Böcker av Wolfgang Steinicke

Nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies are outside our solar system. They belong to the 'deep sky' and lead the observer to great distances and at the same time the view goes far into the past. The light of the most distant galaxies took billions of years to reach us. No less fascinating is our home galaxy, the Milky Way, offering many bright nebulae and star clusters.The book covers three important topics related to deep-sky objects: history, astrophysics, and observation. When beginners observe an object visually, not knowing anything about it, they will only perceive a faint spot of light - nothing really exciting. So, to get the right 'cosmic' feeling, the view should be enriched with stories about the object's discovery, distance, physical nature, or evolution. Supplied with this kind of information, deep-sky observing becomes a fascinating activity - braving the cold and darkness. Over time, advanced fields such as observation techniques or astrophotography come into play. The book informs the reader about all these topics and offers a comprehensive collection of interesting targets.

The New General Catalogue (NCG), originally created in 1888, is the source for referencing bright nebulae and star clusters, both in professional and amateur astronomy. With 7840 entries, it is the most-used historical catalogue of observational astronomy, and NGC numbers are commonly used today. However, the fascinating history of the discovery, observation, description and cataloguing of nebulae and star clusters in the nineteenth century has largely gone untold, until now. This well-researched book is the first comprehensive historical study of the NGC, and is an important resource to all those with an interest in the history of modern astronomy and visual deep-sky observing. It covers the people, observatories, instruments and methods involved in nineteenth-century visual deep-sky observing, as well as prominent deep-sky objects. The book also compares the NGC to modern object data, demonstrating how important the NGC is in observational astronomy today.