Product Description

This comprehensive work takes you on a personal tour of the universe using nothing more than a pair of binoculars. More comprehensive than any book currently available, it starts with Earth′s nearest neighbor, the moon, and then goes on to explore each planet in the solar system, asteroids, meteors, comets and the sun. Following this, the reader is whisked away into deep space to explore celestial bodies including stars that are known and many sights less familiar. The final chapter includes a detailed atlas of deep–sky objects visible through binoculars. The appendices include guidance on how to buy, care for and maintain astronomical binoculars, tips and hints on using them, and detailed information on several home–made binocular mounts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #729358 in Books
• Published on: 1990-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

poor organization makes it hard to find doable observations
The first problem with this book is that for the urban or suburban observer with less than giant binoculars, it is too hard to find objects that you will really have any luck with. You have to sort through long lists of 9th-magnitude star clusters to find anything that would really be visible. The second problem is that a large percentage of the objects listed are pretty dim and crummy open clusters, and in most cases it is extremely hard to tell whether you are seeing the cluster or not. The photos are no help, because they are all long photographic exposures taken through telescopes, nothing like what you actually see through binox.

Very Good Guidebook for Binocular Astronomers
Anyone interested in binocular astronomy should consider this book (and Binocular Astronomy by Crossen and Tirion too). The book is available through Amazon with a good discount (20%), but even so, it still costs $28 plus shipping. For a paperback book that's not cheap.

Harrington's book has a good section on the moon, the planets and the sun but the meat of the book is a blast of information on literally a thousand sky objects to see. Organizationally, the information is broken down alphabetically by constellation, with a table listing the objects and key information about them (Type, Right Ascension, Declination, Magnitude, etc.). I would have liked to have had distance too. Following each table was a brief (maybe too brief) description of each object. For list-oriented people this works well. I was inspired enough to enter them into an Access database, which was much more work than I thought it would be, and I'm not sure how useful it will turn out to be. The sheer magnitude of the list is what sets this book apart. I look at binocular astronomy as a lifelong pursuit but looking at the length of the list makes me think I'd better get started quickly. I'm running out of time!

In short, Harrington's book is a solid wealth of information but it doesn't have the same warm and fuzzy feeling of Crossen's Binocular Astronomy. It's more like a cookbook. However, if you're really interested in binocular astronomy, you'll probably want both books. If you only get one, get Crossen's book (see my review of that book too).

Worth having but not perfect
The book gave great text descriptions but I think it needed more illustrations and/or photographs showing what a beginning astronomer can expect to see while using binoculars. The book is also practically useless when it comes to helping you find some deep sky objects. I had to use computer software in conjunction with this book in order to find many things.