I finally broke down and bought it. After years of reading internet reviews of it, the publication of Volume 3, The Southern Sky, of the Night Sky Observers Guide finally persuaded me to buy the complete set.

The Night Sky Observer’s Guide is the long-awaited replacement for the venerable Burnham’s Celestial Handbook. Burnham’s is a masterpiece; incredibly complete, highly detailed, beautifully written and illustrated, and is a gold mine of information, both for the amateur astronomer, and of the sky he studies. It is also a treasure house of astronomical history and folklore, a true song of praise for the heavens and the men who have studied them since the earliest times.

But Burnham’s, written in the 1960s and updated in the 70s, is getting a bit long in the tooth. Much of the information is out of date (although it has held up amazingly well, considering) and it was written with the 60mm refractors and 6″ reflectors possessed by the amateurs of that ancient age in mind. Today’s backyard astronomers have access to much better equipment. Burnham’s also reflects the poor observing aids and literature, atlases and catalogs, available to amateur astronomers back in the olden days. Also, we know a lot more about the objects we observe now than we did in Burnham’s time. Many of the old mysteries have since been cleared up, and a host of new ones have taken their place. Burnham’s, alas, also suffered from a shoestring publishing budget; photoreproductions of typewritten pages and grainy photographs, hand-drafted tables, charts, and diagrams, line work on cheap paper.

The Night Sky Observer’s Guide concentrates more on information of use to the observer than on information about the astrophysics of the object itself, or the historical and anecdotal information that makes Burnham’s such a joy to read. But in every other respect, it puts Burnham’s to shame.

Each volume is large, approx 9″x11″, and about 400 pages, and is loaded with finder charts, star maps, diagrams, tables and photographs (most taken by advanced amateurs–images that rival those from the world’s great observatories. The text is systematic and standardized, and covers an extensive collection of objects accessible to modern amateur equipment. According to the binding notes, this includes

698 photographs
953 eyepiece drawings
609 star charts
197 tables.

There are also detailed observing notes on

2749 binary stars
556 variable stars
2878 galaxies
175 planetary nebulae
259 bright nebulae
73 dark nebulae
1077 open clusters
154 globular clusters

This information includes coordinates, magnitudes, visibility, catalog name(s) and alternate designations, orientation, object type and classification, and a detailed description as seen in various sized telescopes. Also provided are finder charts, photographs, artist sketches, and cross references–all on high-quality paper that looks absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, these volumes are too pretty to be taken out into the field. They are meant for desk work, observing planning sessions. Photocopy the pages you need before you go battle with the wind, bugs and dew.

The objects are arranged alphabetically by constellation and by Right Ascension within each constellation. Volume 1 covers Autumn and Winter skies; Volume 2, Spring and Summer. Volume 3 covers the entire year for the Southern Hemisphere. Many of the objects in volume 3 can be observed from southern parts of the continental USA.

I recommend it. The NSOG makes a perfect companion to the star atlas Uranometria 2000.0. Check it out at the publisher’s website, www.willbell.com.