Good star map?

[inspectapart]

Does anyone know what is the latest edition of "Turn Left at Orion"? Is it the 4th edition, and does this cover from 2011 onwards?

I recently bought "Sky and Teelscopes" pocket star atlas. Very good book! and wondered if "Turn Left at Orion" was worth adding to my collection.

I also have The Backyard astronmers guide by Terrence Dickenson. Another great book in my opinion is Night watch by same author

The info on objects in the star maps is excellent, very interesting, although the maps themselves are a bit limited.

With such crappy weather lately I need something to keep me happy while waiting for the sky to clear and something to browse just before shut eye.

Bob.

[garethmob]

to my knowlage TLAO has currently been posponed (date pushed back) it should be sometime this or next month though i think you can preorder on amazon but the current has the old epooch details

my fav is the triatlas its a little advanced but helpes me find things to view perfectly

JR's website on Deep Sky Astronomy

[moonwatcher]

just downloaded the tri-atlas suggested by garethmob - well worth getting the A set of 25? pages of A4 and an index...thanks

[garethmob]

I use the 25 page a maps (found index a little difficult/small though ) I put it in one of them pollypocket like folders so the pages done get too wet outside. (cheaper than laminating)

Sent from my Now working iPhone using Tapatalk

[Nova]

Another vote for the tri-atlas. I have the "A" set (25 charts) and the "B/C" intermediate set (218 charts). Its fantastic for back yard use but I think ill be investing in the S&T pocket atlas for use when im out with the scope as both complete sets are pretty bulky. Have to agree with the index being a bit tricky to read as well. I have started to note down page numbers for costallations and DSO's as I go now. I may start grabing some of the "C" set charts but wont be grabbing them all. Thats another advantage of these charts. You can just print the ones you want if you like

[Smeg]

Cartes Du Ciel and you can make your own maps.

[inspectapart]

Thaks for the advice folks. I just downloaded the tri-atlas, which is a good atlas but I think I prefer the S&T pocket atlas that I already have, It`s really easy to use at the scope.

I really like the maps in "Nightwatch" by Terrence Dickinson as they contain a lot of info like star magnitudes and luminosity compared to our Sun, distances to the the objects and a lot of other info that is nice to have just to read and digest.

I was hoping that "Turn left at Orion" might contain similar information but pehaps more of it.

Many thanks again, Bob

[Per167]

I do not own "Nightwatch" so I cannot say for sure how it compares to "Turn Left at Orion". What I like about the latter is that it contains a selected number of objects (50-100?) and for each object there is information about how to find it, what it is and what it looks like through the eyepiece (a sketch made by the authors). The S&T star atlas shows where to find a lot more objects but it contains no info about what they look like.

Being a beginner as myself it is very helpful and encouraging to see the same thing through the eyepiece as you see in the book - you know you have located the right object. Having gotten quite used to the S&T star atlas I almost prefer using that one to locate objects but TLAO still adds the value of describing what is there.

[JimStan]

Cartes Du Ciel and you can make your own maps.

True, as can you with Stellarium, and TheSky6 ! The advantage of doing that is that you do not have to take a big book full of pages out in the "dews and damps", AND any planets ( comets in some cases ) and current position and phase of the moon will also be featured !

If you have a specific target in mind, you can pick a field of view that will be most useful to helping you find that target ( assuming that you are "star hopping" ) and print out a page that is specific to that part of the sky!

Don't sell customized maps short. They can be extremely useful !

Jim S

[Dunkster]

I've got TLAO 2011 edition on pre-order... expected delivery date of 30/9 so I guess we'll find out soon!

Otherwise using Stellarium (great) and SkySafari, which I'm enjoying too. Very detailed.

[moonwatcher]

Thanks smeg - always on lookout for better features of starchart software.

[glowjet]

Have a look at the sticky in the Binos section you will see a reference to Touring the Universe With Bins, you can down load a very interesting star map program which you can play with and reconfigure, black and white or colour, stars down to mag 11 if you want to go that far, you can then print off what you want for a nights viewing and take it outside with you

[paf90]

Sorry to disappoint anyone waiting for the latest editon of TLO to be delivered to your doorstep but I've just had notification from Amazon that the due date has been moved back again, now to the 7-12 Oct!

I'm at the very beginning of building my astronomical library and quite a few posters on another thread have recommended Night Watch to me.

[Astro Imp]

For those who are not aware Stellarium can be orientated to give the view as seen in your scope:-

CTRL + SHIFT + H - flips horizontal.

CTRL + SHIFT + V - flips vertical.

HTH.

[inspectapart]

I was fortunate to find acopy of "Nightwatch" at "Boundary mills" of all places. I was bored out of my mind as usual following the wife around the store and managed to sneak off to the book section where I discovered Nightwatch for £9.99p !!and snapped it up. It really is a great read and should be added to your library in my opinion.

The maps dont go down very far in magnitude but the info on the most popular objects is fascinating.

Bob

[inspectapart]

Thanks for that info Per. I will give TLAO a go as soon as the new edition comes out. It sounds lke just what I`m looking for.

Bob