When I received the book, I’ll be honest, I was very disappointed.  No colour pictures and the few black and white diagrams did not impress me, the book sat unused on my shelf for many months.

Fast-forward to when I started imaging seriously!

Now I’m imaging I use the NGC/IC Project site a lot since I want to be sure on the facts regarding any new objects.  I noticed something interesting at the bottom of virtually every NGC object description – there is nearly always a reference to Luginbuhl & Skiff!! 

I now pick up the book which has sat completely unused on my shelf for a very long time and finally realise exactly what I have here.  This book is an absolute gold-mine of the deep-sky objects to be found in the 68 constellations North of Declination -50 degrees.   This amounts to something like 2,050 objects including their dimensions, magnitudes, orientations and angular distances, all very useful data for finding new imaging subjects.

So, although this may be titled an observer’s book, it is possibly even more useful for the deep-sky imager looking for new off-the-beaten-track objects.  This is a truly superb general reference book for Northern Hemisphere deep-sky objects.

You can purchase this book at Amazon or any other good book retailer.

Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep-Sky Objects by Christian B. Luginbuhl & Brian A. Skiff
Cambridge University Press 1998 Paperback
ISBN 0 521 62556 4

I can state without reservation that this is the most beautiful and informative astronomy book I currently own, and I own quite a few!

But, what are the Arps? 

In 1966 Halton Arp published an atlas of 338 “Peculiar Galaxies”, that is galaxies possessing very strange shapes far removed from the typical spirals and ellipticals we are more familiar with. 

You have probably imaged or observed an Arp without even realising it, for example (to name just three):

• Messier 101 [the Pinwheel galaxy in Ursa Major ] is Arp 26
• NGC6946 [the Fireworks galaxy in Cepheus] is Arp 29
• M82 [the "Cigar galaxy" also in Ursa Major] is Arp 337

As a group, the Arp galaxies are a particular favourite of mine, with little NGC2276 [Arp25, lying close to the Pole] holding a great fascination for me.  

We start off with a section on galactic structure and the structure of peculiar galaxies before hitting the 338 black and white images of the Arps.  We then have some more very informative text including a nice account of Halton Arp’s problem with Quasars which I greatly welcome seeing in this book.   This text also includes a detailed look at a few of the more interesting Arps (although they are all very interesting of course).

Finally, we reach the observer’s guide section.  Here we have very detailed star maps together with the location of the Arps within the various regions.  In addition to more nice detailed images of the Arps in Black and White (these are different to the introductory images given in the section at the beginning of the book) we also have excellent observers’ comments as well as comments from Arp’s own notes.

This is a truly wonderful book and should be on the shelf of everyone even remotely interested in deep-sky observing or imaging.

You can purchase this book from SCS Astro is the only UK place I have only found where you can purchase this book.  £32 plus postage – expensive, but very much worth it!!!

Publication Details:

• Published by Willmann-Bell Inc. 2006
• ISBN-10: 094339676X
• ISBN-13: 978 0-943396-76-7
• 391 pages

I put Caroline’s name first here because apparently she made a couple of new discoveries, that were not on Messier’s list, and this prompted William to start his own in-depth search for new “nebulae”.  Working together the search produced over 2,500 objects of which the most impressive 400 were chosen to create the Herschel 400 catalogue.  If you have exhausted the Messier and Caldwell catalogues, then the Herschel 400 may well be next on your list.

Before I continue, a word of warning: In my opinion this book just isn’t up to the high standard of O’Meara’s earlier work and it is also a lot more expensive.  But if you want a comprehensive guide on the Herschel 400 then it is a good book to have.

That said, Deep-Sky Objects in this catalogue include:

• Galaxies
• Open clusters
• Planetary nebulae
• Bright nebulae
• Globular clusters

O’Meara has listed these deep-sky objects month by month for ease of observing.  He tells you clearly how to locate each object and gives a general [usually short] description.  Black and white images as well as wide-field and narrow-field star charts accompany the text to make locating the object easier. 

All the deep-sky objects are listed in Appendix A and there is an Appendix B checklist of the 400.  And finally, there is a good index. 

But I find the book is a let-down after the superb Messier Objects, Caldwell Objects and Hidden Treasures all written by O’Meara, and all incidentally also published by Cambridge.

So what went wrong?  In my opinion, if you have a winning formula stick with it!  If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. 

Several things have changed from the winning formula, none of which I personally find an improvement.  The first and most important part that is missing as far as I’m concerned is the superb in-depth description of objects as given in his previous works. 

The general descriptions given in the Herschel 400 are short, accurate and clinical – not much “heart and soul” has gone into this work.  I have a feeling that this book was turned out rather quickly – although I could easily be wrong on this. 

Other small changes in detail also annoy. 

Although this is published by Cambridge just like Messier objects, Caldwell objects and Hidden Treasures, the book is a different format from the others (27.6 x 21.8 x 3 cm) and sticks out noticeably on the shelf from the others – why?  O.K. so it’s not in the Deep-Sky Companions series of books – but then you might ask, why again? 

Stephen James O’Meara has also become Steve O’Meara on the cover of the Herschel 400 – sorry, but none of these changes improve things for me at all. 

Finally the price!  This book is really rather expensive, even for a specialist readership.

So to summarise.  If you want a book of the Herschel 400 objects, how to find them, what they look like, and a general description of them – this is the book.  But be prepared for disappointment.  If you have enjoyed the Messier objects, the Caldwell objects and Hidden Treasures half as much as I have, then the Herschel 400 will leave you feeling let down.  I just don’t get the impression that O’Meara’s heart and soul went into this one.  And once again – the price!

