Rick Woods
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 4288
Loc: Inner Solar System
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If the Celestia 2000 is still available, you'll want to get it, too.
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
8" Meade 826C
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jr_
sage
Reged: 07/28/03
Posts: 209
Loc: Valencia, Spain
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I have few information about Celestia 2000. I thought it was a CDROM with data of the Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues, and few more. A matter of charting software. Is that?
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10" LX-200 classic
Binoc:25x100,20x80
Refr:12/15cm
Deep sky/software
http://www.uv.es/jrtorres
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Starman1
Vendor - Scope City
Reged: 06/24/03
Posts: 10954
Loc: Los Angeles
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Quote:
If the final price is 150$ and the only point lost is the binding, then it is very good news. The hardbound edition was much more expensive,very heavy and too precious, to bring it outside. However, the detail of the MSA compared with the enlarged sections of U2000 is poorer. An atlas with the level of detail of the zoomed areas of Uranometria would be incredible.
It's coming. It's called the Sky GX Atlas, and you can read about it here .
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Don Pensack
12.5" Truss Dob, 5" Maksutov
Sustaining Lifetime IDA member, TeleVue junkie
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jr_
sage
Reged: 07/28/03
Posts: 209
Loc: Valencia, Spain
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Wow, the SkyGX is just what I was trying to find. For some years, it seemed that with the Millennium and U2000 the advances in star atlases were ended. The prototype charts are really impressive, rich in detail and very well designed. I don't know the price, but surely I will get it. Thanks for the information!!! 
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10" LX-200 classic
Binoc:25x100,20x80
Refr:12/15cm
Deep sky/software
http://www.uv.es/jrtorres
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Rick Woods
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 4288
Loc: Inner Solar System
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Quote:
I have few information about Celestia 2000. I thought it was a CDROM with data of the Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues, and few more. A matter of charting software. Is that?
Pretty much. It has information from several sources on all the stars in the MSA. No charting software really, but a rudimentary finder-chart type display. It's not expensive (or at least it wasn't), and has come in handy a few times.
- Rick
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
8" Meade 826C
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jr_
sage
Reged: 07/28/03
Posts: 209
Loc: Valencia, Spain
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I have prepared something that I think can be of worth as a complementary deep sky atlas (I am thinking particularly in Sky Atlas 2000, Uranometria 2000 or the C section of the Herald-Bobroff astroatlas). It is a PDF document with 5800 mini-charts of 1-degree each, showing the fields surrounding the best 5800 deep sky objects, and plotting stars up to 12.5 magnitude. The idea is showing magnified the area where our deep sky target is located, filling thus the gap that generalistic deep sky atlases leave: the insufficient level of detail in the final steps of starhopping. The PDF file can be got from this link. I have just started a thread in the "Deep Sky Observing" forum, but to avoid repeating information, it can be found here.
Once printed, the atlas can be stored in a 60 plastic pages folder, and it looks like this (left side: Herald-Bobroff, right side: mini charts):
There are 120 pages: 108 chart pages and 12 index pages. Each chart page includes 9 blocks, with six mini charts by block. This is the look of one of the blocks:
The PDF must be printed at 600 dpi to prevent scaling problems. I hope you will like it. I think it is a nice contribution. The indexes once printed are too small, but here and here you can find two text files with the indexes, that can be edited at will, and printed.
Enjoy it!
Edited by jr_ (09/29/05 02:57 PM)
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Rick Woods
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 4288
Loc: Inner Solar System
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Wow! Jr! That's a pretty spectacular thing to be offering up for free like this. Many thanks!
- Rick
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
8" Meade 826C
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Rick Woods
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 4288
Loc: Inner Solar System
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Quote:
Quote:
If the final price is 150$ and the only point lost is the binding, then it is very good news. The hardbound edition was much more expensive,very heavy and too precious, to bring it outside. However, the detail of the MSA compared with the enlarged sections of U2000 is poorer. An atlas with the level of detail of the zoomed areas of Uranometria would be incredible.
It's coming. It's called the Sky GX Atlas, and you can read about it here .
I want one!
Anyone have any recent info on availability prospects? I see Sky Pub was too C.S. to take it on. They must have taken a bath on the MSA, or something.
- Rick
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
8" Meade 826C
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Olivier Biot
Amused
Reged: 04/25/05
Posts: 14323
Loc: 51°N (Belgium)
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Quote:
Quote:
If the final price is 150$ and the only point lost is the binding, then it is very good news. The hardbound edition was much more expensive,very heavy and too precious, to bring it outside. However, the detail of the MSA compared with the enlarged sections of U2000 is poorer. An atlas with the level of detail of the zoomed areas of Uranometria would be incredible.
It's coming. It's called the Sky GX Atlas, and you can read about it here .
Holy cow!
That atlas is really TERRIFICLY GOOD!
By the way, you can download scalable vector graphics of the "raw, visually not yet inspected" maps at that site. I'd highly recommend the free Java-based Batik SVG toolkit for viewing those maps, they're awesome, and if you click on an object, then a popup tells you what the object is!
This is the sort of atlas I'd like to have in a standalone portable digital format (like a tablet PC).
Cheers!
