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Reflector Book Review:
The Cambridge Deep-Sky
Album
Category: Observing
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The Cambridge Deep-Sky Album
by Jack Newton and Philip Teece
Cambridge University Press, 1983
The Cambridge Deep-Sky Album
is over ten years old, but it is still one of the most
useful books available to amateur astronomers. Published
in 1983, it fills a necessary gap for budding deep-sky
observers. While the book contains some of the best
astrophotos ever taken, its intent is "..to serve as
a practical observer's handbook," and it fits that description
well.
The Cambridge Deep-Sky Album
is composed of 126 photographic plates taken with a
16-inch telescope. Jack Newton used a cold camera and
exposed each picture 14 minutes. Then he copied the
pictures onto Ektachrome 64 in the darkroom. The results
are stunning.
The chief advantage is the realism
of the photographs. Jack Newton was not attempting to
provide a book full of "glamour" photos. Instead, the
photos are beautiful because they are subtle. Each photograph
is more or less representative of what you might detect
in your own telescope. For example, the Dumbbell Nebula,
M-27, is very bright and beautiful in the picture, just
as in the sky. The fainter Owl Nebula, M-97, on the
other hand, is fainter and harder to detect, both in
the photograph and in the sky. The pictures can tell
you, literally, what a thousand words cannot. The plates
also include many interesting NGC or IC objects which
are rarely seen by most beginning amateur astronomers.
Each photo is accompanied by very
useful text, which enhances the book's value at the
telescope. In addition, above each photo is a colored
area with the object's name, location, and magnitude
in bold print. You don't have to hunt for tiny numbers
under dim red light to locate an object. Also, galaxy
clusters are identified using a map. The Virgo Cluster
is much easier to observe with this book.
Order a copy of the Cambridge Deep-Sky
Album for yourself. I am sure it will make deep-sky
observing more fun, and at times less frustrating.
Matthew Mazurek
(From The Observer, newsletter of
the Central Valley Astronomers, Fresno, CA, June, 1993).
Reviewed in the February 1995 issue.
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