way to the most suitable instrument to which they should aspire. Similarly, those who are buying their first telescope – and these days not necessarily a low-cost one – will be able to compare and contrast different types and makes.
Jim Mullaney is an astronomy writer, lecturer and consultant who has published more than 500 articles and five books: he has also been an editor for Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, and Star & Sky magazines. One of the contributors to Carl Sagan’s award-winning Cosmos PBS-Television series, his work has received recognition from such notables as Sir Arthur Clarke, Johnny Carson, Ray Bradbury, Dr. Wernher von Braun, and one of his former students – NASA scientist/astronaut Dr. Jay Apt. He is probably the ideal person to write this book, containing as it does a directory of instruments offered by all the major manufacturers.
This exciting, upbeat new guide provides an extensive overview of binoculars and telescopes. It includes detailed up-to-date information on sources, selection and use of virtually every major type, brand and model of such instruments on today’s market – truly an invaluable treasure-trove of information and helpful advice for all amateur astronomers. Also includes details on the the latest released telescope lines, e.g., the 10-, 12-, 14- and 16-inch aperture models of the Meade LX-R series.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £19.50

Astronomy with a Budget Telescope Ref: B9781852335861

SPRINGER

Sir Patrick Moore, CBE, FRS has long been the scourge of those people selling low-cost astronomical telescopes via mail-order catalogues and non-specialist stores. Ten years ago the quality was appalling and disappointment would have been almost guaranteed - but times have changed. The first part of the book provides reports on some available models along with detailed and essential hints and tips about what to look for when buying. The second part describes how best to use the telescope, which celestial objects to observe (with full-page star charts to help find them), what you can expect to see, and how to take and even computer enhance astronomical photographs. -Explains what to look for when you buy a low-cost telescope. -Lists and describes the best celestial objects to observe. -Includes a detailed full-page star chart for every object listed, showing where to find it. -Illustrates what you can expect to see. -Includes a section on how to photograph and computer-enhance astronomical images. -Full colour throughout.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £13.00

More Small Astronomical Observatories Ref: B9781852335724

SPRINGER

Almost every serious amateur astronomer knows the benefit of having a fixed observatory of some sort - it saves a vast amount of time and effort during every observing session - and this book provides the necessary help. More Small Astronomical Observatories details the methods and techniques employed by non-professional astronomers from all over the world, providing a wonderful resource for anyone wishing to build a small observatory of almost any kind. It's a fun read, too.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £25.50

Moore on Mercury - The Planet and the Missions Ref: B9781846282577

SPRINGER

Mercury is one of the more difficult objects for amateur astronomers to observe because of its close proximity to the Sun. For the same reason, it is also one of the most fascinating and strange planets. Mercury is not much larger that our Moon, but orbits the Sun at an average distance of only 58 million km, compared to the Earth’s 150 million km. On its sunlit side, Mercury’s surface temperature can exceed 450C while the night side freezes at –180C.
Mercury has been the target of professional astronomers through the ages, and then of space probes, the most recent of which – MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) – will go into orbit around Mercury in 2011.
Amateur astronomers can see Mercury and its ever-changing phases all year, and sometimes watch it transit the Sun – the next transit is in November 2006, followed by one in May 2016.
In his inimitable, easy-going style, Patrick Moore describes Mercury, the professional astronomers who have observed it over the centuries, amateur observations, and the past, present and future space missions to this extraordinary world.
Written for: Popular Astronomy Readers and "Arm Chair" Astronomers
Price: £19.00

Astronomy with a Home Computer Ref: B9781852338053

SPRINGER

Here is a one-volume guide to just about everything computer-related for amateur astronomers!
Today’s amateur astronomy is inextricably linked to personal computers. Computer-controlled "go-to" telescopes are inexpensive. CCD and webcam imaging make intensive use of the technology for capturing and processing images. Planetarium software provides information and an easy interface for telescopes. The Internet offers links to other astronomers, information, and software. The list goes on and on.
Find out here how to choose the best planetarium program: are commercial versions really better than freeware? Learn how to optimise a go-to telescope, or connect it to a lap-top. Discover how to choose the best webcam and use it with your telescope. Create a mosaic of the Moon, or high-resolution images of the planets...
Astronomy with a Home Computer is designed for every amateur astronomer who owns a home computer, whether it is running Microsoft Windows, Mac O/S or Linux. It doesn’t matter what kind of telescope you own either - a small refractor is just as useful as a big "go-to" SCT for most of the projects in this book.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £24.50

