O`Reilly Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders

5.0 Excellent guide book to DSOs

Fantastic guide book to nearly 400 DSOs

Weak binding

This is a fantastic guidebook for anyone interested in DSO observing The bulk of the book provides, constellation by constellation, notes and descriptions of nearly 400 deep-sky objects. There's a finder chart for each one, and a black-and-white photo that when viewed with a red torch at night matches nicely what you can expect to see through a low-powered finder eyepiece. The objects are drawn from six lists: Messier; RASC finest NGC; Astronomical League (AL) Binocular Messier; AL Deep-sky Binocular; AL Urban; AL Double Star -- so there's something for everyone, wherever you live, and whatever equipment you have.

In addition there are chapters on the whys and wherefores of deep-sky observing, and equipment.

I have only one criticism: the binding should be stronger - a couple of pages have come loose from my copy. A big spiral binding would have been nice to help the book lay flatter, and be stronger. But I'm going to give the "Illustrated Guide" five stars nonetheless.