Sky Vistas, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2004 Astronomy for Binoculars and Richest-Field Telescopes

Table of Contents: Acknowledgements • Key to Abbreviations • Captions of Color Plates Introduction The Stars • Stellar Groups • Nebulae • Galaxies Open Clusters Summer Constellations • Autumn Constellations • Winter Constellations • Open Clusters of Spring The Milky Way and its Bright Nebulae The Star Clouds of Sagittarius and Scutum • The Aquila Inter-arm Gap and the Great Rift • The Star Clouds and Nebulae of Cygnus • The Associations of Cepheus and Lacerta • The Cassiopeia Window • The Milky Way toward the Rim of the Galaxy • The Orion Association Galaxies and Galaxy Groups The Local Group • Nearby Galaxy Groups • Galaxy Groups in Leo • The Coma-Virgo Galaxy Cluster • Other Galaxies of the Spring Skies • Looking out of the Local Supercluster Stars, Globulars, Planetaries Stars • Globular Clusters • Planetary Nebulae Sources • General Index • Open Clusters Index • Bright Nebulae Index • Stellar Associations Index • Galaxies Index • The Authors

Gerald Rhemann, born in Vienna, became interested in astronomy when he was very young. His first telescope was a small Newtonian reflector, and with it he familiarized himself with what is where in the sky. However, his interest in astronomy was sidelined for several years by his commitments to his business education, and to training for competitive karate. In 1981 he established a camera store and photo studio in Vienna. The reappearance of Halley's comet in 1985/86 rekindled Mr. Rhemann's interest in astronomy. In 1989 he obtained his first astrophoto, of the Andromeda Galaxy. He has gone on to photograph, with many different kinds of telescopes and lenses, countless deep-sky objects, Milky Way fields, and comets. Most of his photography has been done under the dark, clear skies of the Austrian Alps; but he has also sky-shot in the Canary Islands, and in 2001 travelled to Namibia in southwest Africa to photograph the far southern heavens from the Kalahari Desert. Because of his business, Mr. Rhemann has always been able to do his own darkroom work. Several years ago he began computer image-processing his photographs, and recently has branched out into CCD photography. His work has been published in several magazines, including Sky and Telescope, Astronomy, and Sterne und Weltraum, and appears on the covers of a number of astronomy books. Gerald Rhemann is married and has two children. He and his family live in the Hütteldorf suburb of Vienna on the edge of the Vienna Woods, where he is only an hours' drive from transparent mountain skies. His work can be accessed on the internet at www.astrostudio.at. Craig Crossen, a native of the clear skies and cold winter nights of northern Minnesota, has been interested in astronomy since he was thirteen years old. His first telescope was a 2½-inch refractor, but he soon assembled a 6-inch Newtonian reflector from purchased parts. However, from the first he was interested not only in deep-sky observing, but also in the histo