An Introduction to Visual Deep-sky Observing - Faith Jordan

[gooseholla]

Overview

This is a little booklet published by The Webb Deep Sky Society. The price is £5 plus £2 p+p. It is written by a well qualified observer; a lady with 22 years observing experience as a deep sky observer called Faith Jordan. She has used equipment ranging from binoculars to large telescopes and owns an 18" dobsonian made by David Lukehurst. You can read more about Faith on her website www.fjastronomy.com/about-2/about/

The booklet itself is not very big. It consists of 44 pages in A5 booklet format. 41 pages are actual content relating to the subject of the book and the rest are just lists of useful things such as books and websites. It is entirely in black and white but contains a lot of nice sketches throughout and photographs where they are needed. The text is quite small, so for a 44 page book you are getting quite a lot of content packed into each page.

Purpose of the book

The author aims to provide information so that people can get the most out of hunting for faint objects. As anyone who has set about the task of hunting for faint fuzzies will tell you, it can be frustrating at times but there are hints and tips available to make it easy. They are all presented under one cover and in easy to read and understand chunks.

The author prefers sketching at the telescope over taking photographs with CCDs as it is cheaper, simpler, and can reveal detail if done well. She tried CCD imaging but felt "detached" from the night sky. Faith aims to show that visual astronomy is far from out of date or dead in this age of computers and CCDs and can in fact provide more accurate results. It may not be the most attractive option to the newcomer but it is certainly as rewarding and fun.

She is quick to remind us all that astronomy is a hobby, something to be enjoyed - "not a chore." Go out and enjoy it instead of becoming bogged down with having to do science or live up to other peoples expectations.

Content

It starts with tips on getting into the hobby and what equipment to consider. Caring for your equipment, such as storage and collimation are briefly dealt with before moving on to eyepieces and filters. All of this takes up roughly half the book. This definitely puts it into the realm of a beginner-intermediate work. The rest is dedicated to techniques and observing deep sky objects.

There is an interesting tip in the book about sunlight and the observer - well worth reading and considering. Also contains other useful tips for preserving night vision and just as importantly, keeping warm at the eyepiece. The final pages of give examples of each type of deep sky object and sample sketches and notes from observing sessions. It also gives hints on how to go about sketching deep sky objects. I don't want to comment too much on the tips provided, or there'd be no reason to buy it if I just sat and listed them all!

Conclusion

While the work is not as comprehensive as a 200 page book, it condenses all the important details down into a readable, memorable chunk of information. Some may be put off by the small size of the book, but believe me there is a lot of useful information packed into this work. For the beginner or person starting out in deep sky hunting after viewing the planets and the Moon, or who has even just been a 'casual' observer of brighter deep sky objects, this work is sure to provide a lot of hints and tips in improving their chances of seeing anything at the eyepiece.

A lot of these tips appear in other deep sky and astronomy books. But few offer the type of information on sketching and note taking that the author of this work presents. If you have been observing for a long time and own a lot of astronomy books and have logged hundreds if not thousands of hours of deep sky observing, this may not be the book for you. The title itself is a probably a give away though -"Introduction".

The whole work is designed to make you a better observer, not so you can necessarily go onto make some amazing scientific discovery but so you can get more enjoyment out of the hobby. After all, if you are not enjoying something, what is the point of doing it?

I feel that it was £5 well spent and I have learned some new things despite being an observer for several years. I would happily recommend this to someone who was just starting out in deep sky observing and who wants to get the most out of it. I will certainly be returning to it as I attempt to get more out of the hobby by sketching deep sky objects.

John

[Mike73]

I did see this on the Webb website and nearly bought it myself a while ago.

I like this!!

She is quick to remind us all that astronomy is a hobby, something to be enjoyed - "not a chore." Go out and enjoy it instead of becoming bogged down with having to do science or live up to other peoples expectations.

[John]

Sounds like a person with a good attitude to the hobby !

Thanks for the review John

[laudropb]

It is a very nice little booklet, aimed at someone starting out on DSO observing.

[Paz]

I went to the Stoneleigh Astro Fair and having have a good look at the many books available I only bought 2, one of which was this for the reasons first posted, all of which I agree with.

It is a small and short booklet, and without the professional/corporate/glossy publishing that we are probably all used to but the content is great. I read this from cover to cover whereas normally I flit from one book to another and just read bits here and there.

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Cheers John,

 It's nice to see a book review for a change.

  Sometimes good things come in small packages-the Collins Gem 'Stars' book is similar,in that there's lots of info in a tiny book that hasn't enough room for 'waffle'!

 And the author's attitude to the Hobby has to be commended in my opinion.