The Caldwell Objects and How to Observe Them

When Mike Inglis, who consults for Springer, ? rst asked me to write a Caldwell book in their ¿and How to Observe Them¿ series I admit I did need some time to think the suggestion over. I am a fan of Patrick¿s Caldwell catalog as are most of the amateur astronomers I know, but could a new book be justi? ed when the massive, compreh- sive, and wrist-spraining Caldwell tome by Stephen O¿Meara covers the subject fully anyway? That other book was researched and written over a 5-year period in the pre-9/11 world from 1996 to 2001, and its 484 pages of descriptive text and background data are a joy to peruse, as are Stephen¿s impressive sketches. OK, the book is far too heavy for the binding and after a few trips outside half the pages in my copy fell out, but apart from that it is an excellent book and surely impossible to improve upon, or even equal, especially in a smaller format book with only half the pages available; at least, that was my initial impression when I mulled over writing another Caldwell book. However, I changed my mind, because a number of events of astronomical signi? cance have occurred in the last 10 years. First and foremost backyard imaging of deep sky objects, especially color im- ing, has come on in leaps and bounds in the twenty-? rst century.