Observing the Herschel 400 Objects Part 1 - Alvin Huey

[gooseholla]

I was recently introduced to Alvin Huey's deep sky object site, faintfuzzies.com around the same time that I was looking for a new observing list after the Messiers. I was looking to do the Herschel 400 and his site contained a useful set of charts in book format to help with the quest.

The book is quite large. The pages are larger than A4 and there are 404 of them. This makes it a bit bulky but it lays flat thanks to being coil bound. This means it can be used easily in the field. The downside is no coil bound book lasts forever, especially with rough handling, which dew and cold fingers can lead to. The pages are normal paper, though of a nice quality, so dew may cause an issue.

You won't be having an issue with reading any of the information under the dark sky with a torch however. The text is large and clear and each page has three clear charts. A telrad finder chart, a 'picture' of what the object looks like in grey and black and also a wider FOV chart. Each is easily readable with a red light in the dark. The charts are set out in a clear way. They start with Pegasus and then move through the constellations according to right ascension. This means that all the objects for a constellation appear together and you can plan when the best time of year to view a particular object is.

This book starts with a page of useful hints for viewing deep sky objects from an experienced observer. It then moves on to describing how to use the book, as well as a clear description of all the terms and abbreviation you will be meeting throughout the book to describe each object. The book ends with two more indexes - one by NGC number and the other by constellation in alphabetical order. This adds to the size of the book and are not strictly necessary but they may aid some in finding the objects more easily.

I must say that it is a professional looking book and a lot of work has obviously gone in to setting all the charts out. You can download this work (aong with many others) from Alvin's website, but to be honest, the amount of work it will take to print it and bind it nicely, it is probably easier to order it from his website through the printing company lulu.com. This work was about £15 posted, which is very reasonable.

This is a very useful guide for finding the objects and I will definitely be buying more of these works he has to offer. It must be considered though that these works are not a history of the lists, observers or objects. They won't give you tips on what to look for in each object and the best way of doing it nor a written description of what to expect in various scopes. They are only charts and a reference picture. You are still going to need to do some work and be an experienced observer to get the most out of a book like this.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone considering or even doing the Herschel 400.

John

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Interesting review. I have found the majority, but still have some way to go, so it may still come in handy

[Mark at Beaufort]

John this is very useful. I was aware of faint fazzies.com but have not looked at it for a couple of years.

When I finished finding all the Messier objects I went looking for other suitable lists to follow. Initially I went for the Caldwell list which does have some difficult objects. To be honest I have enjoyed finding objects in the Herschel 400 more enjoyable than anything else. Currently I am on 396 but I hope to make it at some time.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

H400s are great fun. I have even started to log Herschel 2500 objects. A man can dream

[gooseholla]

Interesting review. I have found the majority, but still have some way to go, so it may still come in handy

Might be worth looking at the free pdf on his website and seeing if it is useful for the ones you need to get and printing those off only if they are of use.

http://www.faintfuzzies.com/Files/Herschel%20400-I%20v1.pdf

[laudropb]

Looks very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thanks, will have a look at that

[alan potts]

Nice review John. There is also a book by Cambrigde Press on these objects though I do not know what it is like, I was none too impressed with the normal atlas so that sort of poured water on the bonfire to buy any others from them.

Alan

[Herra Kuulapaa]

H400s are great fun. I have even started to log Herschel 2500 objects. A man can dream

That sounds like a true commitment to this hobby

[callisto]

Was thinking of starting to search for these myself, think I'll give it a go