KT4HX

Welcome to the northern portion of this month’s DSTM. This month signifies that we are nearing the halfway point of yet another year, with the summer solstice nearly upon us in the north, and the winter solstice for our southern friends. Because we here in the U.S. and Canada, as well as many other locations observe the dreaded Daylight savings time, our hours of astronomical darkness is further shortened.

This month we northerners will be paying a visit to the far northern sky ...

Tags: draco, dstm, galaxies, hercules, planetary nebulae

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Deep Sky This Month

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We now wander below the celestial equator to Lupus the Wolf to look at our offerings from the southern sky. Lupus is one of the original 48 constellations established by the Greco-Roman astronomer and mathematician Claudius Ptolemy in the 2^nd century. Lupus is a bright constellation lying between Scorpius and Centaurus and is ranked 46^th in area out of the 88 modern constellations.

The celestial wolf is home to many fine deep-sky objects and this is where we shall stalk our prey this ...

Tags: dsos, dstm, globular clusters, lupus, norma

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Deep Sky This Month

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Those of you who know me well already know that I am what I like to call an atlaholic. In other words, someone who has a deep affection for and addiction to printed star and sky atlases. Being both old and old school, I have always had an affinity for books that I can hold in my hand, turn page by page and slowly drink in their fine, simplistic beauty. These engrained feelings of course extend to books about astronomy, whether they are observing guides, historical or current informational datasets, ...

Tags: sky atlas, star atlas, star-guide

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Book Reviews - a personal observation

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(continued from Part 1)

The following information about the numbers of objects included is found, interestingly, on the outside back cover (see back cover image above) rather than in the introductory section:

Stars - 244,000 of at least magnitude 9.0 which includes,
6,300 double and multiple stars
1,000 + variable stars
80 closest stars showing high proper motion

Deep Sky Objects - of at least magnitude 13.0 which includes,
850 open ...

Tags: sky atlas, star atlas, star-guide

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Book Reviews - a personal observation

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(concluded from Part 2)


Things I Don’t Like As Much (in no specific order):

• The atlas does not plot the whole sky, rather it covers from +90° to -40° declination. This effectively makes it an atlas geared toward the northern observer. I would have liked to see the author make this a whole sky atlas so that the observer would be able to not only use it at home, but if they have an opportunity to travel to a more southern location.
• The atlas is hard bound

...

Tags: sky atlas, star atlas, star-guide

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Book Reviews - a personal observation

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