64 ASTRONOMY • APRIL 2020OBSERVING BASICS
A clear April evening is in the offing. What
celestial sights will my telescope and I
explore? It’s time to scour my home astron-
omy library for constellation guides — handbooks that
list deep-sky treats broken down by constellation.
I own dozens of guides, of course, but let me tell you
about four of my favorites. The first, a reprint of the Rev.
T.W. Webb ’s Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes,
Volume 2: The Stars (Dover Publications, 1962), served
me well during my early years as a backyard
ast ronomer in t he 1970s. When Webb pub-
lished the first edition in 1859, the default
telescope was a 3-inch refractor and stellar
objects like double stars and variables were
the intended targets. Therefore, Celestial
Objects for Common Telescopes lists only a
handful of “clusters, nebulae, and groups,”
as the true nature of galaxies was still
unknown at the time. This wasn’t a problem
for me, however, because my telescope back then was
a 3-inch f/10 ref lector and I was a double star fanatic.
Things changed in the early 1980s when I began set-
ting my sights on Messier and NGC objects. I needed a
resource with far wider horizons. In 1966, Lowell
Observatory staff member Robert Burnham Jr. began
expanding and updating Celestial Objects for Common
Telescopes with a self-published series of loose-leaf
guides. Twelve years later, Dover released them in the
three-volume Burnham’s Celestial Handbook: An
Observer’s Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar
System (Dover Publications, 1978). The expanded lists
of stellar and deep-space objects were especiallysatisfying to the owners of 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain
telescopes that were in vogue at the time.
As the 20th century drew to a close, I added George
Kepple and Glen Sanner’s two-volume The Night Sky
Observer’s Guide (Willmann-Bell Inc., 1998) to my
library. Here was the ultimate constellation guide for
instruments of all sizes, including the 13.1-inch
Dobsonian-mounted ref lector I then owned. Not only
does it list more t ha n 3,0 0 0 clusters, nebu lae, a nd ga la x-
ie s , but it a l so i nclude s det a i led f i nder cha r t s a nd de sc r ip-
tions of celestial targets organized by instrument size,
from 10x50 binoculars to 24-inch Dobsonians. Unlike
Celestial Objects and Burnham’s, The Night Sky limited
the amount of supplementary content. Still popular
today, it remains a true “meat and potatoes” guide.
My fourth constellation guide is a work in progress.
Annal s of the D e e p Sky, co-authored by Jeff Kanipe and
Dennis Webb and published by Willmann-Bell Inc.,
brings backyard astronomy into the 21st century.
Volume 1 (Andromeda, Antlia, Apus, and Aquarius)
was released in 2015. As of this writing, seven volumes
are available, with the most recent taking us through to
the constellation Crux. While still serving the novice,
Annals also addresses the needs of the modern-day
amateur whose sophisticated equipment allows for seri-
ous scientific contributions. Rather than providing
extensive lists of stellar and deep-sky objects like the
previous three guides, Annals conc ent r ate s on some of
the more noteworthy sights in each constellation. Like
Burnham’s, Annals blends in plenty of astronomical
knowledge, both historical and astrophysical. Because
Annals is an ongoing and evolving project, the exact
number of volumes and date of final issue
have yet to be determined.
Which of these guides do I prefer? I love
’em all! That said, I must admit that my
longtime friends Celestial Objects and
Burnham’s are pretty outdated. Nevertheless,
their lists of double stars include some not
mentioned in either The Night Sky or Annals.
So, if I had to limit my number of constella-
tion guides, I’d go with The Night Sky and
Annals. The former, with its extensive lists, and the lat-
ter, with its informative, up-to-date background mate-
rial, complement each other perfectly.
Did I leave out any of your favorite astro guides? Let
me know which ones and why they deserve mention.
I’ll feature them in a future column.
Questions, comments, or suggestions? Email me at
[email protected]. Next month: We’ll use a small
scope to star-hop through the Coma galaxy cluster.
Clear skies!Handbooks for binocular and telescopic observers.
Intermediate and
advanced guides
The author’s favorite
intermediate and
advanced astronomical
guides are seen on
display at his home.
With the help of these
handbooks, you can
take your observing
to the next level.
GLENN CHAPLEWhich of
these guides
do I prefer?
I love ’em all!BY GLENN CHAPLE
Glenn has been an
avid observer since
a friend showed
him Saturn through
a small backyard
scope in 1963.BROWSE THE “OBSERVING BASICS” ARCHIVE
AT http://www.Astronomy.com/Chaple