Steve O'Meara has been called "the best visual planetary observer of modern times." The first to spot Comet Halley on its return in 1985, the first to determine the rotation period of Uranus, he now turns his amazing visual skills to the deep sky.....This completely new work will inspire amateur astronomers to visit the 110 most famous galaxies, clusters and nebulae in the sky. It is the ultimate field guide to the Messier objects, first catalogued in the late 1700s.Using the finest optical telescopes available for amateur work, superior eyepieces and the darkest site on Earth, the author describes and sketches the view from the telescope as never before. With new data and clear finder charts, this is truly the Messier Guide for the modern age.

After centuries of speculation and decades of advanced high-tech searches, astronomers are just now getting solid evidence of "distant wanderers" -- planets outside our own Solar System. Armed with new tools and techniques, researchers have made enormous strides in planet-searching in the last few years. And the results of their efforts are nothing short of spectacular.

The solar system is not akin to a well-oiled machine whose parts move smartly along prescribed paths. It has always been--and continues to be--a messy place in which gravity wreaks havoc. Moons form, asteroids and comets crash into planets, ice ages commence, and dinosaurs disappear. By describing the dramatic consequences of such disturbances, this fascinating book reveals the fundamental interconnectedness of the solar system--and what it means for life on its most interesting planet....