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This is a group project, so please feel free to add to it.

1: Just paste the contents of everything between the slash-lines into the reply box.

2: Insert your addition in alphabetical order in one of the three categories.

3: Then above the top slash-line, please note the date and what's been changed.

Thanks!

<< PRINTED MATERIAL >>

A Field Guide to Stars and Planets - (Houghton Mifflin)
AAVSO Variable Star Atlas - (Sky Pub Corp)
Astro-Tom.com for Messier charts - www.astro-tom.com/messier/messier_finder_charts/messier_maps.htm
Astro-Tom.com for Caldwell charts - www.astro-tom.com/advanced/caldwell/maps_to_caldwell_objects.htm
Astronomy Magazine Atlas of the Stars - (Kalmbach Publishing Co)
Atlas of Deep Sky Splendors - (Cambridge University Press)
Atlas of Nearby Galaxies - (Cambridge University Press)
Bright Star Atlas - (Willman-Bell)
Cambridge Star Atlas - (Cambridge University Press)
Collins Atlas of the Night Sky - (Collins)
Deep Sky Reiseatlas - (Oculum-Verlag)
Deep Sky Tools: 5800 Free Mini-maps by Jose Ramon:
http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1237
Herald-Bobroff AstroAtlas - (HB2000 Publications)
John Small Free Telrad charts:
http://www.atmob.org/library/member/skymaps_jsmall.html
Messier Card - (Sky Pub Corp)
Millennium Star Atlas - (Sky Pub Corp)
National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky - (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.)
Norton's Star Atlas and Reference Handbook, 20th Edition - (Prentice Hall)
Orion Deep Map 600 - (no publisher listed on website)
Peterson First Guides / Astronomy - (Houghton Mifflin Company)
Philips Color Star Atlas - (Kalmbach Pub Co)
Seasonal Star Charts and Luminous Star Finder - (Hubbard Scientific Co)
Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas - (Sky Publishing Corporation)
Sky Atlas 2000.0 - (Sky Publishing Corporation)
Sky Atlas for Small Telescopes and Binoculars - (David Chandler Co)
Taki's Star Atlas:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zs3t-tk/atlas/atlas.htm
Taki's 8.5 Magnitude Star Atlas:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zs3t-tk/atlas_85/atlas_85.htm
Telrad Finder Chart of the Best 300 Objects - [no publisher located]
The Edmund mag 6 Star Atlas - (Edmund Scientific Co)
The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project by Andrew Johnson:
http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1052
The Messier Album - (Sky Publishing Corporation)
The New Atlas of the Stars - (Firefly Books)
The Observer's Sky Atlas: With 50 Star Charts Covering the Entire Sky - (Springer)
The Photographic Atlas of the Stars - (Kalmbach Publishing)
Uranometria 2000.0 - (Willmann-Bell)
Utah Skies' Messier Telrad Finder Charts:
http://www.utahskies.org/deepsky/messier/charts/messierTelradFrameSet.html


<< PLANETARIUM PROGRAMS AND SOFTWARE >>
Astromist http://www.astromist.com/
Cartes du Ciel
CNebulaX Project
DeepSky Astronomy Software
Eye & Telescope 2.0 by Thomas Pfleger (German)
HN Sky
Kstars
Megastar
Sky Chart III
SkyTools2
Star Atlas Pro
Starry Night
The Sky


<< HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS >>
Atlas Borealis/Eclipticalis/Australis [3 volumes] - (Sky Pub Corp)
Atlas of the Heavens - (Publishing House of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences)

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Betsy, did you add something to the list?

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National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky (8th edition - Jan 1997)
Mark R Chartrand and Wil Tirion
Published by Alfred A Knopf, Inc.
©1991, 1997 by Chanticleer press, Inc.
ISBN 0-679-40852-5
720 pages
Vinyl cover
Turtleback binding
7.64" x 3.88" x 1.09"

96 page text introduction (eight sections)
22 page lunar section (photos and maps)
120 pages of charts (all-sky, monthly, and all constellations)
144 pages of photos (widefield, DSOs, solar system, and miscellaneous)
15 text pages regarding the all-sky and monthly sky charts
198 text pages regarding the constellation charts
55 text pages regarding the solar system
31 pages of appendices

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How about the rest of the participants?

