Sky Atlas + book

[Raph-in-the-sky]

Hello Guys,

So far I 've been printing maps from wikipedia which do a decent job but tend to fly off at the slightest breeze and end up soaked so I was think about getting a sky atlas.

If that matters, I'm planning on using a Telrad finder so anything that includes telard circles would be a plus. Obviously I'd like something robust enough to bring on the field. Size isn't really a concern as I m already shleping a 10 inch Dob.

Which sky atlas would you recommend?

Also, I hear a lot about "Turn Left At Orion"... What is in this book? Why is it so popular?

Cheers,

Raph

 

[Knighty2112]

A good starter sky atlas might be the aptly named ‘Pocket Sky Atlas’ from Sky & Telescope. Has chart showing size of Telrad rings. Not to big and not too small. Samples pages images attached for reference. I have some much more expensive ones than this, but for out door use this works well, although i do tend to use Skysafari on my ipad quite a lot.

Turn left at Orion is a starter book. Never owned it, so can’t say how good it is. Not sure how good the start charts are inside it.

[A McEwan]

Turn Left At Orion is good because it shows easy ways to find objects, and has illistrations of those objects that realistically depict how they will look through a small telescope. THere is no hyperbole, just good, accurate descriptions and sketches. It's a great beginners book, and helps get you into the habits of finding your way around the sky, with no artifically high expectations.

Ant

[Cornelius Varley]

There is a website freestarcharts which, as it's name implies, has star charts which can be downloaded and printed for free.

[michaelmorris]

Another vote for the Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas.  Cracking little atlas.

[Raph-in-the-sky]

1 hour ago, Cornelius Varley said:

There is a website freestarcharts which, as it's name implies, has star charts which can be downloaded and printed for free.

The problem with this is that you have to reprint them regularly as the pages get wet/dirty/fligh off...

[Cornelius Varley]

11 minutes ago, Raph-in-the-sky said:

The problem with this is that you have to reprint them regularly as the pages get wet/dirty/fligh off...

Laminate them and they will last indefinitely.

[Raph-in-the-sky]

8 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

Laminate them and they will last indefinitely.

Fair enough

[alan potts]

S and T's pocket atlas is very good but in my opinion Interstellarum's Deep Sky Atlas is in a different league, of course it cost a bit more but worth every pound.

Alan

[Raph-in-the-sky]

5 minutes ago, alan potts said:

S and T's pocket atlas is very good but in my opinion Interstellarum's Deep Sky Atlas is in a different league, of course it cost a bit more but worth every pound.

Alan

It seems amazing but I'm trying to keep my astro spending down... This month, I already bought a nice bundle with a 10'' dob, some EPs, a camera for planetary imaging ... I also got an OIII filter. I'm about to order a Telrad...

[Raph-in-the-sky]

2 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

A good starter sky atlas might be the aptly named ‘Pocket Sky Atlas’ from Sky & Telescope.

For those interrested, apparently there's gonna be an new edition at the end of september. I think I'll wait a month to get it

[alan potts]

44 minutes ago, Raph-in-the-sky said:

It seems amazing but I'm trying to keep my astro spending down...

Impossible, the only way to deal with temptation is to yield to it.

Alan

[Raph-in-the-sky]

2 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Impossible, the only way to deal with temptation is to yield to it.

Alan

You might convince me ... I'm easily convinced when it comes to buy astrostuff

[Raph-in-the-sky]

3 hours ago, A McEwan said:

Turn Left At Orion is good because it shows easy ways to find objects, and has illistrations of those objects that realistically depict how they will look through a small telescope. THere is no hyperbole, just good, accurate descriptions and sketches. It's a great beginners book, and helps get you into the habits of finding your way around the sky, with no artifically high expectations.

Ant

Since I have little experience, would you suggest buying it instead of an Atlas?

[KingNothing13]

18 minutes ago, Raph-in-the-sky said:

Since I have little experience, would you suggest buying it instead of an Atlas?

I wouldn't.  TLAO is a great book, but the Atlas will be more helpful in the long run.  If you could get both, that'd be great too.

PSA is a great little book (I have it, but rarely use it.)

SkyAtlas 2000.0 is also good, and one I own.  You can get it in the "Field Edition" which I believe has laminated pages, but is costly.

[Gfamily]

If you buy an atlas (which I would recommend), and you want Telrad circles, a small piece of clear plastic with them drawn on (to the appropriate scale) can be a good idea. 

An alternative might be to prepare your own finder charts using software such as Cartes de Ciel. Here's one I prepared some time ago - using circles for my finder and some of my eyepieces. 

One thing that is useful about creating your own is that you can develop your own star hops. 

Finally; Google Books has a Preview version of Turn Left at Orion; worth having a look to see if its something you might use.

 

An alternative to TLAO which you might consider is the Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders, which covers the constellations visible from the northern hemisphere 

[Mark-V]

Pocket Sky Atlas is very good but you need quite big pockets !

[Mark-V]

And even bigger pockets for the excellent “Jumbo size Pocket Star Atlas”

[wookie1965]

On 22/08/2019 at 14:00, Raph-in-the-sky said:

The problem with this is that you have to reprint them regularly as the pages get wet/dirty/fligh off...

Not if you laminate them I've printed off loads of the ones I wanted then laminated them any more I just do when needed now.