Most people are familiar with the spectacular Hubble Space Telescope images - most of them in the public domain and available on the Internet. These images, constrained by the scientific observing programs, are mainly very distant, strange objects. There are very few high-quality books of wide-field deep-sky images, primarily because the major professional telescopes are scheduled for research projects rather than creating beautiful images.
Star Vistas contains many spectacular photographs of the Moon and constellations, but most of the book contains wide-field astronomical images and some of the most exquisite star photographs ever made. Moreover, all these astronomical photographs were made using commercially-available amateur equipment and software! This is a testament to the development of today's optical and imaging technology, the excellence of relatively low-cost telescopes and cameras, to the author's skills in taking the photographs, and to Noel Carboni's skill in processing the images.
Whether it is to be used as a reference and gold standard for amateur imaging, or simply as a book of beautiful images of the night sky to be marvelled at, this book deserves a place in the library of anyone interested in our fascinating universe.
"Confronted by [modern] advances, amateur astronomers - the driving force behind the study of the heavens for much of history - have had to reinvent themselves. Today's 'amateur' is, in fact, a serious professional armed with the latest tools of optics and computers to capture, analyse, catalogue, and disseminate information and images of the night sky (and day sky!). They complement, rather than compete with, the work of major observatories and research scientists. Some areas of study, such as the search for near Earth objects - asteroids and comets - still rely heavily on the efforts of dedicated amateurs. Dr Greg Parker is one such serious amateur." Sir Arthur C. Clarke
"The wonders of the Universe are here! Enjoy!" Dr. Brian May
"This is a book deserving an honoured place every scientific library, amateur or professional." Sir Patrick Moore
From the reviews:
"This book is a collection of very-high-quality, full-page, true-full-color photographs of deep-sky objects, as beautiful as images produced by space telescopes. It illustrates what can be done by amateur astronomers using commercially available telescopes and cameras and features many deep-sky objects rarely imaged by the major space telescopes. ? this title was written for armchair astronomers and general science readers." (Lunar and Planetary Information Bulletin, 2009)
"You would not be disappointed. In one sense, this is a coffee-table book, full of beautiful pictures ? . But when you start to read the text you will begin to discover how remarkable these pictures really are - they were all taken from a back garden in the New Forest by an (admittedly very dedicated) amateur astrophotographer ? . The full-colour images are extremely impressive ? . The commentaries are well-written, generally accurate ? . Altogether, this is a book to savour - highly recommended." (Robert Connon Smith, The Observatory, Vol. 129 (1213), December, 2009)
Aus den Rezensionen:
"Dieses Buch entstand als Kooperation von zwei außerordentlich talentierten Amateur-Astronomen. Greg Parker machte diese herrlichen Weitwinkel-Aufnahmen von Deep-Sky-Objekten in England, während Noel Carboni diese in den USA meisterhaft nachbearbeitete. ... Zusätzlich sind diese Weitwinkel-Aufnahmen einfach schön, während die großen Teleskope sich auf die Forschung konzentrieren, nicht auf ästhetische Bilder. ... Ein prachtvolles Werk, das so richtig zum Schmökern einlädt ..." (in: Weltraum Facts, 2008, Vol. 15, Issue 4, S. 24)
