New Atlas of the Moon - A book review

[jgs001]

I recently purchased a copy of the New Atlas of the Moon by Legault and Brunier as an aide to working my way through the Lunar 100 and locating objects on the Lunar surface. First off, the construction of the book is great for use outdoors, at night. The pages are ring bound so flip easily, yet the book doesn't fold shut on it's own. The pages themselves are of a form of glossy plasticised paper so should resist dew better than normal paper. One point of note, the big is large (the binding is 36.5 cm or nearly 14.5" {in old money} tall so will need a tall bookshelf to rest on for during the day and those cloudy nights.

The first section of the book is broken down into a day by day view of what can be seen on the surface with the movement of the terminator. Each day contains an image indicating the approximate view using the eye, binoculars and a widefield scope. Detailing, also the best viewing times throughout each day. This also shows the orientation through different types of optical instruments whether using a diagonal or multiple mirrors, which is a massive boon. The main chart on most days, also has a clear overlay highlighting the main features visible around the terminator.

The second section goes into more detail on some of the major and/or more interesting surface features giving an indication of the sorts of instruments required to view effectively be they binocular, small scope or large scope, and an indication of what you can expect to see through them. This section contains detailed images at high magnification of the various features which has the benefit of helping in the identification.

There is then a short section detailing Lunar motions. This section is broken down into a number of subsections, going into a lot of detail on how the moon moves in relation to the Earth. Quite a large section on Eclipses, guidance on how to observe and what can be expected to be seen. This includes some information on Lunar occultations.

The book then moves onto a practical guide to the moon, what to expect with different equipment, and a very useful set of explanations on magnification, Aperture, mounts and resolving power. And going into some detail on how best to observe the moon. This is followed by a brief section on Lunar Photography.

Finally there is a section of calendars up to 2010 showing information on Lunar phases and eclipses with a brief glossary of terms.

This is going to be a very useful book for me, aiding in my lunar observations. By having the daily charts with overlays and orientation indicators I'll find locating objects significantly easier as I won't be struggling with comparing the differing views from the charts to the eyepieces. The detail on what I can expect to see through my scope is also going to be invaluable at solving the dilemma of whether I have actually seen a target, or just wanted to see it so badly, I've convinced myself I have. In fact, already, this has convinced me that some of the tougher objects I've marked off on the Lunar 100 I have in fact seen.

In conclusion, I'd recommend this book to anyone starting out in observing our nearest neighbour as a valuable resource for locating and finding there way around the surface features.

[dogfish]

Hi John

Thanks for the review and it sounds a great book, especially the day-by-day guide. A couple of questions; how well does the different views explanation work? I'm guessing that must mean a lot of duplicated pictures. Also, how much was it?

I recently bought (2nd hand) the Hatfield SCT lunar atlas, having previously struggled with a reflector-based atlas. I've not used it in anger yet and I'll try and post a review later. I also bought Peter Grego's lunar observer book and am slowly working my way through that with plans to attempt the lunar 100 over the summer months when DSO work is plagued by long days.

Cheers, Martin

[jgs001]

Martin,

I got it from Amazon (had some vouchers to use up ), Link <a href=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1554071739>here</a> Basically, there are 3 pictures per day page. Two smaller ones showing the orientation for Bins and using a diagonal, and the large one opposite showing the inverted and reflected view (this has the overlay). There are some small images that show this on Amazon (too small to read but give the general idea)

[dogfish]

Hi John

Thanks for the link - looks pretty good for the price.

cheers, Martin