Deep-Sky Companions: The Messier Objects [Hardcover]

I am astonished that a serious reference work such as this does not contain an index. If you want to read about the Ring Nebula and like me do not happen to have its Messier number memorized you have to look pege by page through the book to find it. Don't believe a reference work, no matter how good the material, can rate more than a star without an index.

When well known 18th century comet hunter , Charles Messier , compiled a list of "confusing objects" in 1774 , little did he think that the list would outlive his fame as the "comet ferret". The list ultimately reached 110 objects that appeared comet-like in the primitive refracting telescopes of Messier's day. The first inkling that these non-stellar objects were a facinating collection of star clusters , gaseous nebulae , and galaxies was the work of Sir William Herschel , who was able to resolve many of these hazy and mysterious objects into clusters of stars.

The author , Steven O'Meara , has carefuly observed all 110 objects with a 4" telescope from one of the darkest and clearest observing sites on Earth , the island of Hawaii , on the slopes of Mauna Kea. I really shake my head in wonder at the drawings the author has produced ; could anyone REALLY see these objects THAT well? I remain a little doubtful.

The book , nevertheless , has some rather small scale star charts to assist the backyard astronomer in finding these objects. Also provided is a B&W photograph , along with an "artistic" sketch by the author.

One thing I generally find fault with in these "observing guides" is the level of optimism conveyed to the average user re: the visibility of the object through any class of instrument , whether binoculars , telescope , or the naked eyeball. I personally believe that really experienced observers wildly overstate what neophytes can expect to see at any given time.

With that little rant aside , this is still a book that should be on the shelf of any budding backyard astronomer. "Four stars" is really a gift on my part--realistically 3 1/2 stars , but one of the few up-to-date pictorial and reasonably scientific books on the subject available today.

I think an opposing opinion is a healthy thing, and here you have one. Here we have a book, not for the interested amateur who wishes to famaliarize him/herself with the topic, but for the experienced observer who has become so terminally bored that a heaping helping of fantasy is required to perk up the interest somewhat. For the observer wishing to learn, the "maps" in this book are the worst available and essentially worthless for someone not already reasonably famaliar with where to find these things. For the rest of us who don't live on a volcano in the middle of the Pacific ocean, no info is provided as to the conditions or aperture required to view a given object. O'Meara goes to considerable length to provide a sales pitch for the Televue Genesis, but the piddly photos featured in the book come from God only knows where -- definitely not O'Meara's scope; O'Meara couldn't even keep the photos to some kind of consistent scale, so the learning observer might go away thinking that M3 is three times the size of M13. In fact, the photos in the book are among the worst available. O'Meara tries to sell this deficiency by saying that he wanted to show what you would see in your telescope. The only problem with this is that the photos come from no "standard" telescope -- such as a 6 or 8 inch job -- and, for the most part, are not representative of what one will see in such a scope. I kept getting the feeling that O'Meara's whole purpose in writing this book was to tell us what a wonderful observer he is. The descriptions are indeed fanciful, wildly so in some cases. In comparing some of the hand drawings with the piddly photos, I was left wondering if maybe O'Meara's eyesight was influenced more by what he wanted to say he saw rather than the light emmanating from the object. And if O'Meara truly wanted the reader to gain some appreciation for fine detail present in an object, one has to ask if O'Meara ever heard the saying: A picture is worth a thousand words? For the hopelessly bored observer, or possibly for the snob, this book might be of some benefit. For the newbie needing a good, factual guide to finding, observing, and learning about the Messier objects, this book offers nearly worthless maps, the worst photography around, and instructions (maybe) on finding the object that will leave the less experienced amateur in the dark.