You can purchase this book at Amazon or any other good book retailer.

Each chapter of the book covers a single month and includes descriptions [in beautiful prose] of a number of objects that, during the month, will be seen particularly well.  At the end of the each chapter is a very handy summary table that makes refering to the objects simplicity.  There is also an excellent Bibliography and Index.

But of course, there is a lot more to this superb book than just the chapters for each month.  “Scotty” really knew his way around the heavens and you will find, within these pages, objects you had not heard of before – I guarantee it.  Even if you consider yourself well-versed in the Heavens, I am sure that in Deep-Sky Wonders you will find new objects to view or photograph.

I would like to relate to you the “gem” I found in this book.   I wanted to image the Deep-Sky object nearest Polaris, and I asked on several astronomy forums “what Deep-Sky object lies nearest to Polaris?”  Now, not many people image near Polaris, so I didn’t get any useful answers back beyond what I already knew.  

Caldwell 1 is the most Northerly object in Patrick Moore’s Caldwell catalogue, a very nice, very old, open cluster. But I also tracked down two very nice galaxies NGC2300 and NGC2276, a giant elliptical and an Arp galaxy – lying much closer to Polaris than NGC188 [Caldwell 1].   Having imaged all these objects I thought my job was done.

Not so! Go to the August section of Deep-Sky Wonders and “Scanning the Pole” and what do you find?

A beautiful little spiral galaxy, NGC3172 called “Polarissima” due to its proximity to Polaris. So I learned something new, even in an area I thought I had researched quite thoroughly – a remarkable book.

I would like to finish this review with just one more example from this book. In the February chapter “Wonders in the Void” we come across a great story in astronomical observing history.  In 1980, “Scotty” received a letter from Lucian J. Kemble describing a fine grouping of stars in Camelopardalis – a constellation well-known for being perhaps one of the largest, faintest, groups of stars in the sky [and therefore generally ignored].

Kemble had found “a beautiful cascade of faint stars tumbling from the northwest down to the open cluster NGC1502″. Scotty called this newly discovered asterism “Kemble’s Cascade” and the name stuck. Great stories, great history, totally invaluable book for the amateur astronomer!

Deep-Sky Wonders is published by Sky Publishing Corporation (published 1999, 320 pages) and can be purchased at Amazon or any good book seller.

I had this one on pre-order with Amazon for over a year.  Twice the publication date was put back it seems – but the wait was well worth it.  It now sits proudly on my astronomy bookshelf.

With 584 high-quality pages you need to pick up this tome with both hands.  Again we have an Index (thank you Stephen) that was surprisingly absent in “The Messier Objects” and made its first appearance in “The Caldwell Objects”.   It is a similar format to the other two books with a nice Black and White image and a sketch of the object as seen by O’Meara through a small refractor.

This time there is an addition!  We also get a small star map of the region the object is located in for reference – a very useful and a very welcome addition.   Also, once again, the highly informative prose accompanies each object, and I really like the way O’Meara writes, so for me it adds a great deal to the enjoyment of the book.

A number of well-known and expected entries such as the Pac Man nebula, Kemble’s Cascade, and the Flame nebula – but a much larger number of nebulae, star clusters planetary nebulae and galaxies that I’d not heard of before.

None of the 109 “Hidden Treasures” are included in the Messier or Caldwell catalogues of course!  As a deep-sky imager this book has provided me with dozens of new exciting targets.

You simply must buy this book to complete the trilogy.  You can purchase this book from Amazon or any other good book dealer.

This is the second contribution of Stephen James O’Meara to the Deep-Sky Companions series of books. 

When you have mastered the Messier catalogue, and it is time to move on to a new list of interesting Deep-Sky objects, the Caldwell catalogue is ready and waiting.  Another 109 fine objects to discover, with a major difference from the Messier catalogue – the Caldwell catalogue lists Southern Hemisphere objects as well. 

So if you live in the U.K., North America or Europe and you want to “bag” all the Caldwell objects, you’ll need to do some travelling. 

 Another change and major improvement from the Messier Objects is the inclusion of an Index in this catalogue.

Thicker, heavier, and hence more pages than the Messier Objects, the Caldwell Objects follows the same format as its predecessor.  Each object has accompanying text (superbly written!) a black and white photograph of the region, and a black & white line drawing of the general area.

Once again, this is a book I refer to on a weekly basis and use extensively to plan my imaging sessions.

Also, on my Nexstar 11 GPS control pad there is a single push button entry for Caldwell Objects (I don’t have to dig down into the menus) so it is even quicker in the evening to set up on these particular targets

The book was published by Cambridge University Press, 2002 – 500 pages of pure enjoyment!

You can purchase the book at Amazon or any other good retailer.

Stephen James O’Meara has produced a beautiful reference work on the Messier objects in this “Deep Sky Companions” masterpiece.  Each Messier object is carefully described by Stephen as it appears to him through a modest refractor.  In addition, a very useful black and white photograph accompanies each object so you can be sure that you’re looking at the right thing.

I refer to this book [as well as Stephen's other 3 books that I will recommend] on an almost weekly basis.  Full of very useful information and background detail – very highly recommended!

You can purchase the book at Amazon or any other good book retailer.

Be prepared, this is quite big when it comes through the post measuring some 30 x 42 cm!  Each page has large clear maps showing stars, clusters and nebulae.  A must have book

You can purchase the book at Amazon or any other good book retailer.