Free sky atlases

[brendo (Brendan)]

Hi Guys,
I have been looking into sky atlases and have found a site that offers some quite detailed atlases for free:
http://www.deepskywatch.com/deepsky-atlas.html
I was wondering if anyone had used these and what their opinions were? I was just going to print it off at work and put it in on of those booklets with the plastic sleeves.
Thoughts?

[bojan]

I think the best approach is to custom-print the chart that covers the area that you intend to observe on a particular night.
CdC (freeware, http://sourceforge.net/projects/skychart/) is an excellent program from where you can print cusomised maps.

[Renato1 (Renato)]

I wish I was still at work so that I could print charts out in A3, and put them in A3 plastic display folders (and/or do the same in A4 if one has good eyesight at night).

The first atlas would be very good for a very big telescope, or as a reference, for when using a smaller atlas with a smaller telescope and, for example, you can't really tell which galaxy is which in the eyepiece.

Unfortunately, the second atlas - which would be great for an 8" telescope - only goes down to 58degrees south.

There are plenty of other downloadable atlases listed in the Beginner's sticky section to choose from.

However, while I have downloaded and printed the ultra comprehensive JR's Atlases, I still stick to my Sky Atlas 2000 for my 8" telescope and Herald Bobroff AstroAtlas for my 14.5", both of which I shrank to A4 size and put in plastic display folders.
Regards,
Renato

[brendo (Brendan)]

Thank you for the tip. This looks much more suited to the beginner I think

Originally Posted by bojan

I think the best approach is to custom-print the chart that covers the area that you intend to observe on a particular night.
CdC (freeware, http://sourceforge.net/projects/skychart/) is an excellent program from where you can print cusomised maps.

[brendo (Brendan)]

Thanks for pointing out the missing southern hemisphere... I hadn't noticed that at all - Beginners mistake.
I shall more thoroughly investigate the beginner's sticky.

Originally Posted by Renato1

I wish I was still at work so that I could print charts out in A3, and put them in A3 plastic display folders (and/or do the same in A4 if one has good eyesight at night).

The first atlas would be very good for a very big telescope, or as a reference, for when using a smaller atlas with a smaller telescope and, for example, you can't really tell which galaxy is which in the eyepiece.

Unfortunately, the second atlas - which would be great for an 8" telescope - only goes down to 58degrees south.

There are plenty of other downloadable atlases listed in the Beginner's sticky section to choose from.

However, while I have downloaded and printed the ultra comprehensive JR's Atlases, I still stick to my Sky Atlas 2000 for my 8" telescope and Herald Bobroff AstroAtlas for my 14.5", both of which I shrank to A4 size and put in plastic display folders.
Regards,
Renato