Sky Atlas 2000.0 Companion: Descriptions and Data for All 2,700 Star Clusters, Nebulae, and Galaxies Shown in Sky Atlas 2000.0

by Robert A. Strong and Roger W. Sinnott

This essential astronomical reference features an alphabetical listing of every deep-sky object plotted in "Sky Atlas 2000.0, Second Edition." The main section describes each star cluster, nebula, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0933346956
• ISBN13: 9780933346956
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Sky & Telescope
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.4" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Indispensible!

Anyone with Sky Atlas 2000.0 would find this complementary volume invaluable. Every deep sky object shown in the Atlas is listed alphabetically and again, most usefully, according to the page in the Atlas on which it appears, together with a copy of the Atlas index map: thus when planning an evening's stargazing, it is not necessary to refer to the atlas until at the telescope. Integrated magnification and angular size are given for each object, which helps in choosing suitable eyepieces and saves trying to observe something too faint for the equipment or the ambient light pollution. Brief but helpful notes are included for many interesting objects. Highly recommended.

Best sky atlas

Using this Sky Atlas one can find what he is looking for year after year.

Handy reference.

The Sky atlas companion goes along perfectly with the Sky Atlas itself. Everyone of those obscure deep sky objects, like those open clusters not in the NGC, have little entries. If you have the Sky Atlas 2000 already, this book is a great supplement.

Perfect companion

Get this if you buy the Sky Atlas.Packed with a lot of factoids,and very useful for starhopping,or "star-hoping," we call it here in the rainy,cloudy north.Each page gives the exact location of objects you want to search for.Highly recommended by my friends who are into astronomy,and by me,too.Dark skies!

A True Companion

The cover states that the book contains "descriptions and data for all 2,700 star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies shown in Sky Atlas 2000.0, 2nd Edition." I haven't checked the "2,700" part, but the "descriptions and data" part is correct. So, if you want to know what all those NGCs and such are, this book will tell you. I use a small (5") telescope and find the Companion a useful adjunct to SkyAtlas to enhance my understanding of the objects I see. I recommend this book.After a short but well written introduction, the book presents its main section: an alphabetical listing of the 2,700 objects. Each entry typically includes type of object (galaxy, globular cluster, plnaetary nebula, etc.), constellation, celestial coordinates, apparent size, SkyAtlas chart, and magnitude, followed by a description of the object. Descriptions for the most popular objects - such as the Ring Nebula or the Andromeda Galaxy - amount to a full paragraph. Some include what the object looks like through a small telescope. Descriptions for lesser known objects may be as short as one line. Some of the descriptions will seem cryptic to those with limited knowledge, but it doesn't take much study to get up to speed.The end of the book contains a chart key to SkyAtlas and a listing of objects by chart number.According to the Preface, this book started as a personal database project by author Strong. As a result, it has somewhat of an amateur feel, but that's not necessarily bad. My criticisms are minor, and relate more to the useability of the book than its contents. First, I would rather have the book wire bound so it would lay flat on the table. Second, I would like to see Companion page numbers in the final table. This would make it a bit faster to cross-reference back to the main section (the thousands of NGCs take up 148 pages!). Third, I would have prefered (for instance) to have all the Messier Objects alphabetized by their M numbers, rather than having some of the them alphabetized by their popular names. This is not a knock on the authors, it is the unfortunate result of many objects having seveal names. The only solution to this problem would be an electronic version of this database. Also, I might have laid out the main section more like the tables in Tirion's Cambridge Star Atlas.For a future edition, I would also like to see black and white photos of at least the most popular objects, if not all. Black and white is better than color at approximating the view through a small telescope.