Many amateur astronomers live in urban and highly developed suburban areas, and many of them believe that they can't observe deep-sky objects from such light-polluted locations.

But it isn't true.

Given the right techniques, urban astronomers can routinely observe deep-sky objects night after night - something most of us would never do if it involved driving miles into the country to find a dark site. Rod Mollise has observed the entire Messier list from his urban backyard, without high-tech equipment, using only commercially-made telescopes and simple accessories.

This is a guide to good deep-sky astronomy under bad skies.

There are literally hundreds of spectacular objects to be seen from the average urban site. After dealing with equipment, locations and even urban safety, Rod invites you to join him on his virtual "walking tours" of the night sky, with physical and observational descriptions, at-the-eyepiece drawings, and photographs.

Most amateur astronomers yearn to observe more frequently. Many of them, however, live in urban and highly developed suburban areas that are heavily light polluted. Due to this light pollution, they are under the impression that deep sky objects - nebulae, galaxies, star clusters- are either invisible or not worth viewing from home. This book describes the many objects that can be seen in a bright urban sky, and shows the city or suburban astronomer how to observe object after object, season after season.

This book covers the "why," "how," and "what" of astronomy under light-polluted skies. The prospective city-based observer is told why to observe from home (there are hundreds of spectacular objects to be seen from the average urban site), how to observe the city sky (telescopes, accessories, and moderns techniques), and what to observe. About 50% of the book is devoted to describing "tours" of the sky, with physical and observational descriptions, at-the-eyepiece drawings, and photographs.