Book project: Discovering Deep Sky Objects

[Ags]

In the end I nudged, flipped or suppressed 731 labels. Maybe automating it would have been worth the effort! 🤣

[Ags]

I am happy to say the PDF is now available for comment online. The project took three times longer than I expected. It covers over 380 deep sky objects, including the obvious Messiers and Caldwells, but adding over 160 further galaxies, clusters, nebulae and variable and carbon stars. I upgraded the charts from the format in the Discovering double Stars, with a (I hope!) slightly more polished look, related object markers, and better label placement. Here is a link to the shareware PDF. It's optimised for online viewing.

Discovering Deep Sky Objects

The next step involves me getting a print test copy and to incorporate any feedback I receive, then I will put the book on Lulu (spiral bound) and Amazon (softcover and hardback). Unlike Discovering Double Stars, there is just one version covering the entire sky - I find maintaining multiple versions a bit overwhelming at times. I single-source the publishing, but each item needs separate administration in the online retailers, so with this book I am keeping things simple.

[badhex]

2 hours ago, Ags said:

I am happy to say the PDF is now available for comment online. The project took three times longer than I expected. It covers over 380 deep sky objects, including the obvious Messiers and Caldwells, but adding over 160 further galaxies, clusters, nebulae and variable and carbon stars. I upgraded the charts from the format in the Discovering double Stars, with a (I hope!) slightly more polished look, related object markers, and better label placement. Here is a link to the shareware PDF. It's optimised for online viewing.

Discovering Deep Sky Objects

The next step involves me getting a print test copy and to incorporate any feedback I receive, then I will put the book on Lulu (spiral bound) and Amazon (softcover and hardback). Unlike Discovering Double Stars, there is just one version covering the entire sky - I find maintaining multiple versions a bit overwhelming at times. I single-source the publishing, but each item needs separate administration in the online retailers, so with this book I am keeping things simple.

Thanks @Ags!  PDF obtained and donation made. If the weather is clear this week hopefully I'll be able to give it a test run!

[Ags]

I look forward to your feedback 😀

[Ags]

I updated the PDF with the edits received so far - added references to NGC or other catalogs to all descriptions, and fixed a number of typos.

Discovering Deep Sky Objects PDF

[le Nordiste]

Waouh ! what a good idea even with my Celestron 25×100 binoculars, i will have so much to discover.

I appreciate the Bortle scale pages. Is it possible to have spring and summer constellations ?

I live nearby Lille (Northern France and the light pollution is a mess.

 

 

[Ags]

22 minutes ago, le Nordiste said:

Is it possible to have spring and summer constellations ?

The book covers the whole sky - north and south, the whole year round.

[badhex]

Just like getting any new piece of kit, the clouds seem to also now know about PDFs and promptly turned up after I downloaded it! 😂😩

[le Nordiste]

In my message here above i don't correctly  express my idea.

Obviously the book contains alls the constellation DSO ; my idea was to get some Bortle map as  for the winter constellation Orion (page 43 & 44), but for some other constellations all around the year, i think Leo, Cygnus etc.

[Ags]

I didn't want to devote too many pages to the subject, but my thinking was the poles and Scorpius/Orion (equatorialish, diametrically opposite sides of the sky) would cover most users on most nights.

I can easily make a PDF for you with Bortle charts for each Constellation. Then you can print off the pages you need?

[badhex]

20 minutes ago, Ags said:

I didn't want to devote too many pages to the subject, but my thinking was the poles and Scorpius/Orion (equatorialish, diametrically opposite sides of the sky) would cover most users on most nights.

I can easily make a PDF for you with Bortle charts for each Constellation. Then you can print off the pages you need?

This is a great idea - perhaps if it takes up too many pages to have them in the physical book itself, you could provide in the final book a QR code and link to the supplementary PDF with the Bortle charts? 

[Ags]

Of course, QR codes! Much better that what I am doing now - putting long URLs in a book

 

[badhex]

2 hours ago, Ags said:

Of course, QR codes! Much better that what I am doing now - putting long URLs in a book

 

With many phones now reading QR codes with their default cameras, they've become reasonably ubiquitous - although perhaps worth keeping the full URL printed in there as well for those without the required tech. Worth considering a URL shortening service for the latter. TinyURL is probably the best, free no-fuss service and doesn't require an account to use, although I believe the basic account is also free and gives you some additional options. I personally have used bit.ly a lot in the past but I think they may have taken quite a few features away from the free account now. 

[Ags]

I think I could get more Bortle diagrams in the book, as I think I only need to show diagrams for Bortle 2, 4, 6 and 8 - the reader can easily interpolate between these charts. "Worse than 8? Must be 9."

