Many budding observers are daunted by the prospect of 'learning the sky' well enough to find their way to those elusive deep sky objects. And even when the desired target is perfectly centred in the eyepiece, it's often so difficult to recognise that the search resumes unnecessarily. When a positive identification is finally made, one wonders if the exercise was worth all the effort. Why? Because, visually, they don't look anything like their flattering portrait photographs.
The end result is frustration and disappointment.
Well, here's the book that changed my astronomical life: it taught most of the major constellations, and plenty of minor ones to boot; it showed me how to star-hop to the more interesting deep sky objects within them; and it also changed my expectations of what I would see when I got there.
Literally, this is a 'star-hopping made easy' bible.
The book works on the assumption that the reader is prepared to learn up front just a few of the major constellations. The Big Dipper, (or Plough to the Brits, or 'Pluff' to them southerners), is one that most people can recognise straight off. But it helps to be able to spot the big square of autumn's Pegasus, winter's unmistakable Orion the hunter, spring's sickle-necked Leo the Lion, and the big cross of summer's Cygnus the swan. These are all good starting points, and won't cost much effort to learn beyond a cricked neck.
The book feels like it's been written from copious notes acquired during many years of practical observing. There's a section per seasonal, with two pages devoted to each particular object. And the objects really are a good primer for the northern deep sky: nebulas, globular clusters, open clusters aplenty of course, some galaxies, and a good sprinkling of those oft neglected double stars. On the left page you'll find a typical upside-down finder-scope view of the target area, plus a description of which stars to use to guide you there. On the right page is a typical left-to-right telescopic view of the object itself, plus good textual descriptions.
And here's the clever bit: all of the illustrations are beautifully hand-drawn to show truthfully how they appear at the eyepiece; none of those misleading full colour observatory-type photographs here: what you see is what you, er, see. Fear not if an illustration fails to take your fancy; keep turning the page until one catches your eye.
So how does it work under the night sky?
Well, it works beautifully. Turn to the correct page, and locate the general target area using your (ahem) marginal knowledge of the constellations, then visually hop from star to star as advised. Aim your telescope, then switch to the finder-scope to identify the exact location. Slip in an eyepiece of about the recommended magnification, and the object's usually 'just there', or at the very least within easy reach. For those objects requiring high powers, the book recommends using a less powerful eyepiece first to properly centre the target. Really, I and countless others have followed this advice to good effect.
Okay, it'll take you a year of observing to learn your way around. It takes that long for each season's constellations, and their hidden treasures, to come around. Time enough to learn the stars a little better, and time enough to gain confidence. In a way, one will learn the more obscure constellations for free; "What's that? Oh yes, it must be Delphinus, so that funny arrow below is, er, Sagitta...right?" (flick, flick of the page) "I was right!" And anyway, it'll take you at least a year to get bored with the selection that this book offers.
What do I have against this book? Not much... well, it's a shame there isn't a sequel for next year.
Oh, and batteries are not included.
This particular book is one of the very few that I would recommend to a beginning backyard astronomer , the other being Phil Harrington's Star Watch. Both use a technique called "star hopping" to find the celestial objects of interest , and each has a particular "style" of doing so.
"Turn Left at Orion" uses a technique using the viewfinder field of view to move from an easy to find star or some other object to follow a path to the desired object.
What I liked about the book:
(1) A very good representative selection of deep sky objects.(2) Each object has an eyepiece sketch that accurately depicts how the object looks in a small telescope.(3) A small scale star chart with the star hops depicted is included along with finding directions.
What I disliked:
(1) The eyepiece sketches were simply listed as "at high power" or "at low power". Some basic information about the eyepiece type , magnification , and focal length should be included to be meaningful.(2) The scale of the finder charts was too small , and better directions are needed to find some of the smaller and more obscure constellations ; i.e. Triangulum and Aries.(3) Having to take it back to the library!
Even though I have a few criticisms of the book , it is very ,very good. If I didn't already have Harrington's book I would rush right out and buy a copy.(They tend to overlap too much!) I give this a 4+ star rating , and if a few improvements are made in a later edition it could easily become one of my favorites to recommend and own.