You are still out there, right?

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Yeah, come on out and start picking my draft apart.

They're out there Tom, but not everyone gets online every day and it might take a while for interested parties to join in.

Btw, there's something which probably should have been included in my draft copy.. appearance of the charts. I'll edit my draft after posting this, but it's a good thing I originally forgot this stuff. It pertains to something which needs to be addressed at this early stage, but first, the new info:

Chart background: medium blue
Milky Way: light blue
Stars and deep sky objects: yellow
Constellation related lines: white
Ecliptic and co-ordinate lines: black
Lettering: black
Print size: averages 1/8" to just a bit under 1/8"

Now, the issue it brings up.. objectivity.

Our purpose in writing these fact-sheets is to present information as dryly as possible. This will not only provide the reader with non-biased information, but it will also encourage members to ask for opinions and present questions in the linked discussions.

I found it very helpful to stick to the facts by using a disciplined list-type structure. An essay style would have made it too easy for me to slip up and mention that the 1/8" black print on the blue background might be difficult for some readers to see.

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Carol Lakomiak, Tomahawk WI
Writing Sky at Night magazine's astrosketch page since June 2009
Moon Sketch Tutorial
Sun/DSO Sketch Tutorial
CN Gallery
Photo Gallery

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They're out there Tom, but not everyone gets online every day and it might take a while for interested parties to join in.

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I know that...

The additions are a good idea. They'd serve as a fallback if we can't get permission to reproduce a chart, and as something of an interpretive aide if we do.

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Thomas Watson

Author of Mr. Olcott's Skies. Available in paperback and ebook from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

@desertstarsbks

Under Desert StarsEither Way, It's Reading

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Info such as: limiting magnitude of the charts,
number of DSOs in the entire book,
how much info is printed about each object (if any),
whether "binning" or "infinitely variable" scale is used for star images and objects,
whether the objects have their correct sky position angles on the charts,
whether there is overlap on the object designations,
what catalogs are used in DSO selection,
scale of the map in degrees or minutes per inch of paper, changes from previous printings (if known),
whether chart overlays are available/provided.

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Don, thank you for asking these questions. You brought up points which I'd have never thought to include, but they'll definitely help people get a better picture of what the charts look like.

And as a bonus, you've given me an idea... for a 'standardized fact-list'.

Suppose we make a formal, numbered list of points we'd like to see covered in the fact-sheets, and then use that standard form for all publication write-ups? Naturally, some points wouldn't apply to all publications, but supplying the same info for all publications would certainly insure that contributors wouldn't overlook important points like I did. Numbering the points would make it very easy for readers to compare one publication with another, too. Sound reasonable?

Here's the additional points you brought up, with my bracketed replies.

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>limiting magnitude of the charts
[Yes, this info was already included: "Mag 5 Constellation charts (with chart key)"]

>number of DSOs in the entire book
[Sorry, info not supplied by author]

>how much info is printed about each object (if any),
[Yes, there's object info in the text section of the book. I can try to condense and generalize what's stated if you'd like.]

>whether "binning" or "infinitely variable" scale is used for star images and objects,
[Sorry, info not supplied by author and I haven't the foggiest. ]

>whether the objects have their correct sky position angles on the charts,
[Doesn't look like it]

>whether there is overlap on the object designations,
[The Messier list in the appendix also has the NGC numbers.. is that what you mean?]

>what catalogs are used in DSO selection,
[The text says they use Messier, New General Catalog and Index Catalog, but the SGE chart includes H20 so I can only assume they've included others which may be of special interest.]

>scale of the map in degrees or minutes per inch of paper, changes from previous printings (if known),
[Sorry, info not supplied by author.]

>whether chart overlays are available/provided.
[No overlays.]

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Think about the 'standardized fact-list', ok everyone?
It might make this whole thing a lot easier in the long run.

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Carol Lakomiak, Tomahawk WI
Writing Sky at Night magazine's astrosketch page since June 2009
Moon Sketch Tutorial
Sun/DSO Sketch Tutorial
CN Gallery
Photo Gallery

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