deep sky companion series.

[rory]

anyone own any of the books from this series ? inparticular the "messier objects". seem a fairly high price, but seem to have good reviews on amazon. i noticed theres caldwell and hidden treasures also.

be interested to hear opinions,ta.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Rory I enjoy the quality of Steve O'Meara's work/books and have the Messier Objects, Hidden Treasurers and the Herschel 400 books. Good explanation of individual objects and useful finder maps. I never bought the Caldwell Objects because I had another book on this topic.

When I go observing, no goto, just star hopping I sometimes take the book to my observing site as a cross reference.

As you can see I would recommend the seies.

Mark

[rory]

thanks for that mark. i see youve pretty much nailed a few object lists .

[DirkSteele]

I own the first 3 books in the series, and have found them all excellent reads. Stephen James O'Meara is an excellent writer, and a top class visual observer. While does observe from incredibly dark skies in Hawaii, he only uses his old 4" Televue Genesis refractor so if you are packing something a little bigger you will have a great shot at reproducing his observations.

[Saleratus]

I own these books and find them to be a good reference, but to me they seem a trifle monotonous. If you're interested in the Messier objects, there was a recently published large format book called Atlas of the Messier Objects that was quite wonderful.

[Mr Q]

anyone own any of the books from this series ? inparticular the "messier objects". seem a fairly high price, but seem to have good reviews on amazon. i noticed theres caldwell and hidden treasures also.

be interested to hear opinions,ta.

I have the Messier companion book and it's coverage of all the objects is excellent. It is written with the visual observer in mind with in depth descriptions in different sized scopes along with a photo of each object. I bought it in a book store because I never seen it before and it was well worth the price.

[rory]

right, thanks guys. think i'll pop it on the list then. seems they are well regarded.

[swamp thing]

Another fan here, I have the Messier list and hidden treasures and find both books very good indeed. I really like Stephen,s writing style and the way he describes objects. His ability to see faint detail is staggering, he sees more with his 4" scope than most with a 12", just shows you the true benefit of a really excellent dark sky.

[JamesF]

I like them, too. I have both the Messier Objects and Hidden Treasures. I'm not entirely sure his style suits everyone though, so it's worth a quick browse first if you're able to do so. The Caldwell Objects book from the series appears to be practically unobtainable these days.

James

[dph1nm]

I have Messier/Caldwell/Hidden Treasures and Herschel. I think the Messier Objects is the weakest of the series - the pictures are rather poor by modern standards, and his style clearly improved with the later books. Hidden Treasures is dominated by objects at southern declinations, so not so useful for those of us in northern climes.

Nigel

[cs1cjc]

I have four, Messier, Caldwell, Hidden Treasures and Hidden Deep and use them a lot. I kept an eye out for special offers and remaindered or second hand copies so did not pay full price. I like O'Meara's enthusiasm but not is overblown prose. I do not expect to see the detail he reports...