› Forums › For Sale / Wants / Giveaway › Star map/atlas
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2 December 2019 at 10:51 pm #574464Derek RobsonParticipant
If I wanted a large page star map atlas/book, which would you recommend? What I’d like it for is when I take an image and print it off, I can place it near the map and make a quick comparison – at the right orientation. I even try printing onto acetate film and overlaying onto a printed map (if I can match the scale size and aspect ratio in the PC). I find rotating a paper or book easier than trying to compare my image on screen with a map on the PC (star program or one of the resources such as World Wide Telescope) – usually one window ends up closing unless I resize it. Besides, it is convenient to flick through a few pages of a book’s maps. Uranometria comes to mind, down to mag 9.75. But I’m confused as to whether I would need volumes 1, 2 and 3, or just volume 3. I think there is a companion book that goes with it, but unsure if it’s essential to get the companion as well (which I can’t remember its title offhand).
I have an old eighties copy of Norton’s Star Atlas, which I still use. But because of a printing error, it contains some duplicate maps and some are missing. I didn’t spot that until sometime after buying. I also have Turn Left at Orion. PC programs: Stellarium, C2A and Aladin Lite. Thank you.
2 December 2019 at 11:03 pm #581681Dominic FordKeymasterHow about Wil Tirion’s Sky Atlas 2000.0, 2ed Edition? I fear it may be becoming a collector’s item, though: second hand copies on Amazon seem to start around £50 and go up to silly prices. I picked up a copy a few years ago and I don’t remember it being that expensive.
2 December 2019 at 11:11 pm #581682Derek RobsonParticipantThanks. I will look it up.
3 December 2019 at 7:09 am #581683David SwanParticipantI really like my Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas – you could get the Jumbo version which is simply larger format. I also have the Cambridge Star Atlas fourth edition by Wil Tirion. If you want me to send you representative pics of the charts, let me know.
3 December 2019 at 7:31 am #581684David SwanParticipantCambridge goes to lim 6.5, S&T to 7.6. You mention an atlas which goes deeper, so these may not meet your requirements.
3 December 2019 at 9:32 am #581687Callum PotterKeymasterMy current favourite star atlas is the interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas
See: www.deep-sky-atlas.com
Its available from Amazon and other places – it is a bit expensive, but it is a really nice, easy to use atlas.
Callum
3 December 2019 at 10:14 am #581688DawsonParticipantThere are a few, some:
The Cambridge Star Atlas (2011), copies available for under £10.
Uranometria 2000 volume 1 (1987), copies available for £25.
Sky Atlas 2000.0 (1985), cheapest seems to be about £40 but it is lovely.
Star Atlas of Reference Stars and Non-stellar Objects (1969), copies £50.
Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas: Desk Edition (2014), copies £65 or so.
Millennium Star Atlas 3 Volume Boxed Set (2006), £600 or so…
The first two are fine; you can probably find a way to look at them all inside online somewhere. I really do like Stellarium though which is usually my first port of call, with all the added star databases loaded in.
3 December 2019 at 11:47 am #581691Dr Paul LeylandParticipantSeconded! A superb atlas. I used it on the last session at the telescope.
3 December 2019 at 12:02 pm #581693Dr Paul LeylandParticipantNo need to stick with your copy except for sentimental reasons. Second-hand copies are dirt cheap. I’ve five different editions in the library, none of which cost me more than a few pounds. The first (1910) edition was was given to me by a friend whose astronomer father had died recently. It’s been well-used for the last century and ought to be re-bound professionally.
If you wish I can put you in contact with a guy who is down-sizing his library and from whom I bought the Tycho catalogue. He had a copy of Hans Vehrenberg’s “Photographischer Stern-Atlas” which goes down to mag 14 or so. Don’t know whether it is still for sale.
3 December 2019 at 12:16 pm #581692Dr Paul LeylandParticipantI don’t have this one, but I do have the full 17-volume Tycho & Hipparcos catalogue which I picked up 2nd hand for £250.
The relevance is that volumes 14-16 are essentially the MSA, though printed at a slightly smaller scale. A superb atlas.
Incidentally, if you are going for Uranometria 2000, get Vol 2 as well. Otherwise you will be restricted to the northern hemisphere. Even up in sub-arctic Britain quite a bit of the southern sky is visible. I wish I had realised that when I bought only V1 and now regret the decision to save money.
Added in edit: just bought a “like-new” copy of U2000-V2. Thanks for prompting me!
3 December 2019 at 1:50 pm #581694Peter GudgeonParticipantI have Wil Tirion’s Sky Atlas 2000 (brought years ago when it was much cheaper), which I’ve found OK when using just a camera with a medium to wide angle lens. But with a telescope mounted camera there are often not enough bright ( mag >8.5) stars in the field of view, so I resort to Stellarium, not just because of the extra detail but also because I find it much easier not having to mentally convert black dots on a white background to bright dots on a dark background. Ideally I imagine a photographic atlas would be better, but I’ve no experience of one.
I don’t know if it’s do-able, I’m running on Linux, but it would be much easier if you could plug (say) a TV into the PC’s HDMI socket and display your photo on that while adjusting the Stallerium view on the PC screen.
3 December 2019 at 1:55 pm #581695Dr Paul LeylandParticipant“I find it much easier not having to mentally convert black dots on a white background to bright dots on a dark background”.
I almost always display negative images for comparison with (in my case) VS finder charts. A single simple mouse click.
3 December 2019 at 2:29 pm #581696Dr Andrew SmithParticipantI have a copy of sky atlas 2000 you can have for free if you let me have your address.
Regards Andrew
5 December 2019 at 8:21 pm #581702Derek RobsonParticipantThanks for those pictures, I like the look of those very much. Nice in colour too. Hmmm, I’m spoilt for choice here.
5 December 2019 at 8:24 pm #581703Derek RobsonParticipantThank you Callum. I have since read some really positive reviews of that one, including the quality and strength of the paper when used in field conditions. I had been focusing on that one. This is going to be interesting.
5 December 2019 at 8:32 pm #581704Derek RobsonParticipantJames
Thanks for listing those. I didn’t know off of those, but it will be great to have a look and compare. I do like Stellarium too, and like the way I can do on line search for an object such as an asteroid, that is not listed. But I can download the data and Stellarium can then display the object. That’s very helpful, and obviously not possible with books, but both have their advantages. Thanks for the list.
5 December 2019 at 8:38 pm #581705Derek RobsonParticipantThat’s very interesting. Yes, send his contact details. I have C2A which uses a number of digital catalogues such as UCAC4, and TYC. I’m not as familiar with it as I am with Stellarium. But hope to progress with C2A. The Tycho catalogue may be of interest in print form seeing as I have it that works in the background of C2A.
5 December 2019 at 8:45 pm #581706Derek RobsonParticipantBrilliant idea. I have a TV and a 24″ monitor several feet from the laptop, but the laptop can be moved closer.
5 December 2019 at 9:56 pm #581709David SwanParticipant5 December 2019 at 10:51 pm #581707Derek RobsonParticipantWhat a splendid gentleman.
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