David Chandler's books for binoculars

Hiya

Sold my scope about 2yrs ago, it was little used due to college
commitments, lack of portability (6" newt on an EQ mount while
defending against mosquitoes) and much higher priority for another
hobby (horseriding).

Anyways, I was looking at the pleiades naked eye that day and started
thinking it would be nice to do some casual binocular observing, in a
very small way.

Between David Chandler's Sky Atlas for Small Telescopes and Binoculars
and his other book Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars, which
would you recommend if you would only have one book and the binocs in
question are a small aperture 7x20 Olympus (coz that's what I have
already) in 4-4.5mag skies. NO question of upgrading to a telescope,
so please recommend on the basis of small binocs only, might get 50mm
ones but not anytime soon and that's the max. Just being realistic
here.

Estimate of how many objects are in the Exploring the Night Sky book
would be nice. I know Sky Atlas has 200 objects for small scopes and
binocs.

I know there's a list of urban DSO's by the Astronomy League as well
but think a book will be good for quick references to see where the
objects are in relation to the major constellations. Have to keep it
short and simple.

Thanks in advance
Cindy

Between David Chandler's Sky Atlas for Small Telescopes and Binoculars
and his other book Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars, which
would you recommend if you would only have one book and the binocs in
question are a small aperture 7x20 Olympus (coz that's what I have
already) in 4-4.5mag skies. NO question of upgrading to a telescope...
might get 50mm
ones but not anytime soon and that's the max.

Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars should work fine and has easy
to use maps.
While you may be able to detect many of these targets with your
binos/skies, upgrading to 7x35s or 7x50s and/or driving to darker skies will
make a huge difference and is recommended to get the most out of your bino
observing.

SSX

Hi

Thanks for the reply, any idea roughly how many objects are covered in
that book?

Good maps for ease of finding targets is very high on my list, I'm not
too good at that :P. I figure if I manage finding the targets, I'll
prob upgrade to a 50mm aperture or so next time (but still light
weight).

Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars should work fine and has easy
to use maps.
While you may be able to detect many of these targets with your
binos/skies, upgrading to 7x35s or 7x50s and/or driving to darker skies will
make a huge difference and is recommended to get the most out of your bino
observing.

SSX

Thanks for the reply, any idea roughly how many objects are covered in
that book?

Not the exact number. Hundreds anyway.
Here's more info:
http://www.davidchandler.com/explore.htm

(Cindy) wrote in message . com...
snip Good maps for ease of finding targets is very high on my list
.. . .

Visit B. Cromwell's Binosky site at:

http://www.lightandmatter.com/binosky/

For most beginner binocular objects, Binosky has a near-field (1-3
deg) photograph, a near-field star magnitude chart, and a wide-field
(5-15 deg) finder chart. For an example, see the entry for the Haydes
open cluster, currently at about 30-35 deg above the eastern horizon
at around 7pm (for northern hemisphere observers):

http://www.lightandmatter.com/binosky/hy.html

- Canopus

Canopus

Thanks for the link, I bookmarked it ages ago and just found it again
recently . I was just keeping a lookout for a book for a more convenient
take-along reference as my brother might be ordering stuff from Amazon soon
and we can share the shipping, otherwise it's normally prohibitive. I'll
definitely be looking more at Binosky first.

cheers
Cindy

Visit B. Cromwell's Binosky site at:

http://www.lightandmatter.com/binosky/

For most beginner binocular objects, Binosky has a near-field (1-3
deg) photograph, a near-field star magnitude chart, and a wide-field
(5-15 deg) finder chart. For an example, see the entry for the Haydes
open cluster, currently at about 30-35 deg above the eastern horizon
at around 7pm (for northern hemisphere observers):

http://www.lightandmatter.com/binosky/hy.html

- Canopus

Hey Cindy Q! It took me a while to realize who you were! Welcome back
to the group!
Marty

"Cindy Q" wrote in message ...
Cindy,

Looks like you are focused on the basic Messier objects. You might
want to consider looking at:

Don Machholz: The Observing Guide to the Messier Marathon : A Handbook
and Atlas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (October 10, 2002)
ISBN: 0521803861
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...336018-9538200

Although the books finder charts are targeted for telescopic
observers, as a binocular observer, I found the finder charts
invaluable. Best finder charts available for the Messiers. Used copies
are on Amazon.com for $12-$14.

Clear Skies. Best of luck.

- Canopus

(Marty) wrote in message ...
Hey Cindy Q! It took me a while to realize who you were! Welcome back
to the group!
Marty

Marty! I was just thinking about you as I was posting the first few
posts, wondering if you would see it! Yes, decided to redabble , had
a look around Orion just now with my little binocs.

Have a bit of problem posting and accessing the group as my stupid
Outlook open newsreader button disappeared and I can't get it back :P

Thanks for the suggestion, for now I'm starting through web resources
and existing books I have on hand for suggestions of binocular
targets. Using software (http://www.hnsky.org) to generate the finder
maps.

For anyone else looking for such info:
Binosky: http://www.lightandmatter.com/binosky/binosky.html
RASC Binocular Cert: http://www.syz.com/rasc/binocert.htm
Urban Targets: http://www.nwlink.com/~filmdos/sas/Urban.htm
Man on the moon:
http://www.theman.themoon.co.uk/Cons...tellations.htm

On 16 Nov 2004 15:56:29 -0800, (Canopus) wrote:

"Cindy Q" wrote in message ...
Cindy,

Looks like you are focused on the basic Messier objects. You might
want to consider looking at:

Don Machholz: The Observing Guide to the Messier Marathon : A Handbook
and Atlas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (October 10, 2002)
ISBN: 0521803861
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...336018-9538200

Although the books finder charts are targeted for telescopic
observers, as a binocular observer, I found the finder charts
invaluable. Best finder charts available for the Messiers. Used copies
are on Amazon.com for $12-$14.

Clear Skies. Best of luck.

- Canopus