Astronomy For All Ages

Cosmic Challenge

The Deep Sky: An Introduction

Eclipse!

The Illustrated Timeline of the Universe

The Space Shuttle

Star Ware, 4th edition

Star Watch

Touring the Universe Through Binoculars

With those words, Garret Serviss embarked on his book Round the Year with the Stars.  Published in 1910, Round the Year with the Stars brought readers to sights that few had ever seen before.  Serviss was one of his generation's best known astronomical authors, with several previous titles to his credit.  Indeed, he was almost apologetic for writing this latest work.  "The writer's only real excuse for appearing again in this particular field is that he has never yet finished a book, and seen it go forth, without feeling that he had overlooked, or cast aside, or of necessity omitted a multitude of things quite as interesting and important as any he had touched upon."

That is my excuse, as well.  In the 100 years since Serviss' book first appeared, there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of observing guides published.  I have written a couple of them myself.  Some were general guides intended to introduce the reader to the sky's finest objects.  Others paid homage to only certain classes of objects, restricting their discussion to only deep-sky objects or perhaps members of the solar system.  Many were geared toward newcomers to the hobby and science, while others were intended for veterans who had been around the block many times.

Many of the published guides, my own included, have overlooked some fascinating objects, perhaps in part because the author felt those objects were too difficult for the intended audience.

This book is a little different.  Cosmic Challenge focuses on a wide variety of sky targets, including some old favorites and some that you probably have never even heard of before.  Each object included will have been selected not because it is easy, but because it is difficult to spot in some way.  The type of challenge posed will vary from one target to the next.  An object might be very faint, or very small, or tough to spot for any of a number of other reasons.

Of course, what's challenging to one person might be an easy catch for another.  So much depends on each person's level of experience, the clarity and darkness of the observing site, and the telescope used.  A tough test for a 4-inch telescope should be quite easy through a 14-inch.  To help level the playing field some, each chapter is devoted to one of six instrument categories based on aperture: naked eye, binoculars, 3- to 5-inch telescopes, 6- to 9-inch telescopes, 10- to 14-inch telescopes, and 15 inchers and up.  Each chapter is then further segmented by season.

Although the book mainly covers deep-sky objects that may require dark skies regardless of telescope size, each chapter also includes targets of interest to city dwellers.  Many lunar and planetary features, as well as some close-set double and multiple star systems will be included, since they are equally challenging regardless of the observing site.