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Book reviews for "Dougherty,_Jude_Patrick" sorted by average review score:
The New Natural Cat: A Complete Guide for Finicky Owners
Published in Paperback by E P Dutton (1990)
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List price: $17.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $4.70
Collectible price: $6.35
Buy one from zShops for: $7.99
Average review score:
A new perspective on star atlases
GREAT ATLAS BUT ONE GLARING IMPERFECTION.
The book is generally awesome. The entire sky is photographeddown to 8th magnitude (meaning you need binoculars to see them all inthe sky) stars. Typically each full-page photo has three back-up pages including narrative and a corresponding chart which identifies all the interesting objects. Now here's where the book is frustrating: Pages 14 through 19 contain ultra wide angle photos which together DO NOT cover the entire sky. Also, these ultra wide angle photos are miniaturized and don't get the same treatment as the photos in the rest of the book. The result is a beautiful book that shows a lot of "trees", elating amateur astronomers, but which does not show "the forest". Beginner astronomers who want to quickly, photographically see the relative positions of constellations must turn elsewhere.
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The authors have made a supreme and largely successful effort to calibrate the colors and scale to match human perception of the night sky. A few notable nebulae and stars appear different in the atlas than what we would actually see due to the differing sensitivities of film and human eyes to certain wavelengths of light. Also, the limiting magnitude of the maps correlates closely with what binoculars can see, not what the human eye can see. Consequently, sometimes the sheer overload of stars and objects visible on the map can be confusing.
All 88 constellations are covered, some on several photographs. Because each map covers such a large area of the sky, many of the deep sky objects noted in the text are difficult to pick out. Also, it seems that for some maps the text was written for earlier or later exposures than what was actually published. This is evident after looking for variable stars mentioned as "bright" in the text that are not even present on the photograph!
Overall, a great work but no substitute for a "real" star atlas like Sky Atlas 2000. A bit expensive for its usefulness, but obviously a labor of love for the authors and great for casual naked-eye or binocular stargazing.