19 replies to this topic

[molniyabeer]

I ran across something called AstroCards last night on the web. They are 3x5" cards with finder and detailed maps for DSOs. There were three sets of about 70 cards each, each card having multiple objects on it. Anyone have any experience with these things and would you recommend them or run screaming?

Thanks,

Steve (aka molniyabeer)

[rustynpp]

I've seen em, if I had a non-goto scope I would get them for sure. They look really handy and if I remember correctly they had a really useful filing system.

[Blues]

I've got them as well as the reader. They were created by George "Bob" Kepple (co-author of The Night Sky Observer's Guide).

I added finder circles to mine which correspond to the field of view of the Telrad or finder scope.

A nice alternative to using an atlas at the scope.

Here's a link:
AstroCards

[rustynpp]

I may have to get those, despite the fact that I have a goto scope. They're just so cool! I've never starhopped, and that's kinda the reason why I was afraid to get a dob as my 1st scope, but it seems so straightforward with these. I may have to rethink getting an 80mm refractor as a travel scope and revert to a 6" truss dob...

Thanks for the link

[dgs©]

I like that card lighter. I remember a thread a few months ago showing a really nice wooden eyepiece case that had one of these built into it. I started wanting one then, but forgot about it. I just may have to order one soon.

[Rinaldo]

I bought them for the Messiers. Nice cards. I placed mine in a cheap photo album so they are protected from dew.

[rustynpp]

I bought them for the Messiers. Nice cards. I placed mine in a cheap photo album so they are protected from dew.

Arent they laminated?

[desertstars]

You find out about the coolest stuff by hangin' with this crowd!

[lighttrap]

I ran into a guy who had all the sets and the lighted reader at MASP. He used them with his 12.5" Portaball, and really liked them. One of the vendors there was selling them for $15/set and $40 for the reader. I thought it was a little high, but could definitely see the attraction of them. The website linked above has them for $30 for all 3 sets and $35 for the lighted reader. I may have to pick up the cards and make my own lightbox. But, then there's the issue of whether I'd use those or NSOG more at the eyepiece.

[ArizonaScott]

Aren't they laminated?

Nope. Just plain cards. I keep mine in a plastic index card box, and I also have the reader. To be honest, I always forget to take them out with me and use my SA2000 instead. BUT , they're really cool for Messier Marathons.

[lighttrap]

As far as Messier objects go, I really like the single laminated card put out by S&T. It's about $5. There's also a Caldwell card, but I'm not as keen on the Caldwell list for a variety of reasons. Then there's the Sky Spot books which are laminated, and there's one of them on the Messiers.

[molniyabeer]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I think I may have to get a set.

Regards,

steve (aka molniyabeer)

[arczeneb]

After reading this post I went back and found my Astro Cards which has been in the observing bag.
Checked out the link above the new set is
Set A: Messier Objects Plus
Set B: Finest Deep Sky
Set C: Finest Deep Sky Part 2
I have the older sets which was originally published in 1975 and the ones I currently have are the revised 1998. References were Sky Atlas 2000, Uranometria, amoung others.
Here is the difference.
Set 1: Messier Objects $Finest NGC objects
Set 2: The Finest NGC Objects Part A
Set 3: The Finest Double Stars
Set 4: The Finest NGC, Part B
Set 5: NGC for Larger Scopes
At the time they were going for $7.95

The two that I currently have is the Messier and the Double stars.These cards are 3x5 with observing hints etc. and a small star charts. My joy has been double stars and here is a small card of the finest ones you could check against an atlas. They list the constellations from Andromeda to Vulpecula. Caution these are not laminated and dew might be a problem also he used RA and Dec to locate the listed objects which if you wanted to really know your sky atlas this was how things were done.
Spoke to the author George Kepple who also assisted with the Night Sky Observers Guide; what happen to those neat little cards. Well as things change all the information is now in those 2 books plus more. The Messiers are nice for star hopping since they also add some NGC's but these didn't give you the big picture only the area around the object. In the end the sky atlas, computer star charts and others made these tools a thing of the past and nice to see that some are still being used.
Another observing aid was the the Finder Charts by Brent Wilson if I remember these were the Messier objects, Overlooked objects and another. They were the 6x8 flip charts with telrad circles.
Just reminiscing.
I still have my two sets and are fun to look at.

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[MMICKELS]

I just looked at these today, and went ahead and ordered them with the light box. What a cool idea!

[molniyabeer]

I ordered all three sets (Messier, Deep Space 1 and 2) and got them in the mail today. They look like they'll be helpful and they are packed with miscelaneous DSOs above and beyond the three or so that are highlighted at the top of each card. The one oddity I noticed is that they were not 100% consistent when printing the detailed maps on the right side of the cards. Most (around 85%?) are printed so that the detail is oriented the same way as the wide-area map on the left. The remainder, however, are inverted as though viewed through the eyepiece. I spent the afternoon marking my sets with a highlighter to quickly identify which ones were "correct image" and which were inverted. I also purchased a medium-sized photo album to carry them around in. This way they are viewable, protected from dew, and easily accessed if I later decide to buy/build a viewer.

Clear Skies.

Steve
Tasco 10 x 50 binocs
Hardin 10" DSH coming in the mail

[MMICKELS]

Steve, I bought a nice wooden recipe index from Target for $8.00 for mine. I got the litebox too, so I'll be using it with the cards. The litebox works well, and you can adjust the brightness. The cards could have been printed better IMHO. So far that's my only complaint.

[Blues]

Steve, Check the "north" orientation on the ones you think are inverted. If I recall correctly that will be the reason. (I believe that is explained on the "instruction" cards.)
I only remember finding one card that had an obvious error or oversight but I honestly don't recall which one at the moment.

For what it's worth, another useful thing to do with the cards is to get a "circle template" and draw circles corresponding to the Telrad or finder scope's field of view on the detail side of the card. Gives a pretty good idea of what you should be seeing.

[molniyabeer]

Elliott,

I think I see what you mean but am still puzzled why the publishers felt the need to orient some of the cards so that both maps have north in the same direction (e.g., Set A, 12h-CVn for M94) and others with north inverted between the two maps (e.g., Set A, 12h-CVn for M106). What am I missing in the logic? Wouldn't it make more sense to have both maps oriented consistently on all cards? That way, as long as the left side is oriented to look like the sky, the right side would look like my finder (or be inverted, so long as it's consistent).

With the finder scope/Telrad circles, do you find that you start crowding the illustrations with too many extra circles? Or do you build "star hopping" chains of FOV circles to encompase most/all of the identified objects? Also, would it be more useful to put the Telrad circles on the left side of the card since you may not be able to see the target stars on the right without a lens/magnification? Are the wide-area maps the same scale from card to card?

Regards and clear skies.

Steve

[Blues]

Steve,

I only draw circles on the detail side to give me an idea what I will see in my finder. If you draw the circles with a fine pen it will not crowd out the detail in the chart. On some cards I only have one circle, on others there may be two or three.

The scale is a bit different on some of the cards so I use the tick marks on the border to determine the proper sized circle from the template.

Since I use a Telrad in conjuntion with a powered finder, I find that having the circles on the right side is the way to go. This way I can go from the Telrad to the powered finder (if necessary) to the eyepiece.