The Urban Astronomer's Guide - A Walking Tour of the Cosmos for City Sky Watche Ref: B9781846282164

SPRINGER

Most amateur astronomers yearn to observe more frequently. Many of them, however, live in urban and highly developed suburban areas that are heavily light polluted. Due to this light pollution, they are under the impression that deep sky objects—nebulae, galaxies, star clusters—are either invisible or not worth viewing from home. This book describes the many objects that can be seen in a bright urban sky, and shows the city or suburban astronomer how to observe object after object, season after season.
This book covers the "why," "how," and "what" of astronomy under light-polluted skies. The prospective city-based observer is told why to observe from home (there are hundreds of spectacular objects to be seen from the average urban site), how to observe the city sky (telescopes, accessories, and moderns techniques), and what to observe. About 50% of the book is devoted to describing "tours" of the sky, with physical and observational descriptions, at-the-eyepiece drawings, and photographs.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £19.50

Lights in the Sky - Identifying and Understanding Astronomical and Meteorological Phenomena Ref: B9781846285622

SPRINGER

Amateur astronomers spend a lot of their time observing the sky, but not everything up there is necessarily an astronomical phenomenon. Nor is everything immediately identifiable. How many people can tell the difference between a Sun Dog and a Glory - both meteorological phenomena? Or between the Zodiacal Light and the Gegenschein, which are astronomical?
Lights in the Sky is a truly comprehensive guide to observing, identifying, and imaging sky glows and other unusual atmospheric/astronomical phenomena, in both the night and daytime skies.
If, as a practical observer, you want to be able to identify what it is when you are faced, for example, with the Specter of the Brocken - or with an unidentified flying object that is...well, unidentified...then Lights in the Sky will provide all the practical scientific information you need.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £19.00

Setting-Up a Small Observatory Ref: B9780387345215

SPRINGER

Every amateur astronomer who is considering a purpose-built observatory will find this book absolutely invaluable during both the planning and the construction stages. Drawing on David Arditti’s practical experience and that of many other amateur astronomers, it gives invaluable help in making all the important decisions.
To begin with, Setting up a Small Observatory addresses what you really need from an observatory, whether to build or buy, what designs you should consider, and where you should site it. Uniquely, it also considers the aesthetics of an amateur observatory: how to make it fit in with your home, garden, and yard, even disguising it as a more common garden building if necessary.
There’s also a wealth of practical details for constructing and equipping your small observatory – everything from satisfying local planning laws and building codes through to making sure that your completed observatory is well-equipped, convenient, and comfortable to use.
Whether you are considering a simple low-tech DIY approach to a fixed observatory, or aspiring to a sophisticated domed building, there is something here for you.
Price: £19.00

Aurora Ref: B9780387360522

SPRINGER

The uniquely beautiful light display of an aurora is the result of charged particles colliding with tenuous atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen, more than 60 miles above the Earth, when the magnetosphere is disturbed by changes in the solar wind.
Often - and incorrectly - regarded as being confined to high northern and southern latitudes, major auroral displays are visible from even the southern USA and the south of England, and occur perhaps twenty times in each eleven-year sunspot cycle.
Major auroral storms always cause great interest and excitement in the media, and of course provide practical astronomers with the opportunity to study and image them.
This book describes the aurora from the amateur observational viewpoint, discusses professional studies of auroral and geomagnetic phenomena to put amateur work in context, and explains how practical observers can go about observing and recording auroral displays.
Written for: Amateur astronomers, observers of natural phenomena
Price: £20.50

Human Vision and The Night Sky Ref: B9780387307763

SPRINGER

This book brings the challenge and fun back to a hobby that goes stale far too quickly for many budding amateur astronomers. The book begins with teaching astronomers to use their most important astronomy tool, their eyes. It discusses how to select the right telescope, and subsequent chapters take the readers on a tour of the solar system as they have never viewed it before… through their own eyes. Each chapter includes a series of observing challenges that will entertain and push the reader to continually higher levels of achievement.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £19.00

How to Photograph the Moon and Planets with Your Digital Camera Ref: B9781852339906

