Good book for DSOs?

[Muc]

That sketch of the Dumbbell! Wow, that's amazing!

[Louis D]

On 26/11/2021 at 01:29, ollypenrice said:

If you want to go all the way, these are the volumes you need:

https://www.amazon.com/Night-Sky-Observers-Guide-Vol/dp/0943396581

https://www.amazon.com/Observers-Kepple-George-Robert-Hardcover/dp/B010WF4B34

However, they cover many objects which require a large aperture at a very dark site so they may be overkill. Wonderful books, though, and well bound, which is important.

Olly

Hold off buying these second hand.  The AAS should have Willmann-Bell's existing new inventory available online in the near future once they've completed relocating it to an ecommerce fulfillment center.  Hopefully, the prices will be closer to the old new prices rather than the current used prices.

[Voyager 3]

M42 is my favourite! Maybe we should start a thread on what's your favourite Mike's sketch !!

[mikeDnight]

11 hours ago, Voyager 3 said:

M42 is my favourite! Maybe we should start a thread on what's your favourite Mike's sketch !!

That's humorous 😁  There are of course many SGL visual observers who grace the sketching forum with their amazing drawings made using various telescopes. May be FLO should compile a nice selection to be published in a FLO visual observers guide? 

[paulastro]

15 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

That's humorous 😁  There are of course many SGL visual observers who grace the sketching forum with their amazing drawings made using various telescopes. May be FLO should compile a nice selection to be published in a FLO visual observers guide? 

It would be better to self fund the book Mike and/or have it printed on demand.  That way you are fully in control of what's in it.  The only difficulty may be to ensure the quality of reproduction of the sketches.  You could contact Springer if you didn't want to self fund it - as long as you can write American 'English' 😀.  If you go ahead, I could be your agent, what do you think, 55% in my favour 😂?

 

 

 

 

[Stu]

On 26/11/2021 at 20:47, mikeDnight said:

Thanks John.

 Yes I agree they underestimate a scopes capabilities. I've often heard it said that a 6" is limited to mag 13, yet Leslie Peltier saw mag 14 in his 6" F8 achro, and that would have had uncoated optics. It would make an interesting experiment for observers to really push their scopes to see just where the true magnitude limit lies. I suppose under laboratory conditions dark adaption isn't a factor, or that if an electronic sensor of some sort is used, it lacks the necessary rodopsin.😁

This calculator puts a 4” at mag 14 under mag 5.5 skies, seems optimistic to me. The suggested value varies a lot depending on observer skill, magnification and sky brightness. I think we can count you as expert though Mike! 👍

https://www.cruxis.com/scope/limitingmagnitude.htm

[mikeDnight]

5 hours ago, paulastro said:

It would be better to self fund the book Mike and/or have it printed on demand.  That way you are fully in control of what's in it.  The only difficulty may be to ensure the quality of reproduction of the sketches.  You could contact Springer if you didn't want to self fund it - as long as you can write American 'English' 😀.  If you go ahead, I could be your agent, what do you think, 55% in my favour 😂?

 

 

 

 

Quite some time back when I was involved with the planetary section of the S.P. A, Springer asked me to write a book entitled Mars & How To Observe it. I was all for it until finally, I was informed the book had to be written using American (simplified) English.  I'm pretty sure that the majority of Americans who read English, as opposed to American English, would have little difficulty in understanding it. Would an American author write in English for my benefit? Some might call it principled, others stubbornness or foolishness. I think it's called biting ones nose off to spite ones face. 😁 I still feel the same way though about watering down the English language. I think I've proved my willingness to be flexible, in that I've spent the last 20 years learning Kidderminsterese, so I can converse with a very dear friend without the use of an interpreter. 😂

Edited December 3, 2021 by mikeDnight

[paulastro]

5 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Quite some time back when I was involved with the planetary section of the S.P. A, Springer asked me to write a book entitled Mars & How To Observe it. I was all for it until finally, I was informed the book had to be written using American (simplified) English.  I'm pretty sure that the majority of Americans who read English, as opposed to American English, would have little difficulty in understanding it. Would an American author write in English for my benefit? Some might call it principled, others stubbornness or foolishness. I think it's called biting ones nose off to spite ones face. 😁 I still feel the same way though about watering down the English language. I think I've proved my willingness to be flexible, in that I've spent the last 20 years learning Kidderminsterese, so I can converse with a very dear friend without the use of an interpreter. 😁

Mike, I don't know if you're the right person to talk about watering down the English language.  I've always found Lancashire to be a strange dialect - unlike my own Brummy lingo 😊.

Edited December 3, 2021 by paulastro

[Kon]

24 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

Quite some time back when I was involved with the planetary section of the S.P. A, Springer asked me to write a book entitled Mars & How To Observe it. I was all for it until finally, I was informed the book had to be written using American (simplified) English.  I'm pretty sure that the majority of Americans who read

How about picking a European or UK publisher? I would buy your DSO book straight away looking at your sketches!

