Practical star atlas

[Nigele2]

Hi all.  Raining so thinking again - sorry 

Thinking wouldn't it be great to have a ring bound plastic star atlas.  Plastic so it wouldn't matter if it rained and you could use a felt tip to trace your jouney and jot notes.   And then you could wipe it clean for next time after updating your log of course.

Like I saw what I thought was the space station cross my field so I could draw an arrow on my map and look it up later.

Would also be good if it had big pages covering an area worthy of investigation.  Easily viewable under a subtle red light.

Does such a thing exist or have I just discovered my next project?

Cheers 

[jnb]

ISTR that sky and telescope did something like that. But I'm not sure if it was a write on / wipe off surface.

[swamp thing]

I use the laminated sky atlas 2000

http://www.optcorp.com/sg-46921-sky-atlas-2000-0-field-edition-laminated.html

[Ptarmigan]

Does such a thing exist or have I just discovered my next project?

I dunno about ready made,,

but if you want a diy project then the Tri Atlas (in various forms) http://www.uv.es/jrtorres/triatlas.html is well spoken of

It may be a little deep (down to mag9 and better) for what you want initially but should keep you out of mischief on rainy/cloudy nights

There are similar others but I have mislaid the links , , laters ,

[acey]

Personally I've never felt the need for a rain-proof atlas - if it's raining then I'm not observing. But ones like S&T Pocket Atlas and SkyAtlas 2000 field edition are very dew proof, able to withstand getting very soggy. For something on which you could use a wipeable marker pen, either SkyAtlas laminated version or make your own. Great Atlas Of The Sky is printed on large, glossy dew-proof sheets - I put individual charts in a plastic clip frame, and can write on that if need be.

[scarp15]

I usually use the S&T Atlas too and as mentioned, can combat dew reasonably OK. I occasionally may use the centre pull out chart or a reference page in Astronomy Now, for which I keep inside a clear plastic folder as this can get quite damp.

[Mr Q]

   The OP's idea is a great one and that link is a great one! I printed out all the charts (to 9th mag.) visible from my latitude in B+W, then put them in sheet protectors, then in a 3 ring binder that allows selected charts to lay open while using it. I also use this while stargazing with only binoculars - works so nice in the field

[swamp thing]

BTW felt tips pens aren't as good as chinagraph pencils. These work really well on the laminated charts. Wipe em clean with a wet sponge, jobs a good-un

[Rockrae78]

Non-permanent OHP pens are good for wipe-on/wipe-off notes...  They work brilliantly on laminated surfaces, but they smudge really easily on plastic pockets! 

[Bizibilder]

Another vote for the Tri-Atlas mentioned above.  You can print the pages you need at the level of detail (there are three options) you need.  Rather than laminate you can simply use plastic wallets and a felt tip pen to draw all over them.  Should the paper become damaged then simply reprint it.

[Ptarmigan]

Ah, found ! this is one of the sites I was thinking of  -

Toshimi Taki has plans for a diy planisphere which may suit your need for a quick sketch of ISS type things on a map of the sky :-

http://www.geocities.jp/toshimi_taki/planisphere/planisphere.htm

The needed downloads are near the bottom of the page.

If you go to his home page http://www.geocities.jp/toshimi_taki/index.htm

he has other downloadable map sets, scroll down the left-frame to his Astronomy section,

as well as lots of other goodies

[Nigele2]

Wow guys in two shakes of a comet's tail so much star twinkling info 

Still raining so think I'm going to do some printing of all the suggestions, pick the one I like best, and try some lamination.

Ptarmigan that Mr Taki will keep me occupied for a while although I'll try and avoid his "Making 8 inch Newtonian Reflector" until I'm retired 

Many tx one and all 

ps Acey you're right about the rain but I guess I should be more worried about dropping things on the muddy ground.  Though better a star chart than a filter 

[acey]

I once had to go chasing after a sheet of Sky Atlas 2000 Field Edition, across a dark and muddy field on a windy night. Managed to catch it after much swearing. It's still got the dried mud on the back but I can read it, and it serves as a memento of an amusing night. These days I use big clips to keep things fastened down.

[Lorne]

I printed out the tri-atlas in A3 and used Matt laminate pouches... keeps the reflections down when viewing with my red headtorch. (I found the A4 just too small to read) 

[Crebles]

I like my Fourth Edition Cambridge Star Atlas by Wil Tirion. It has everything I need, its spiral bound, and the pages are glossy so it seems to survive the dew quite well.

I use those little coloured sticky book mark tabs to mark the pages and target areas before I go out - seems to work ok.

Sometimes, for really deep sky stuff where I need to find my way around using the very faintest stars, I'll print a star map from an astro programme like Deepsky or Cartes du Ciel onto A4 glossy photo paper and take that out too.

[NGC 1502]

Well I feel a lot better after reading this thread, thought I was nearly the last dinosaur using a printed star chart 

I use the Sky & Tel pocket sky atlas that I dismantled and laminated, rebound in a plastic ring binder, plus the field edition SkyAtlas 2000.

Off to bed to dream about a clear night    Ed.

[Killie]

I need to see if there is a ebook version of an atlas I can just print out pages when I need to replace them.. it is what I do with TLAO

[Crebles]

I need to see if there is a ebook version of an atlas I can just print out pages when I need to replace them.. it is what I do with TLAO

There are lots of them on the internet. Here's one I like: http://www.deepskywatch.com/deep-sky-hunter-atlas.html

[Killie]

There are lots of them on the internet. Here's one I like: http://www.deepskywatch.com/deep-sky-hunter-atlas.html

Thanks for that, I had just never spent the time to look.

[Mr Q]

I need to see if there is a ebook version of an atlas I can just print out pages when I need to replace them.. it is what I do with TLAO

  I use this one - select the pages you want and degree of faintest magnitude. Mag. 9 works well with scopes and bins.

http://www.uv.es/jrtorres/triatlas.html