SPRINGER

Since the advent of astronomical CCD imaging it has been possible for amateurs to produce images of a quality that was attainable only by universities and professional observatories just a decade ago. However, astronomical CCD cameras are still very expensive, and technology has now progressed so that digital cameras the kind you use on holiday are more than capable of photographing the brighter astronomical objects, notably the Moon and major planets.
Tony Buick has worked for two years on the techniques involved, and has written this illustrated step-by-step manual for anyone who has a telescope (of any size) and a digital camera. The color images he has produced – there are over 300 of them in the book – are of breathtaking quality.
His book is more than a manual of techniques (including details of how to make a low-cost DIY camera mount) and examples; it also provides a concise photographic atlas of the whole of the nearside of the Moon – with every image made using a standard digital camera – and describes the various lunar features, including the sites of manned and robotic landings.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £19.00

Pattern Asterisms Ref: B9781846283277

SPRINGER

Since the very beginning of astronomy, people have looked up sky and constructed patterns – the constellations – out of the almost random scattering of stars in the night sky. The fact that the constellations are still used to day reflects not their historical origins, but their usefulness in identifying bright stars in the rotating dome of the sky. Most people (and all astronomers) are familiar with, for example, the constellation of Orion and can thus easily point to Betelguese and Bellatrix as being Orion’s "shoulders". It is the pattern made by the constellation that makes them easy to identify.
What applies to big groups of stars can also be applied to smaller ones, and this book provides a set of memorable mini-constellations to help in identifying and remembering stars in the binocular or low magnification telescopic field.
Suitable for observers using binoculars and medium size telescopes, this catalog includes star pictures, dot-to-dot outlines of the objects ( on a negative photograph for clarity ), and an artistic image next to the star patterns. Size, stellar magnitudes, and coordinates are provided, along with north direction, star-hopping instructions & Sky Atlas 2000 references.
There are sixty-seven "pattern asterisms" in this catalog. Most are easy to see in sixty millimetre binoculars, and few are what observers describe as "challenging".
The imaginative observer will surely begin to develop a new insight into star patterns, and will start seeing patterns of his own, under this catalog's influence!
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £19.50

Guide to Observing Deep-Sky Objects Ref: B9780387728506

SPRINGER

Guide to Observing Deep-Sky Objects is an invaluable reference for all amateur astronomers.
The book contains, for each constellation, (1) a star chart showing the Bayer labels, (2) a table for many of the stars in the constellation, along with their positions and magnitudes, and (3) a table of the major deep-sky objects in the constellation, with relevant observational data. Facing pages provide unique year-long graphs that show when the constellation is visible in the sky, which allows the user to quickly determine whether a given constellation can be seen, and when the best time to see it will be.
The CD-ROM features a unique PC program that produces a fully-customized list of the deep-sky objects that are visible in the sky at a user-determined time and place, for any location on the Earth.
The list can be printed out to provide convenient (and disposable!) printed lists that the practical astronomer can take to his telescope for each observing session.
Written for: Amateur and practical astronomers
Price: £23.40 (Including VAT at 20%)

Real Astronomy with Small Telescopes Ref: B9781846284786

SPRINGER

This book demonstrates the use of an 80mm refractor and shows how it can be used as a real scientific instrument. The author is an experienced small telescope user and an astronomy educator, and he provides step-by-step instructions for numerous scientific activities. Users will find many activities and projects suitable for an 80mm refractor or 90mm reflector or Maksutov that have not been published elsewhere. Emphasis is on measurement and discovery activities rather than on casual observing. This book will provide amateur observers with the knowledge and skill that will help them make genuine contributions to the field of astronomy.
Written for: Amateur astronomers
Price: £19.50

Astronomical Sketching: A Step-by-Step Introduction Ref: B9780387262406

SPRINGER

At some time we have all gazed through the telescope eyepiece at the magnificent rings and banded globe of Saturn, or seen long shadows reaching across crater floors at the Moon’s terminator – and wondered at the sheer beauty of the sight.
It seems almost anachronistic to think of sketching when CCD imaging is available, but astronomical sketching provides an entirely different and deeply personal experience. It means spending time at the eyepiece to really look at what you can see, training your eye to perceive ever greater detail to take the fullest advantage of your telescope's light grasp and resolution.
And of course, good astronomical sketches are artwork in themselves, for display and decoration in the home or observatory.
Astronomical Sketching is as an easy, step-by-step introduction to sketching celestial objects. It brings together five talented astronomical sketch artists, each of whom has a unique mastery of the media along with the ability to teach their own techniques.
Here is a wealth of knowledge, tips and techniques for every aspiring astronomical artist! Written for: Primary: Practical and Amateur Astronomers
Price: £25.50