Olivier
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Tal-200K (#199) with JMI NGF-Mini2M focuser on GEM3 • Astro-Tech AT80ED on Orion Sirius EQ-G with EQDIR & home made wireless EQDIRECT • Celestron Regal LX 8x42 & 10x42 • Helios 15x70
ATM 14" f/5 (designing mirror cell and filter wheel/focuser) • ATM 10" f/6 Portable Truss (polishing) • ATM 10" f/25 Dall-Kirkham (primary: polishing, secondary: #120 grit)
AstroForecast
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Olivier Biot
Amused
Reged: 04/25/05
Posts: 14323
Loc: 51°N (Belgium)
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If you want to view the Sky GX Atlas with a SVG viewer, then you need to use tha Adobe SVG viewer, as the fonts are embedded in the SVG files (CEF font encoding).
It is possible to extract the 5 fonts from one SVG, decode them (they're encoded as BASE64), recode them in OpenType format (e.g., with FontForge - do not recode to another character coding), and install the 5 generated OpenType fonts on your computer (on a Windows machine, drop the 5 OpenType fonts in the C:\Windows\Fonts directory). This way, several other viewers will render the text with the correct fonts (unfortunately, not the Java-based Batik viewer - I don't know where I have to specify the font lookup directory, or how to configure fonts in Java).
The Adobe SVG viewer is very good, but I also like the Inkscape tool. The latter also allows you to edit an SVG file.
Remember that the available SVG maps still need to be reviewed and corrected (e.g., move DSO label on top of a star), and that sometimes a label is displayed but no DSO symbol. Editing the SkyGX SVG maps by hand is not recommended (there are 3570 maps BTW). I don't know when this atlas will be available, but I'll be taking a close look at their development site from time to time... 
Cheers!
Olivier
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Tal-200K (#199) with JMI NGF-Mini2M focuser on GEM3 • Astro-Tech AT80ED on Orion Sirius EQ-G with EQDIR & home made wireless EQDIRECT • Celestron Regal LX 8x42 & 10x42 • Helios 15x70
ATM 14" f/5 (designing mirror cell and filter wheel/focuser) • ATM 10" f/6 Portable Truss (polishing) • ATM 10" f/25 Dall-Kirkham (primary: polishing, secondary: #120 grit)
AstroForecast
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jr_
sage
Reged: 07/28/03
Posts: 209
Loc: Valencia, Spain
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This is the best star atlas I (we) have ever dreamed. It plots everything: I have been comparing the sample charts with the MSA and it sweeps them off. No negative points, except perhaps the huge empty margins, that detriments the useful space available in each page (so more pages and more weight: more charts to map the whole sky). And the price, of course: Any idea on the price? I am able to sell one of my kidneys (OK, both) to get it...
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10" LX-200 classic
Binoc:25x100,20x80
Refr:12/15cm
Deep sky/software
http://www.uv.es/jrtorres
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Starman1
Vendor - Scope City
Reged: 06/24/03
Posts: 10954
Loc: Los Angeles
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And an arm and a leg. 
I'd guess $50-$75 per volume, so $300-$450. But if it's printed on fine paper, your guess is as good as mine.
Even if it's the price of a 31 Nagler, it'll be a bargain. It's hard to imagine ever needing another atlas again.
And you can always photocopy pages for the field.
What a monumental work! And to incorporate the NGC/IC.org corrections!
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Don Pensack
12.5" Truss Dob, 5" Maksutov
Sustaining Lifetime IDA member, TeleVue junkie
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Rick Woods
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 4288
Loc: Inner Solar System
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Quote:
It's hard to imagine ever needing another atlas again.
That's what I thought about the MSA! How am I gonna justify this one, when I hardly use the MSA except as a reference?
Gah - it ain't easy being an obsessive compulsive astronomer!
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
8" Meade 826C
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stevecoe
Reged: 04/24/04
Posts: 2129
Loc: Arizona, USA
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Don, et al;
We had the gentleman from San Diego who is doing SkyGX as the club speaker last year. He is a nut--but I love him. What a project! If I remember correctly he said that he is trying go get the price down to "well below" 1000 dollars US. We will see how that turns out.
In a market filled with 4000 dollar refractors and 400 dollar eyepieces, I would think that a 700 dollar star chart as complete as SkyGX will find a market. We shall see.
Clear Skies;
Steve Coe
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150mm 6" f/8 Celestron Refractor on Sirius Mount
80mmED 3" f/7.5 Orion Refractor
Author "Deep Sky Observing" Springer-Verlag
Author "Nebulae and How to Observe Them" Springer
New Canon Xt astrocamera with Hutech modification
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auriga
sage
Reged: 03/02/06
Posts: 414
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Yes, I have it. It is great, more info on the maps on stellar spectral class (OB, A, G etc) than any other atlas and beautiful as well.
Bill Meyers
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auriga
sage
Reged: 03/02/06
Posts: 414
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It sounds like you might also like the new S&T Pocket Sky Atlas. I keep a copy in my car and another in my eyepiece case. Not as small as the GEM, it needs a larger pocket, it's about the size of Erik Karkoschka's Sky Atlas but a lot better visually and with many more objects (1500) but no data. A couple of the charts are flawed in the first edition though.
Astronomy Magazine has just published a magazine sized Atlas of the Stars with 1000 DSOs and some data.
Clear skies,
Bill Meyers
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