Burnhams Celestrial Handbook

[AstroTiger]

Hi there

Has anyone got these?

The first i had heard of them was at an astro meeting. They were used for giving talks on constellations of the month.

Pretty pricey too at £20 odd quid a throw.

I decided to take the plunge, and bought them second hand. Paid under a tenner for all three.

What do you think of them?

Al

[lunator]

Al

I have these books and they are great source of information and inspiration.

Cheers

Ian

[AstroTiger]

thought as much, was not ripped of for a tenner then ;-)

yes that was all three volumes

[barkis]

Hi. Al.

I have the three volumes of Burnhams books also.

Excellent source of object information, and very detailed too. Mine are the Paper back versions, but I try to keep them in good condition.

Ron.

[Astroman]

Burnham's Celestial Handbooks are a wonderful source of information. Written by Robert Burnham, late of Lowell Observatory, they are a massive compendium of objects, lore and characteristics of deep sky objects. Drawing on the resources of Lowell as he was employed to do proper motion studies, it contains practically everything in the observable universe within 2 billion light years. Although some of the data are out of date, such as the positional coordinates (epoch 1950), and the distance info, (due to better current calculation of the Hubble constant and expansion of the universe), the rest is indispensable. I highly recommend it, at any price.

Robert Burnham died penniless after living in a park in San Diego California on March 20, 1993. Here's a link to a wonderful article written by a friend of mine at The New Times in Phoenix.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1997-09-25/news/sky-writer/

[barkis]

Burnham's Celestial Handbooks are a wonderful source of information. Written by Robert Burnham, late of Lowell Observatory, they are a massive compendium of objects, lore and characteristics of deep sky objects. Drawing on the resources of Lowell as he was employed to do proper motion studies, it contains practically everything in the observable universe within 2 billion light years. Although some of the data are out of date, such as the positional coordinates (epoch 1950), and the distance info, (due to better current calculation of the Hubble constant and expansion of the universe), the rest is indispensable. I highly recommend it, at any price.

Robert Burnham died penniless after living in a park in San Diego California on March 20, 1993. Here's a link to a wonderful article written by a friend of mine at The New Times in Phoenix.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1997-09-25/news/sky-writer/

Well AM. I thank you for the link. I have read the start of your friends digest on Robert Burnham. I have bookmarked it in order I can read it in depth later. I had no Idea how or why Burnhams life took such a downward turn. I guess the world at large will appreciate the work you friend has written, and I am just as certain, not many will, like me, know of his latter years. The Celestial Handbook, as Burnham himself said in his introduction, contains information from very many sources, but nevertheless, the book (s) are his creation, and I like many others are grateful for it. I liked his quote of the 13 century Chinese historian Tai T'ung "Were I to wait for perfection, my book would never be finished" He also gave a lot of praise and thanks to L;Lowell Observatory, and vast astronomical library.

I would call the man a giant, whose shoulder we stand on.

Ron.