The Complete CD Guide to the Universe Ref: B9780387468938

SPRINGER

This guide contains descriptions and charts for a total of almost 14,000 objects, and is probably the largest and most comprehensive Atlas of the Universe ever created for amateur astronomers.
Spanning some 13,000 pages, this is a project that is possible only on CD-ROM.
The atlas covers the whole range of objects viewable by amateur astronomers with 8 - to 11-inch telescopes, north of about latitude +40 degrees. Everything described here can be observed from suburban sites. Large-scale finder charts - in both normal and mirror-image "SCT" views - along with the extensive list of 14,000 objects provide a detailed observing guide for almost any practical amateur astronomer.
Around 10,750 of the objects are double or multiple stars; the remaining 3000 or so represent the other classes of deep-sky objects. Double stars dominate this work for two reasons. First, for telescopes of modest aperture they are by far the most numerous type of object and second, double stars are usually bright enough to be easily observed from urban sites. The other deep-sky objects include many galaxies (1573 of them), and although dark-sky sites are of course best, many of these can be seen in skies that most amateurs would write off as hopeless for the task. There are 580 open clusters, 109 globular clusters, 148 planetary nebulae, plus a few others.
The Complete CD Atlas of the Universe is a resource that could easily provide the basis of a whole lifetime of observing!
Written for: Practical astronomers
Price: £29.50

Astrophysics is Easy! - An Introduction for the Amateur Astronomer Ref: B9781852338909

SPRINGER

With some justification, many amateur astronomers believe astrophysics is a very difficult subject, requiring at least degree-level mathematics to understand it properly.
This isn’t necessarily the case. Mike Inglis' quantitative approach to the subject explains all aspects of astrophysics in simple terms and cuts through the incomprehensible mathematics with which this fascinating subject is all too often associated.
Astrophysics is Easy! begins by looking at the H-R diagram and other basic tools of astrophysics, then ranges across the universe, from a first look at the interstellar medium and nebulae, through the birth, evolution and death of stars, to the physics of galaxies and clusters of galaxies.
A unique feature of this book is the way that Dr. Inglis lists example objects for practical observation at every stage, so that practical astronomers can go and look at the object or objects under discussion – using only easily-available commercial amateur equipment.
Written for: Practical astronomers, astronomy enthusiasts
Price: £24.50

Astronomy of the Milky Way - Part 1: Observer's Guide to the Northern Sky Ref: B9781852337094

SPRINGER

One of the wonders of the universe we live in is the Milky Way. It spans the entire sky and can be seen every night of the year from anywhere on Earth. This is the first book that deals specifically with what can be seen within the Milky Way from a practical observer's point of view. Astronomy of the Milky Way covers every constellation that the Milky Way passes through, and describes in detail the many objects that can be found therein, including stars, double and multiple stars, emission nebulae, planetary nebulae, dark nebulae and supernovae remnants, open and galactic clusters, and galaxies. It also describes the one thing that is often left out of observing guides - the amazing star clouds of the Milky Way itself. It is one of a two-volume set that deal with the entire Milky Way - this second volume looks at what can be seen predominantly from the Southern skies. In addition to the descriptive text there are many star charts and maps, as well as the latest up-to-date images made by observatories around the world and in space, as well as images taken by amateur astronomers. Equipped with this book, an amateur astronomer can go out on any clear night of the year and observe the galaxy we live in - The Milky Way. Written for: Amateurs, advanced amateurs and professional astronomers
Price: £19.95

Astronomy of the Milky Way - Part 2: Observer's Guide to the Southern Sky Ref: B9781852337421

SPRINGER

One of the wonders of the universe we live in is the Milky Way. It spans the entire sky and can be seen every night of the year from anywhere on Earth. This is the first book that deals specifically with what can be seen within the Milky Way from a practical observer's point of view. Astronomy of the Milky Way covers every constellation that the Milky Way passes through, and describes in detail the many objects that can be found therein, including stars, double and multiple stars, emission nebulae, planetary nebulae, dark nebulae and supernovae remnants, open and galactic clusters, and galaxies. It also describes the one thing that is often left out of observing guides - the amazing star clouds of the Milky Way itself. It is one of a two-volume set that deal with the entire Milky Way - this second volume looks at what can be seen predominantly from the Southern skies In addition to the descriptive text there are many star charts and maps, as well as the latest up-to-date images made by observatories around the world and in space, as well as images taken by amateur astronomers. Equipped with this book, an amateur astronomer can go out on any clear night of the year and observe the galaxy we live in - The Milky Way.
Written for: Amateurs, advanced amateurs and professional astronomers
Price: £19.95