The Photographic Atlas of the Stars - Tapa dura

The author has captured the entire night sky from locations throughout the northern and southern hemispheres in 50 photographs, each taken using a wide-angle lens. The colour plates are presented here to high standards of reproduction and each plate is accompanied by a map of the identical area which identifies the main stars of the constituent constellations, as well as other interesting astronomical objects. Patrick Moore has written a commentary on each plate, highlighting the stars and objects of interest to an observor equipped with binoculars, and provides detailed tabular information on astronomical objects of the region. The format of the atlas is straightforward: the map appears on the left-hand page, the plate of the same region on the facing right-hand page. The following double-spread comprises the detailed commentary and tables of astronomical data for that same region. The whole sky is covered in 50 such "units". Details are included of the photographic techniques involved, and there are appendices of double stars, variable stars and deep-sky stars.