Galaxies and How to Observe Them
Galaxies are perhaps the most popular of all visual targets that are sought after by visual observers. At present the only way to get up-to-date information, is to query various (often highly technical) speciality books or digging deeply into the Internet
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Other titles in this series Star Clusters and How to Observe Them Mark Allison Saturn and How to Observe It Julius Benton The Moon and How to Observe It Peter Grego Double & Multiple Stars and How to Observe Them James Mullaney
Forthcoming titles in this series Nebulae and How to Observe Them Steven Coe Asteroids and How to Observe Them Lawrence Garrett Venus and Mercury and How to Observe Them Peter Grego Jupiter and How to Observe It John McAnally Supernovae and How to Observe Them Martin Mobberley Total Eclipses and How to Observe Them Martin Mobberley The Messier Objects and How to Observe Them Paul L. Money The Herschel Objects and How to Observe Them James Mullaney
Wolfgang Steinicke Richard Jakiel
Galaxies and How to Observe Them
Wolfgang Steinicke [email protected] Richard Jakiel [email protected]
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Control Number: 2006926447 ISBN-10: 1-85233-752-4 ISBN-13: 978-1-85233-752-0
Printed on acid-free paper
© Springer-Verlag London Limited 2007. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Springer Science+Business Media springer.com
To my wife Gisela –Wolfgang Steinicke
Preface
Preface
Galaxies have fascinated me since I started visual observations with a small 4 in. Newtonian reflector around 1966. Pretty soon all Messier objects were “checked off,” and new targets had to be chosen. I marched through what might be called the “natural sequence” in the career of a visual observer: Messier, NGC, IC and UGC objects came out of the dark – glimpsed with growing apertures: 4 in., 8 in., 14 in., and finally 20 in. Over the years I’ve learned to be modest, concerning both targets and instruments. Each step in the sequence must be accompanied by a certain growth of knowledge concerning the physical nature of the targets. I’ve also learned that blind faith in catalogues and their data can cause frustration. In the early days, it was not easy to get the relevant information. I was, for instance, fascinated by the entri