Burnham's Celestial Handbook：An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System, Vol. 3

VolumeIIIofacomprehensivethree-partguidetocelestialobjectsoutsideoursolarsystemconcludeswithlistingsfromPavotoVulpecula.Whiletherearemanybooksonstars，thereisonlyoneCelestialHandbook.Nowcompletelyrevisedthrough1977，thisuniqueandnecessaryreferenceisavailableonceagaintoguideamateurandadvancedastronomersintheirknowledgeandenjoymentofthestars.
AfteranextensiveintroductioninVolumeI，whichgivesthebeginnerenoughinformationtofollowabout80percentofthebodyofthematerial，theauthorgivescomprehensivecoveragetothethousandsofcelestialobjectsoutsideoursolarsystemthatarewithintherangeoftelescopesinthetwo-totwelve-inchrange.
Theobjectsaregroupedaccordingtotheconstellationsinwhichtheyappear.Eachconstellationisdividedintofoursubjectsections：listofdoubleandmultiplestars;listofvariablestars;listofstarclusters，nebulaeandgalaxies;anddescriptivenotes.Foreachobjecttheauthorgivesnames，celestialcoordinates，classification，andfullphysicaldescription.These，togetherwithastaratlas，willhelpyoufindandidentifyalmosteveryobjectofinterest.
Butthejoyofthebookisthedescriptivenotesthatfollow.Theycoverhistory，unusualmovementsorappearance，andcurrentlyacceptedexplanationsofsuchvisiblephenomenaaswhitedwarfs，novaeandsupernovae，cepheids，mira-typevariables，darknebulae，gaseousnebulae，eclipsingbinarystars，thelargeMagellaniccloud，theevolutionofastarcluster，andhundredsofothertopics，manyofwhicharedifficulttofindinoneplace.Hundredsofchartsandothervisualaidsareincludedtohelpinidentification.Over300photographscapturetheobjectsandareworksofbeautythatreflecttheenthusiasmthatstargazershavefortheirsubject.
RobertBurnham，Jr.，whowasonthestaffoftheLowellObservatory，Flagstaff，Arizona，conceivedtheideaofTheCelestialHandbookdecadesago，whenhebeganassemblinganotebookofallthemajorfactspublishedabouteachcelestialobject.Initsformer，privatelyprintededition，thishandbookwasacclaimedasoneofthemosthelpfulbooksforastronomersonanylevel.