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Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas - Review

Moonshane

By Moonshane
in Member Equipment Reviews

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas: Amazon.co.uk: Roger W. Sinnott: Books

I bought this on a recommendation from a couple of fellow astronomers and I am so glad I listened to them.

I also use Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders: From Novice to Master Observer DIY Science: Amazon.co.uk: Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson: Books and feel that the two books compliment each other excellently.

The sky atlas is a small and cheap book but really packs a massive punch. It is well organised with charts for the whole world sky. However, where it differs for me is how it is organised. Being in NW England, I know that I can see objects on charts with a number ending between 1-7 but not those ending in 8-0 as they will be too far south for me. There's a reference page at the back showing this clearly.

The charts are excellent and black stars on white background and very easy to use with a dim red light. Various objects have different colours and shapes as usual but many of these are to scale which helps and also for galaxies they show orientation which will be great when looking at large galaxy clusters etc as in Virgo.

There are comprehensive lists of objects at the rear and angular distance, star magnitude and even a telrad circle scale indicators on an extended front flap (therefore visible when the book is in use for each page). The book is spiral bound and the pages seem slightly waxy so should prove robust in the field. At just over £8 new it's not really a big issue.

As a test last night I use this to seek out a number of open clusters (NGCs and Messiers) in Cassiopeia with my 6" scope and found almost all the ones I looked for. With more preparation (and possibly a reference to the other book mentioned above) I may have found them all. The reason I was not sure I found some of them is that this area of the sky is virtually one big open cluster and sometimes you need reassurance that you are actually seeing what could be described as an open cluster.

This book has many more objects than the average star guide and the maps seem very accurate based on last night's observing. I also like it as it shows stars down to magnitude 7.6 which matches my 50mm finder almost perfectly.

Even if you have several books already, I feel this one is well worth buying and it it extremely easy to use in the field.

Cheers

Shane

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spaceboy

spaceboy

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If it's no trouble could you review the Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders in more detail please. I have the star atlas and find it a great help but as you say one open cluster amongst a sea of stars can be hard to identify unless you have a good picture of what it is your trying to find. Stellarium and my PDA have been my usual reference point but these are only good for as long as the batteries permit. Dose the IGAW only cover the Messier catalog ??

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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hi mate

do you mean like this? :)

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-reviews/111106-illustrated-guide-astronomical-wonders-first-impressions.html

The best thing about the above book is that it gives photos of the bulk of the objects concerned which is a real boon. It has a lot of content but the nature of it means it does not cover as many items as the Pocket Sky Atlas.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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oops sorry mate, thought I'd updated it!

yes, I have used it regularly in the field since purchase and it has until now been my main reference. the maps are excellent and the images really do help, especially with open clusters.

I like the descriptive text as this provides some insight into the location and visual impression gained at certain magnifications and with a 10" aperture. Their skies are a lot darker than mine though as I often cannot see the objects in the finder where they say it's obvious.

if I had a negative criticism then it would be the size. It's quite a heavy tome and sometimes tricky to hold with one hand at the scope. A small table would be better.

also, I have noticed that whilst the limp back allows the book to stay open on a page, it can have a tendency to crack a little; the book is still well intact but may have a life of a few years only if you are fussy. I am not about field guides. This size issue is one of the main reasons I bought the smaller spiral bound book along with the additional targets presented. e.g. In Cassiopeia there are four NGC open clusters around the W in the bigger book and thirteen in the Pocket Sky Atlas.

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Hypernova

Hypernova

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I agree with all what you've said Shane, I have had my copy for over a year and a half now and it is still as good as ever for using in the field. I still end up using Stellarium a lot though to sort of complement it when I am looking for objects like comets or DSOs in parts of the sky that haven't many bright stars that the atlas shows.

A bargain at £8 for sure :)

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Sadr

Sadr

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Another spiral bound wonder is "Objects of the Heavens" by Peter Birren. Same size as the S&T Star Atlas. I doubt if there's another book of this small size on any subject with so much information packed into it.

It's always at my side at the eyepiece.

:)

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mdstuart

mdstuart

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Just to say the posket sky atlas is fab but mine got soaked camping and although its still fine its pages are all how shall we say not flat any more...Shall I Iron it!!??

I also have th illustrated guide to Ast Wonders..fab book..

My other favorite is the observing handbook and cat of DSO's by L & S..

Mark

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Timbo

Timbo

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Thanks very much Shane and others, for recommending this book - I've just ordered it from your link not 3 minutes ago.

:)

Looking forward to it and just need now to choose my next telescope for this Autumn to stand next to it!

Tim

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deepspacehunter

deepspacehunter

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The POCKET SKY ATLAS is excellent, the URANOMETRIA VOLUMES are also very helpful.....I always have the POCKET SKY ATLAS next to me when observing... I highlighted all the CLUSTERS (yellow), GALAXIES (blue), PLANETARY NEBULA (purple), and DOUBLE STARS (red)...I used a paper punch to cut out the small circles and used see through color sticky paper... it came out awesome, I then LAMINATED every page,,,, and I have the MONTH on the top of each page when the maps reach MIDNIGHT CULMINATION ! it took me about 5 weeks to complete it, but it is really sweet... I did this about 3 years ago... CLEAR SKIES and KEEP LOOKING UP !

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  • 4 years later...
John

John

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Where did you manage to find it for £8 please?  The cheapest Amazon seems to be selling it at is £32 :(

My Mum bought me one for Xmas this year and it was around £9 from Amazon. They seem out of stock of them at this low price at the moment though :sad:

This thread dates from 2011 so they probably were £8 back then.

I'd wait until Amazon get some back in stock at the lower price.

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MAN or ASTROMAN

MAN or ASTROMAN

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I find the S&T book to be indispensable.

 I must have bought my copy about a fortnight after buying my Celestron Skymaster 15x70 Bins in Feb 2012 (prior to getting a new Scope).

 It must get the most use of all of the Sky Atlas I currently possess.

 Thanks to all who recommended it then!

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