Astronomy Log

Cosmic Challenge contains nearly 500 pages and lists over 500 star targets for you to find. The book is aimed at both beginners and advanced astronomers alike, as the book contains a mix of Solar System and deep-sky targets to hunt for.

The first 25 pages of the book tell us about our own eyes and how they work, as well as information on binoculars, collimation, using baffling/flocking, eyepieces, the best filters to use on what objects and the things to think about when it comes to your observing site. This includes information on the jet stream, the Pickering seeing scale, the Bortle scale of darkness and more.

Cosmic Challenge is then split into objects you can hunt out with your naked eyes, binoculars, small telescopes (3 to 5 inch) and giant binoculars, medium telescopes (6 to 9.25 inches), large telescopes (10 – 14 inches) and very large/monster telescopes (15+ inches).

I think it was a great idea to divide the book up this way, as you don’t want to find yourself looking for an object like Palomar 1 with a 3 inch telescope. Having the naked eye chapter also means you don’t even need a telescope to benefit from Cosmic Challenge. Then if you do decide to invest in some large binoculars or a larger telescope you can then come back to this book and try hunting some more elusive targets.

There are also then subsections within each size of telescope required, informing you in what season the object is visible.
Each of the 188 targets in the book are well laid out and begin with a large title with RA and Dec co-ordinates, the name of the constellation and magnitude information. There is then a diagram within the constellation (if applicable) of where to find the object. Each target also contains a very nice description of the target and it’s background plus tips on how best to view it.

There are three appendices. The first appendix is called the cosmic challenge, this displays all of the 188 targets into a large table for easy reference. The second appendix is a guide of suggested further reading whilst the last appendix supplies you with 100 challenging double stars to try and locate.

Cosmic Challenge is a very fun book, what makes it so good is that the layout is very pleasing on the eye and objects are really easy to find in the book (maybe not so easy in the sky!). Another great thing about Cosmic Challenge is that the book has longevity as I mentioned before. As you could use the book at various times of the year as the sky changes, and again if you decide to upgrade your telescope aperture. Also you don’t even need any astronomical hardware to use this book, just your own eyes as it contains 21 naked eye challenges.

The Cosmic Challenge book is available at Waterstones

There seems to be an array of new Skywatcher telescopes coming out soon. They range from the Quattro f4 Newtonian telescopes which are coming out both in Steel and Carbon Fibre.

Why offer both, it just adds more confusion, as I can’t make up my mind whether to buy a Carbon Fibre version or the steel, or whether to go for the 8″ or the 10″ version.

The 8″ non-CF is going for £399, 8″ CF for £599, 10″ non-CF £520 and 10″ carbon fibre for £799. There is even details of a 12″ version but that will just be in steel at the moment.

Does carbon fibre really make that much difference? I am thinking of only using the scope for some planetary imaging and perhaps some deep sky targets that require the extra light gathering capability.

It’s not just the carbon fibre or steel versions I have to think about, but if I go for a 10″ version, then I will also need to purchase an A3 EL light panel to go with it, otherwise if I buy the 8″ model, I only need an A4 light panel, but the difference in price of these is small, about £30.

As this would be my first newtonian for a while, I would also need a collimation tool and let’s no forget probably a dew shield or dew strap, and a Bahtinov mask. The cost is starting to rise!

I also saw that Skywatcher are planning some 5 element 120ED and 150ED refractors, which look really good. But who knows the prices on these. I expect we need to think about £2,000-3,000 for the 150mm and probably £1,500-2,500 for the 120mm?

We may have to wait for these scopes though, probably until October 2011, is it worth the wait, will they just be too expensive for most of us, and I will have to resort to getting a 120mm ED DS Pro Black Diamond instead at around £1,000.

This is a very heavy and solid book which includes an enormous amount of detail within its 575 pages. This is the latest edition of Patrick Moore’s book and it’s the first time I have seen an astronomical  book of this type containing so much data.

The data collected in this book is very much up to date and anyone interested in say the facts about the dates of the return of periodic comets with be very happy indeed.

The book begins with data about all of the planets within our Solar System which consumes the first 250 pages or so. The book  then contains information on comets, meteors and meteorites, as well as information on double stars, variable stars, stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies and finally the constellations and a star catalogue.

At the rear of the book you will find details on observatories around the world, as well as the history of astronomy and a list of well known astronomers, there is also a handy glossary.

You won’t find any colour images in this book, but there are is a smattering of black and white images, such as one of Patrick Moore’s outline Moon maps, constellation drawings and surface details of some satellite worlds  as well as the odd image of asteroids.

Jupiter is covered in 20 pages and no less than 63 satellites are included together with the four Galilean satellites covered in even more detail. The actual work that gone into creating this book is amazing.

It’s nice to see even simple data displayed well such as the list of Solar Eclipses, in this list they date back to 1923 and you can find all of the upcoming solar eclipses up to the year 2039.

I think Patricks Moore’s Data Book of astronomy amazing, but probably not a book for the beginner. This is definitely a book you will keep coming back to time and time again in order to obtain the astronomical information you need for planning an observing session, astronomy training course material or as an educational text.

Patrick Moore’s Data Book is available at Waterstones