Are Wil Tirion's "Star Charts" any good for using with a telescope?

[Mountain_Wanderer]

Hi all,

I bought Wil Tirion's "Star Charts" a while back. They seem pretty nice, but now I'm about to buy a big 10 inch dobsonian and want to know if these star charts will be sufficient to help me navigate around the sky and generally provide a accurate account of the night sky?

These star charts seem to be in every astronomy store so I guess they're pretty popular?

[astroron]

Hi Jowel,Those Star Charts are designed to be used at the telescope. and will be a great help in you learning the sky.
Are they the White on Black ,in book form or loose :question:
If they are loose then get them Laminated so as to avoid damage due to Dew, also if you do laminate them put them back to back so as you save costs in laminating ;)
I am sure you will have many a full filling hour at the eyepiece with you Tirion Star Charts :)
Cheers:thumbsup:

[rainwatcher]

I had my Tirions laminated and I made up a plastic sheet with my Telrad, finder and other large eyepiece FoV circles on them. Mine are the standard black background. They seem to have been replaced by the computer lately and its ability to print out throw away viewing plans, but they are great for star hopping, great when viewing is difficult, ie cloudy nights as you can quickly replan based on opportunity. And they are also just a pleasure to look at. In my view a must in anyones library.

[barx1963]

I am assuming the ones you are talking about are these
http://www.bintel.com.au/Accessories/Books--Charts-and-Software/Star-Chart-Laminated---CD-ROM/655/productview.aspx
If so they are double sided and laminated. I relaminated them to reduce wear and tear as they can get a little tatty with lots of use.
I always have these handy. They have lots of DSOs and I think all the Messiers.
For a start they are OK but once you get better charts (Uranometria is my pick!) they are great for getting you in the ballpark. Fantastic for naked eye constellation observing also.

[rainwatcher]

I do not think these are the ones, not mine anyway. My set is 25 sheets each 47 x 35 cm.

[jjjnettie]

I love my Will Tirion star charts.
Another option is to keep them in page protectors in a folder along side
Eddie Trimachi's Moon Maps. :)

[barx1963]

The ones I noted are conveniently A4 sized. There are lots of different charts around and all seem to have Wil Tirions input!

[Mountain_Wanderer]

Yep these are the ones I have.

[barx1963]

Good work! If you are looking for something a bit better but don't want the expense of Uranometria, Sky Atlas 2000 is also a good get. But I love the Uranometria, easy to use, more DSO's than you can see in a lifetime, deadly accurate. Never leave home without it!

Malcolm

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: Jowell , these are the best ! , Ive had mine now for 15 years and I aint got thru 20 % of it .
Easy to read as well .
One thing tho :sadeyes: If you are going to use it out side , spend a little more $$$'s and get the laminated version . like mine as they will last a life time, and
Oh yea , they are also fun to read on cloudy wet nights . ;)
Brian.

[Mountain_Wanderer]

Good to hear everyone's comments!

The star charts come in hard copy form as well as everything on a CD. This is great because I've used the jpg files for each sheet and added things to them with photoshop, such as labels (eg the southern cross is not labelled), names for galaxies, some stars etc. Then I've printed a new version on photo paper at high quality and then put in plastic sheets in a folder.

good times.