TheSkySearchers

Any opinions on the Cambridge photo atlas? Looks interesting - photo plate on one page, map on the facing page - but I'm not sure how practical it would be for planning an observing session.

Looking at reviews on other astro sites it seems it is a decent enough desk reference but nobody uses it at their telescope.

I do not own this book, but have read a bit about it by those who do. As Gabriel says, it does seem to be a nice reference., However, field use is something that I cannot see being something many (if any) would do. Seems more of a nice armchair book and perhaps could be utilized for planning in some form, but I cannot envision using it in the field myself.

I have this and it is definitely an armchair book. I loved perusing the photographic plates with a large magnifying glass searching for small objects among the star fields.

I'm doing the same thing now with their Photographic Atlas of Galaxies.