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Reflector Book Review:
Sky Atlas 2000, 2nd Edition,
Deluxe Version
Category: Observing
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Sky Atlas 2000, 2nd Edition, Deluxe Version
By Wil Tirion and Roger W. Sinnott
Sky Publishing Corporation
P0 Box 9111
Belmont, MA 02178-9111
(800) 253-0245
ISBN: 0-93334687-5, $49.95
As members of the Astronomical League,
we have all participated in one or more of the League's
many observing programs. Whether it is the Messier Program,
one of the Herschel programs, or one of the many binocular
programs, they all have one thing in common: you need
a good star chart to make any progress. Since 1981,
Wil Tirion's Sky Atlas 2000 has been the standard sky
atlas for amateur astronomers. It is the one we all
grow into as we learn the sky and become experienced
amateurs. It is also the one we all come back to, even
since the Uranometria and the new Millennium Star Atlas
have come out. Now, Sky Publishing Corporation has published
a new second edition of the Sky Atlas 2000, and it's
a beaut!
The new version retains all the features
that made the first edition a best seller and adds many
new ones. The first thing I noticed when my copy came
through the mail is the size. In its elegant dark maroon
cover, instead of the original black, the deluxe edition
is a full inch larger than the original version. And
the charts are more accurate, since they have been plotted
by computer, based on the European Space Agency's Hipparcos
catalog, instead of by hand as in the original, based
on the older SAO Catalog.
On first glance, the obvious cosmetic
differences aside, the two atlases look pretty much
the same. But several significant changes have been
made. The most important is a stretch in the magnitude
limit from 8.0 to 8.5. This one-half magnitude difference
means that almost twice as many stars are plotted, 81,312
in the new version, vs. 43,000 in the original, so that
it is easier to identify star patterns when you go star
hopping to find that faint galaxy or elusive planetary
nebula. The increased coverage of stars was easily apparent
to me when I compared the charts of Sagittarius on page
22.
The 26 charts are still numbered the
same, and cover the same areas of sky. But there is
now the addition of two extra chart pages, providing
detailed maps of both poles, the Pleiades, Barnard's
star, Proxima Centauri, the Virgo Cluster, and the central
part of Orion. These last two should be of great help
for both Messier and Herschel hunters. There is an Introduction
explaining all the new features of the Atlas, and an
index in the front for all the Messier objects, showing
on which page(s) they can be found.
Star dot sizes are crisper in the
new version, and are drawn by the computer according
to a continuous magnitude scale. In the old version,
star dots were "binned" in half-magnitude steps. The
shapes of nebulosities, galaxies, and Milky Way isophotes
also seem to be drawn with more detail. There are still
a few things I will have to do to make my Atlas more
useful. In my old copy, I hand drew in all the constellation
figures with a pencil. Now I am going to have to draw
them all over again. I also penciled in page numbers
on the outside corner of each chart, to help find the
right page in the dark. They tried to correct this deficiency
in the new edition by folding the charts so the number
shows up in the upper left hand corner. But I am still
going to have to pencil in those page numbers on the
right corner.
Sky Atlas 2000.0, 2nd Edition, is
available in five versions: Deluxe (black stars, white
sky, deep-sky objects color-coded by type Milky Way
isophotes, spiralbound, $49.95), Field (white stars
and deep-sky objects, black sky, loose charts, boxed,
$29.95), Field Laminated (same as Field, but laminated
and spiralbound, $69.95), Desk (black stars and deep-sky
objects, white sky, loose charts, boxed, $29.95), and
Desk Laminated (same as Desk, Iaminated/spiralbound,
$69.95). I do not recommend the Desk version with white
stars on a black background for field use.
Ed Flaspoehler
former Reflector Editor
Reviewed in the May 1999 issue.
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