Observing Aids:
Sky Charts
By Robert Braddy
Now that you have made the big leap and bought that first scope or jumped into the dream scope that is going to be your companion for the next few years, it is time to consider how to get the most from your new purchase. Two observing tools that come to mind as a priority are star charts and observing guides. Fortunately, there are a number of quality items on the market and I will share my experience with some of the more popular items.
First choice is a good star chart. The traditional star chart for amateurs is Norton’s Star Atlas ($31.95 at S&T) originally published in 1910 and updated through 19 editions. Ian Ridpath has updated the later edition with Epoch 2000 charts and it shows stars to 6th magnitude. Norton’s has interesting background information but is not that useful as a field chart. It is limited to 6th magnitude stars and data on objects is limited. A better choice is Wil Tirion’s Sky Atlas 2000.0 ($69.95 Amazon.com). This excellent atlas comes in laminated desk and field editions with stars to about 8th magnitude. Both editions are suitable for use at the telescope and the laminations both protect the atlas and allow the observer to preplan ob-serving sessions by marking objects with a water based markers. For more detailed charts to 9.5th magnitude, the choice is Uranometria 2000 (2 volumes at $49.95 each). This is a bound volume useful at the telescope that is useful in detecting faint fuzzies in the Herschel I and II list.
The traditional observing guide is Burnham’s Celestial Handbook (3 volumes at $11.87 each Amazon.com). Burnham’s is a comprehensive guide to the night sky with expansive descriptions; however, the set is useful at the telescope and makes a good on the shelf reference. Burnham’s was originally published in 1978 and is a bit dated. The art guide is the Kepple and Sanner’s Night Sky Observer’s Guide (2 Volumes at $52.95 at amazon.com). This excellent work covers the night sky with detailed information and photographs of objects in a constellation-by-constellation format. Particularly useful are the sketches of deep sky objects that allow the observer to verify that the faint fuzzy in the eyepiece is the correct faint fuzzy (very useful for the Herschel II list).
A quick search on S&T home page will show this is by no means a comprehensive list. There are many other good to very good works on the market. If I have a recommendation, it would be to purchase the Sky Atlas 2000 and the Night Sky Observer’s Guide. I would search the used bookstores for copies of Burnham’s or other guides. Another recommendation would be to check out what other members are using at the club observing sessions.