That would mean each costellation would fit on one page, and I could add four more constellations without adding to the page count.

Edited May 23, 2022 by Ags

[Ags]

Ok, the diagrams now show Bortle 8, 6, 4, 2, and leave it to the reader to do the logical interpolation. If the faint stars on a Bortle 6 chart are easily seen, then maybe the sky is closer to Bortle 5, but if they are marginal naked-eye stars, the sky is probably closer to Bortle 6.

In addition to the original Ursa Minor, Octans, Orion and Scorpius, I now also cover Crux, Cassiopeia, Pegasus and Leo. This covers the poles, a mid-latitude constellation for every season, and two prominent circumpolar constellations (Crux and Cassiopeia).

Here are the rejigged Bortle charts, showing Leo and Scorpius. I have also upscaled the label size on the charts and removed the superfluous finder circle in the middle.

Edited May 23, 2022 by Ags

[badhex]

11 minutes ago, Ags said:

Ok, the diagrams now show Bortle 8, 6, 4, 2, and leave it to the reader to do the logical interpolation. If the faint stars on a Bortle 6 chart are easily seen, then maybe the sky is closer to Bortle 5, but if they are marginal naked-eye stars, the sky is probably closer to Bortle 6.

In addition to the original Ursa Minor, Octans, Orion and Scorpius, I now also cover Crux, Cassiopeia, Pegasus and Leo. This covers the poles, a mid-latitude constellation for every season, and two prominent circumpolar constellations (Crux and Cassiopeia).

Here are the rejigged Bortle charts, showing Leo and Scorpius. I have also upscaled the label size on the charts and removed the superfluous finder circle in the middle.

Great stuff @Ags, thanks! 

[Ags]

Test Book 1 arrived today. 1.1 kgs, so it is quite the tome! Flipping through, I see a few errors, so will have plough through the printed book carefully. Always helpful to see a hard copy for final edits!

[Ags]

Not to sure about a 1.1 kg book. Perhaps I should split it into two volumes? First one could cover the messiers and caldwells, and the second one could cover a further 220 targets so more targets overall.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Ags

[badhex]

37 minutes ago, Ags said:

Not to sure about a 1.1 kg book. Perhaps I should split it into two volumes? 

So, Northern and Southern skies presumably? 

Re feedback, btw, I've only really had one opportunity to use the book I had some PDF reading issues on my phone - the phone's fault more than the PDF. Hopefully will get another chance soon!

One thought that does occur, how complicated would it be to also have an additional index by type of DSO, or perhaps list the type next to the name in the main contents page?

As an example of how this might be useful: my recent session was proving a bit fruitless for faint galaxies, and so I spent the rest of the session looking for clusters instead. Would be perhaps helpful to see what each object is without going to the object page itself? 

Edited May 27, 2022 by badhex

[Ags]

I will add better indications of type.

Dividing by hemisphere won't work really well because observers in each hemishphere see quite a lot of overlapping sky. So I  was thinking more along the lines of a Messier/Caldwell volume and another for the rest.

[badhex]

19 minutes ago, Ags said:

I will add better indications of type.

Dividing by hemisphere won't work really well because observers in each hemishphere see quite a lot of overlapping sky. So I  was thinking more along the lines of a Messier/Caldwell volume and another for the rest.

Great, thanks. I know I've read a few reports where people are just having sessions for  specific types of objects so this would be very helpful. 

Regarding the split, I wasn't sure how it would work but wondered if you could do it by missing say the most northerly or most southerly portions of sky out of each volume, but not sue if that would work or even make a dramatic difference to book size! 

All of this said, I just weighed Turn Left at Orion and its just shy of 1.2kg so maybe it's fine anyway? 

[Ags]

1 minute ago, badhex said:

All of this said, I just weighed Turn Left at Orion and its just shy of 1.2kg so maybe it's fine anyway? 

Ok, I will stick with a single volume. You've saved me a ton of work!

[Swoop1]

I would keep it as one volume also. 1.1 kg isn't a lot and it will help it stay in one place when there is a bit of a breeze!

[Ags]

17 minutes ago, badhex said:

3 minutes ago, Swoop1 said:

I would keep it as one volume also. 1.1 kg isn't a lot and it will help it stay in one place when there is a bit of a breeze!

 

It occurs to me it is just the right weight to collimate the telescope if more gentle methods have failed 🤣

[badhex]

56 minutes ago, Ags said:

It occurs to me it is just the right weight to collimate the telescope if more gentle methods have failed 🤣

Percussive maintenance