5 replies to this topic

[MistrBadgr]

I thought we needed a subject line in the Beginners' Forum about Star Charts.  Possibly, it will balloon out into a lot about them, but at least I thought some recommendations might be in order.

 

First off, for me personally, the first level of star charts that I have used for as long as I have been doing astronomy is Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas.  There are a number of other good ones that maybe some other members can talk about, but the one from Sky and Telescope seems to fit my eyes at night the best.  The size of individual charts is about like a half sheet of regular typing paper.  The cover and pages fold back on the ring binder.  This makes the document easy to handle while at the eyepiece.  The sheets are treated in some way that makes them somewhat resistant to water (like dew) but not completely impervious.  I have gone through several copies, and it is the one I still go back to.  I am not sure what the price is supposed to be, but you can normally buy one at Amazon for under $15.

 

There are some star maps that can be gotten on-line and printed out.  Most notably to me is the Mag 7 star charts that can be found in the files on the Cloudy Nights Forum.  These are free, other than whatever it costs to print them out.  Naturally, using them on your computer does not cost anything.

 

A gentleman, named Toshimi Taki, has done a couple different Star Atlases.  One goes to Mag 6.5, I have found this one, but have not used or even looked at it yet.  The other is an atlas that goes all the way to magnitude 8.5 for stars.  I have this set and have been studying it recently.  This set may have enough stars and other objects in it to confuse a complete beginner for a while, but I ran into a situation last night where the details in my Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas did not have quite enough detail for what I was trying to do.  If I had Mr. Taki's Mag 8.5 atlas with me I would have been able to see what was going on and proceed to the right spot in the sky and wait for a very dim object to show up in my vision.

 

  Mr. Taki's Mag 6.5 Star Atlas can be located at: http://www.geocities...tlas/atlas.htm It has 12 pages that print out vertically on regular sized typing paper.

 

The Mag 8.5 Atlas is:   http://www.geocities...85/atlas_85.htm

 

The Mag 8.5 version prints out about 150 vertically on regular sized typing paper, plus there are instructions, indexes, and tables as well.

 

Bill Steen

[Don Alvarez]

I picked up the S&T Pocket Atlas and I can see why it is highly recommended. It does come in handy. Thanks for the links, I'll be checking these out when I get home.  

[MistrBadgr]

Hi Don!  I would be interested in what you think about Mr. Taki's documents, when/if you look them over.  The mag 8.5 ones seem to fall about half way between a more normal chart and what is found in the Uranometria.  Taki's 8.5 set seem to be good enough for finding the Hershel 400 objects.

 

Bill Steen

[Don Alvarez]

They're pretty good. The star density mimics about where I keep SkySafari set when I'm at the EP,  so for me they'd be very effective at plotting star hopping routes. 

 

I'm still new at this so where charts fail me initially is knowing which way I'm supposed to orient them, once I figure that out I'm good. 

[Philip Pugh]

It has to be the Cambridge Star Atlas and don't worry, I didn't write it. Having said that, you can download Stellarium for free and use that.

 

They all need a bit of practice to use but it's well worth it.

[MistrBadgr]

Hi Philip! 

 

Cambridge is a good atlas.  I have one and use it occasionally, especially inside the house.  It seems to have a little less contrast than the Sky and Telescope Atlas with my red light at the eyepiece.  I personally do better with the extra contrast, without going all the way to black and white.  I can say, however, that the Cambridge is absolutely beautiful.  I also have the Cambridge Double Star Atlas, which I really find good when doing double stars.

 

Any of the Cambridge Atlases are a good way to go.

 

Bill Steen