The Meal
19-July-2004, 03:53 PM
Hello to the denizens my favorite Astronomy forum!
Last autumn I picked up HA Rey's The Stars: A New Way to See Them, which had renewed my interest in the skies (that had developed one brisk winter evening 23 years ago, when I was aged in the single digits and my mother's evening Astronomy lab involved her bringing me along for a stunning view of Saturn). In the intervening 9 months, I've utilized the internet for suggestions and advice.
I've been reading various sites. I've picked up a few books (http://www.universetoday.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=424&hl=sky%20atlas&st=0), including both Nightwatch and Turn Left at Orion (and the wife has been informed that Dickensen's The Backyard Astronomy Guide should be next in order, and I'm currently resisting Star Ware -- but for how long?).
As far as equipment goes, I've got myself a nice set of Eagle Optics (rebadged Celestron) 10x50 binoculars, just recently mounted on a tripod (huge difference! Probably gets me another 2 magnitudes of viewing), and our eleven-year old daughter's biological father sent her a Bushnell 60mm (700 mm focal length with 20mm and 5mm eyepieces) refractor on a way-too-shakey aluminum tripod (the 20mm eyepiece is about the only one that gives decent views of anything other than the moon -- too much jitter).
The binos get most of the heavy use, especially with the new tripod.
A typical night of viewing thus far has be using the "charts" in Nightwatch, along with the recommendations in "Turn Left..." and the suggestions found on the pdfs available from www.skymaps.com to identify the fun things in the sky to turn our attention too. I managed to pull my wife outside to check out the colors of Albeiro the other night. :)
But it's clear to me that I need another level of refinement with regards to navigating the skies. HA Rey does a great job with the constellations for my gross navigation, and the charts in Nightwatch are pretty decent for getting me around *in* the constellations, but I'm ready for some heavy lifting.
After doing my research, I came up with Tirion's Sky Atlas 2000.0 2nd Ed. Deluxe version as being *my* preferred star chart. I'm a sucker for maps in general and the beauty of this colored version is stunning. I could spend many daylight hours (and more than a few of the rare cloudy nights here in Colorado) lost in that chart. Fortunately the local Borders has the unlaminated version in stock (for $18 more than Amazon would ship it to me), so I know exactly what it looks like. But I bucked up for the $120 laminated version from Amazon, which should arrive here by next weekend.
So to (finally!) get to the (A)crux of my question -- are there any other UniverseTodayers out there who've used the laminated black-on-white version of this atlas (either the Desk version or the Deluxe version -- the Field version is white on black) in the field? Is the reflection from the red-light off the lamination too bothersome for use? Does the lamination affect colored copying of page sections? Will I be able to dry-erase-marker the constellation lines in on the pages (or use some other removable medium)? Are there other issues with this version? I can refuse delivery from Amazon if it comes to that. Unfortunately, after seeing the non-laminated version in person from the local bookshop, I'm convinced that it probably won't hold up well under wear (due to paper quality).
For those of you who haven't found this post too long to begin with, here (http://www.gonegold.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=035780) is another thread on this topic that I generated over on another website (when I was deciding on which chart to use in the first place).
Thanks again for the suggestions, help, advice, and reassurances.
~The Meal
ACK! I forgot to mention my long-term plans. I do intend to pick up an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain down the road with thoughts of doing some Astrophotography, but I wouldn't be surprised if I took an intermediate step of a 6" Dobsonian in the next few months, depending on our daughter's level of interest. The Sky Atlas is needed, no matter what.
Last autumn I picked up HA Rey's The Stars: A New Way to See Them, which had renewed my interest in the skies (that had developed one brisk winter evening 23 years ago, when I was aged in the single digits and my mother's evening Astronomy lab involved her bringing me along for a stunning view of Saturn). In the intervening 9 months, I've utilized the internet for suggestions and advice.
I've been reading various sites. I've picked up a few books (http://www.universetoday.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=424&hl=sky%20atlas&st=0), including both Nightwatch and Turn Left at Orion (and the wife has been informed that Dickensen's The Backyard Astronomy Guide should be next in order, and I'm currently resisting Star Ware -- but for how long?).
As far as equipment goes, I've got myself a nice set of Eagle Optics (rebadged Celestron) 10x50 binoculars, just recently mounted on a tripod (huge difference! Probably gets me another 2 magnitudes of viewing), and our eleven-year old daughter's biological father sent her a Bushnell 60mm (700 mm focal length with 20mm and 5mm eyepieces) refractor on a way-too-shakey aluminum tripod (the 20mm eyepiece is about the only one that gives decent views of anything other than the moon -- too much jitter).
The binos get most of the heavy use, especially with the new tripod.
A typical night of viewing thus far has be using the "charts" in Nightwatch, along with the recommendations in "Turn Left..." and the suggestions found on the pdfs available from www.skymaps.com to identify the fun things in the sky to turn our attention too. I managed to pull my wife outside to check out the colors of Albeiro the other night. :)
But it's clear to me that I need another level of refinement with regards to navigating the skies. HA Rey does a great job with the constellations for my gross navigation, and the charts in Nightwatch are pretty decent for getting me around *in* the constellations, but I'm ready for some heavy lifting.
After doing my research, I came up with Tirion's Sky Atlas 2000.0 2nd Ed. Deluxe version as being *my* preferred star chart. I'm a sucker for maps in general and the beauty of this colored version is stunning. I could spend many daylight hours (and more than a few of the rare cloudy nights here in Colorado) lost in that chart. Fortunately the local Borders has the unlaminated version in stock (for $18 more than Amazon would ship it to me), so I know exactly what it looks like. But I bucked up for the $120 laminated version from Amazon, which should arrive here by next weekend.
So to (finally!) get to the (A)crux of my question -- are there any other UniverseTodayers out there who've used the laminated black-on-white version of this atlas (either the Desk version or the Deluxe version -- the Field version is white on black) in the field? Is the reflection from the red-light off the lamination too bothersome for use? Does the lamination affect colored copying of page sections? Will I be able to dry-erase-marker the constellation lines in on the pages (or use some other removable medium)? Are there other issues with this version? I can refuse delivery from Amazon if it comes to that. Unfortunately, after seeing the non-laminated version in person from the local bookshop, I'm convinced that it probably won't hold up well under wear (due to paper quality).
For those of you who haven't found this post too long to begin with, here (http://www.gonegold.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=035780) is another thread on this topic that I generated over on another website (when I was deciding on which chart to use in the first place).
Thanks again for the suggestions, help, advice, and reassurances.
~The Meal
ACK! I forgot to mention my long-term plans. I do intend to pick up an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain down the road with thoughts of doing some Astrophotography, but I wouldn't be surprised if I took an intermediate step of a 6" Dobsonian in the next few months, depending on our daughter's level of interest. The Sky Atlas is needed, no matter what.