Sky Atlas 2000.0 Companion, 2nd Edition

Rating:
Summary: Perfect companion
Review: Get this if you buy the Sky Atlas.Packed with a lot of factoids,and very useful for starhopping,or "star-hoping," we call it here in the rainy,cloudy north.Each page gives the exact location of objects you want to search for.Highly recommended by my friends who are into astronomy,and by me,too.Dark skies!

Rating:
Summary: Perfect companion
Review: Get this if you buy the Sky Atlas.Packed with a lot of factoids,and very useful for starhopping,or "star-hoping," we call it here in the rainy,cloudy north.Each page gives the exact location of objects you want to search for.Highly recommended by my friends who are into astronomy,and by me,too.Dark skies!

Rating:
Summary: A True Companion
Review: The cover states that the book contains "descriptions and data for all 2,700 star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies shown in Sky Atlas 2000.0, 2nd Edition." I haven't checked the "2,700" part, but the "descriptions and data" part is correct. So, if you want to know what all those NGCs and such are, this book will tell you. I use a small (5") telescope and find the Companion a useful adjunct to SkyAtlas to enhance my understanding of the objects I see. I recommend this book.

After a short but well written introduction, the book presents its main section: an alphabetical listing of the 2,700 objects. Each entry typically includes type of object (galaxy, globular cluster, plnaetary nebula, etc.), constellation, celestial coordinates, apparent size, SkyAtlas chart, and magnitude, followed by a description of the object. Descriptions for the most popular objects - such as the Ring Nebula or the Andromeda Galaxy - amount to a full paragraph. Some include what the object looks like through a small telescope. Descriptions for lesser known objects may be as short as one line. Some of the descriptions will seem cryptic to those with limited knowledge, but it doesn't take much study to get up to speed.

The end of the book contains a chart key to SkyAtlas and a listing of objects by chart number.

According to the Preface, this book started as a personal database project by author Strong. As a result, it has somewhat of an amateur feel, but that's not necessarily bad. My criticisms are minor, and relate more to the useability of the book than its contents. First, I would rather have the book wire bound so it would lay flat on the table. Second, I would like to see Companion page numbers in the final table. This would make it a bit faster to cross-reference back to the main section (the thousands of NGCs take up 148 pages!). Third, I would have prefered (for instance) to have all the Messier Objects alphabetized by their M numbers, rather than having some of the them alphabetized by their popular names. This is not a knock on the authors, it is the unfortunate result of many objects having seveal names. The only solution to this problem would be an electronic version of this database. Also, I might have laid out the main section more like the tables in Tirion's Cambridge Star Atlas.

For a future edition, I would also like to see black and white photos of at least the most popular objects, if not all. Black and white is better than color at approximating the view through a small telescope.

Rating:
Summary: A True Companion
Review: The cover states that the book contains "descriptions and data for all 2,700 star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies shown in Sky Atlas 2000.0, 2nd Edition." I haven't checked the "2,700" part, but the "descriptions and data" part is correct. So, if you want to know what all those NGCs and such are, this book will tell you. I use a small (5") telescope and find the Companion a useful adjunct to SkyAtlas to enhance my understanding of the objects I see. I recommend this book.

After a short but well written introduction, the book presents its main section: an alphabetical listing of the 2,700 objects. Each entry typically includes type of object (galaxy, globular cluster, plnaetary nebula, etc.), constellation, celestial coordinates, apparent size, SkyAtlas chart, and magnitude, followed by a description of the object. Descriptions for the most popular objects - such as the Ring Nebula or the Andromeda Galaxy - amount to a full paragraph. Some include what the object looks like through a small telescope. Descriptions for lesser known objects may be as short as one line. Some of the descriptions will seem cryptic to those with limited knowledge, but it doesn't take much study to get up to speed.

The end of the book contains a chart key to SkyAtlas and a listing of objects by chart number.

According to the Preface, this book started as a personal database project by author Strong. As a result, it has somewhat of an amateur feel, but that's not necessarily bad. My criticisms are minor, and relate more to the useability of the book than its contents. First, I would rather have the book wire bound so it would lay flat on the table. Second, I would like to see Companion page numbers in the final table. This would make it a bit faster to cross-reference back to the main section (the thousands of NGCs take up 148 pages!). Third, I would have prefered (for instance) to have all the Messier Objects alphabetized by their M numbers, rather than having some of the them alphabetized by their popular names. This is not a knock on the authors, it is the unfortunate result of many objects having seveal names. The only solution to this problem would be an electronic version of this database. Also, I might have laid out the main section more like the tables in Tirion's Cambridge Star Atlas.

For a future edition, I would also like to see black and white photos of at least the most popular objects, if not all. Black and white is better than color at approximating the view through a small telescope.