[mikeDnight]

34 minutes ago, Kon said:

How about picking a European or UK publisher? I would buy your DSO book straight away looking at your sketches!

You are very kind. There is a printer not far from me who I could use to self publish. It would be a case of deciding which and how many observations to include. I don't suppose there would need to be masses of text, as a picture speaks a thousand words, but instruments and techniques would I think need to be included. I'll have to look through forty years of sketches, so it might take a while. 😊

Edited December 3, 2021 by mikeDnight

[Ags]

The advantage of printing on demand is you minimise upfront costs, and you don't carry inventory.  The printing quality is very professional, with plenty of options. I have experience of Lulu and Amazon printing services - Lulu has better print quality and many more print options (why not make a calendar?) but Amazon has the better marketplace of course.

Edited December 3, 2021 by Ags

[Kon]

6 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

I don't suppose there would need to be masses of text, as a picture speaks a thousand words, but instruments and techniques would I think need to be included. I'll have to look through forty years of sketches, so it might take a while.

I suppose it depends what you want to convey. If it is a guide on how DSOs might appear at the eyepiece then a collection of sketches might be ok. Alternatively you could make a large pdf and let others print it/look on their screen, that can also allow you if you want to have it for profit or not .

 

[Kon]

@mikeDnightI use this site a lot

http://www.deepskywatch.com/astronomy-sketches.html

It is pretty bang on what I see with my 8" Dob. I have consulted it many times when I plan things. It sort of goes back to my initial question on book with sketches .

[callisto]

1 hour ago, paulastro said:

Mike, I don't know if you're the right person to talk about watering down the English language.  I've always found Lancashire to be a strange dialect - unlike my own Brummy lingo 😊.

I know what that's like...I get told to slow down (I'm a Geordie) and have to 'tweak' my accent occasionally 😁

[Louis D]

I have to turn on CC for the new Doctor Who sometimes to figure out what she's saying when she starts talking a mile a minute.  Even then, she's using phrases unique to England that mean nothing over here, so it doesn't help me to understand it any better.  After replaying a phrase from the DVR several times, I'll finally turn to my wife and ask "Any idea what she's saying/she means?".  It doesn't usually matter because the dialogue is mostly a bunch of made up gibberish anyway and not really important to following the plot lines.

[johninderby]

Heavan help you if you watch Taggart then. The quintessential Scottish crime series with its Glaswegian accent that many outside Scotland find difficult to understand,.

 

[callisto]

3 hours ago, johninderby said:

with its Glaswegian accent that many outside Scotland find difficult to understand,.

I do 🤣

[johninderby]

Can you say murder Taggart style? 😁

[JeremyS]

3 hours ago, johninderby said:

Heavan help you if you watch Taggart then. The quintessential Scottish crime series with its Glaswegian accent that many outside Scotland find difficult to understand,.

 

Didn’t understand a word of what you said, John

[Zermelo]

7 hours ago, Louis D said:

the dialogue is mostly a bunch of made up gibberish anyway and not really important to following the plot lines

Louis, I see they won't be coming to you when they need to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow!

[Zermelo]

4 hours ago, johninderby said:

Heavan help you if you watch Taggart then. The quintessential Scottish crime series with its Glaswegian accent that many outside Scotland find difficult to understand,.

 

 

[Stu]

13 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Didn’t understand a word of what you said, John

Nor me, I just know ‘There’s been a murder!’

[mikeDnight]

9 hours ago, Louis D said:

I have to turn on CC for the new Doctor Who sometimes to figure out what she's saying when she starts talking a mile a minute.  Even then, she's using phrases unique to England that mean nothing over here, so it doesn't help me to understand it any better.  After replaying a phrase from the DVR several times, I'll finally turn to my wife and ask "Any idea what she's saying/she means?".  It doesn't usually matter because the dialogue is mostly a bunch of made up gibberish anyway and not really important to following the plot lines.

I feel your frustration. It might also be that she has a northern English accent, which had one American actor completely baffled and in hysterics, when the two were on the Graham Norton show. You could take a crash course in northern English, by watching Wallace and Grommet's Grand Day Out, and other Wallace and Grommet films. 😊

The town where I live, Burnley which is on the Lancashire Yorkshire boarder, has such a specific accent that on more the one occasion while on holiday, people have said " I know exactly where you're from!" And its true that within a very small radius of my home town, accents change dramatically. A friend of mine who is from Radcliff, Lancashire, had a heated discussion with a lady in a cafe while on holiday in the USA. She asked "Where are you from?" My friend replied "England!" She said "Yeh, but that isn't English. I teach English, and that isn't English!"

Edited December 4, 2021 by mikeDnight

[jock1958]

2 hours ago, johninderby said:

Can you say murder Taggart style? 😁

Muuurghduuuurrrr!! 😬

[Zermelo]

I used to work with a Scotsman who had lived in (southern) England for quite a few years, but we still struggled occasionally, especially when he lapsed into dialect.

Then he went back "home" for a weekend in Glasgow once. On returning to the office, he told us that even he'd had trouble understanding the accent.