What is OITH?

Why OITH?

Reader reviews

OITH in the News

Full Size Cover

Sample inside spreads

Constellation groupings

How to Order

2 versions now available
as a PDF e-book!
1. Facing pages
2. Single pages

Home | Site Map

Dec 24, 2009 - A new batch of books is in! Just in time to miss Christmas. Oh well.

OITH header

What is OITH?

OITHv4 is a deep-sky fieldbook for amateur astronomers that contains descriptions and mapped locations of 697 celestial objects of all types viewable with small scopes and binoculars from the northern hemisphere. It is designed with both the casual viewer and experienced deep-sky hunter in mind. By putting useful information at your fingertips, in a format that's easy to use at home or at a dark site, means you spend less time hunting for what's up and more time viewing.

Have you wondered what ALL that you can actually see in the night sky? OITHv4 will help you find more objects from city sites or dark sites, with telescopes or binoculars.

"A small, handy observing guide."
Sky&Telescope
Read the review

• • •
4th Edition features all-new maps and more objects
• • •

All known objects to magnitude 10 or brighter, those visible with a 6-inch reflector or better, are listed, detailed and mapped. 137 entries ("city objects") are specially highlighted for use with average binoculars. Data has been assembled from 33 astronomical catalogs, including 206 other-than-Messier or NGC objects. Generous space is provided for personal observation sketching and notes.

It's an interactive reference book which brings together just the facts and then some, to be a complete, useful and entertaining viewing companion.

"A wealth of information in a clear, concise package."
Astronomy Magazine
Read the review

OITH provides many answers to: "What ALL can I see and where is it?" by providing only those objects which are potentially viewable from the Northern Hemisphere, formatted to simplify finding these visual treats with 70 detailed constellation and seasonal maps. Featured are modern celestial locations (2000 or better addresses), available descriptions, extensive cross-referencing, common names list and historic observational comments from T.W.Webb. The book's compact size also makes it ideal for camping and hiking.

"This is a very useful publication."
Faith Jordan, The Web Society
Read the review

"Most astro books sit on the shelves gathering dust, but yours is a true hobbiest book."
Sergio Zoruba

• 118 pages, lay-flat spiral-binding, soft cover, A5/digest size: 5.5" x 8.5"
• 697 objects to magnitude 10
• 206 non-Messier or NGC objects, 28 of which are binocular-class
• 187 "city" objects to magnitude 7 are specially highlighted
• 152 double stars and multiple stars
• 137 binocular-class objects with separate symbol
• 106 visual associate connections
•   83 single and carbon stars
•   73 objects from mag 10.1 to 10.5
•   70 maps: constellational, seasonal, insets and groupings
•   61 observable northern constellations, arranged alphabetically
•   33 astronomy catalogs are referenced
•   22 photographs by Naoyuki Kurita
• grouping stories present larger chunks of the sky to learn more constellations
• plus encyclopedic data on planets, stars, meteors
• plus common names list
• plus modern Messier list of 110 objects with Marathon constellation order
• plus complete object number cross-reference, mapping and more

About the Author

I enjoy the quiet of the country and my preference for hobbies is a result of that attraction. Astronomy has not only been a particular focus of study culminating with this book, it's best done far from city lights and Chicago has a lot of them. My other interest – hang gliding – dates to '77 and is also best done in places far from the city.

My interest in astronomy had several false starts but, like an old Harley-Davidson badly in need of a tune-up, it needed one more kick to get it going. My father pointed out a very red Mars when I was about 5, got to witness the '66 Leonids, spent a year near the equator and saw our neighbor galaxies. None of that worked. The final kick start was seeing Jupiter through a friend's 8" reflector in '94. Wow! I had to learn more.

Bought a few books and subscribed to the main magazines, got a pair of moderate sized binoculars and began a log of deep-sky objects I'd seen. It didn't take but a few nights' worth of log sheets to realize that the list would grow and require organization.

I put my graphic design experience to work and dove into building a checklist of what had been seen and what other targets could possibly be seen with a "donated" telescope. Those other targets became the basis for Objects in the Heavens.

What started out as simply "what can I see" with my new 6" reflector, lead to a quest to find every object of magnitude 10 or brighter. The mag-10 limit was originally set to find out how many there were; it turned out to be a fair limiting number as more and more objects were uncovered. The search involved dozens of libraries, 100's of books and magazines, and 1000's of websites, each time data was collected and the humble list began to grow beyond my imagination. It took on a life of its own and, of course, became the book you see presented here.

The old saying is quite true, "If you want to learn a subject, write a book about it." I wanted to learn more about astronomy and the book just sort of happened.

What else about me? I regularly travel 100 miles to get out from under Chicago's light dome, I've logged nearly 1000 hang glider flights, performed in numerous airshows, invented the Linknife as a hang glider towing release and was later used by NASA on the X-38 Space Station Lifeboat, and my designs have earned a bunch of national awards. I meet with the Northwest Suburban Astronomers (NSA) and participate via ham radio every Thursday night with the SouthWest Astronomy Observers Group (SWAOG). The little lady and I have been married since 1971 and I'm a grandpa!

The photography used in the book since the first edition was graciously provided by Naoyuki Kurita of Tokyo, Japan. His website is a terrific resource for everyone.

Thank you for reading this far and for considering OITH for your library.

REVIEWS

Feedback and reader opinions are necessary for improving this effort. I now enjoy a great relationship with some amazing people who are properly thanked on the front acknowledgement page. The reviewers' page has many wonderful comments from astronomers of all experience levels, beginner to professional.

I hope you like this book as much as they do.

Nov 28, 2009
Leo C. wrote to Chris Reich, owner of http://seeintospace.com, saying:

Just bought this book from your website. It is one of the best ones I've ever seen. Thanks.

What is OITH?

Contents

About the Author

REVIEWS