Deep Sky Objects: The Best And Brightest from Four Decades of Comet Chasing - Softcover

David H Levy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1591023610 ISBN 13: 9781591023616

Publisher: Prometheus, 2005

Synopsis

Veteran comet hunter and eloquent popular astronomy writer David H. Levy takes amateur sky-watchers on a fascinating journey into deep space in this enthusiastic and informative survey of the many far distant yet observable objects in the night sky. Light years beyond our solar system, deep sky objects include such intriguing phenomena as double and triple stars, nebulae, galaxies, and quasars. Designed to be accessible for even beginners, Levy's clear, elegant descriptions will guide astronomy buffs in any hemisphere and locale (light-polluted cities as well as dark countryside) to the wonders of our enormous universe.As the discoverer or codiscoverer of twenty-one comets, including the famous Shoemaker-Levy 9 that crashed into Jupiter in 1994, Levy has devoted many decades of experience to observing the night sky. Over the years he has located over 300 deep sky objects, of which more than 100 "best and brightest" are featured in this book. Levy offers a physical description and a discussion of each object's history and beauty, as well as a star atlas to aid in finding the objects. Proceeding from objects closest to our solar system to those farthest away, Levy gives readers an awe-inspiring glimpse into the structure of the cosmos.Complete with both color and black-and-white photos, plus many helpful illustrations, Deep Sky Objects is the ideal guide to the wonders of the universe for both experienced and novice star gazers.

About this title

About the Author

David H. Levy (Vail, AZ) is one of the world's most celebrated amateur astronomers. He is the science editor of Parade magazine and the author of many critically acclaimed popular science books, including Comets: Creators and Destroyers, The Quest for Comets, and Impact Jupiter.

From Publishers Weekly

Levy, of the famous comet-hunting team Shoemaker-Levy, compiles a comprehensive catalog of objects which can be observed in all light conditions and usually with low-power equipment. Targeting novice astronomers, Levy provides a brief astronomy primer-"permanent" objects, terms and definitions-before jumping into the lengthy list of deep sky sites (stars, nebulae and the like located outside our solar system). The following 10 chapters present deep sky objects in order of increasing distance from Earth, beginning with nearby stars and ending with galaxies and distant quasars. Levy provides the astronomical coordinates, magnitude and recommendations for best viewing, and the descriptions are interspersed with stories of his observations, mishaps, frustrations and beginner's struggles. His excitement over these stars is palpable and infectious, though his narrative can get clunky with techtalk. ("We inserted a 7 mm eyepiece...This combination yielded a comfortably high magnification of 726 power to try to split the lensed object, which has a separation of 6.3 arcseconds.") Dedicated stargazers will appreciate the book's reference section, which includes the full Levy deep sky list, an inventory of objects commonly mistaken for comets, 29 star maps, a bibliography and a short glossary. A thorough resource, the book will be a much-thumbed reference for amateur skywatchers. Photos.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Prometheus
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1591023610
• ISBN 13: 9781591023616
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 362