Concise Catalog of Deep-Sky Objects: Astrophysical Information for 500 Galaxies, Clusters, and Nebulae

Rating:
Summary: A guide for the knowledgeable astronomer
Review: At last. A Guide to telescopically observable deep-sky objects that also contains astrophysical information about each one all in one book.
This could replace hours of cross-referencing a variety of astronomical source books.
Especially handy for any owner of today's GoTo telescope, it is also useful for the starhopper, as it contains chart numbers for a couple popular star atlases likely to be used by amateur astronomers.
Other nearby objects are often only mentioned in the text for each object, so the book actually covers more than just 500 objects.
If I can fault the book at all, it is the lack of small-scale finder charts for some of the objects that are in crowded fields of objects. You will have to have charts of some sort to make sense of the fields in which these objects lie. Perhaps in a second edition.
There are many books for the amateur who wishes to expand beyond the basic 500 object lists, but there is a dearth of observing guides for the scientifically up-to-date amateur astronomer just expanding beyond the Messier list.
This is one, and I recommend it.
Don Pensack
Los Angeles