Page 20 - BBC Sky at Night Beginners Guide to Astronomy - 2017 UK

STAR

CHARTS
BOOKS ETC...

NORTON’S STAR ATLAS AND
REFERENCE
HANDBOOKK ONCE YOU’VE MASTERED THE IDEA OF
by Ian
Ridpath STAR CO-ORDINATES, THESE MAPS OF
(Dutton)
THE NIGHT SKY ARE INVALUABLE

THE CAMBRIDGE STAR ATLAS
by Wil Tirion oonon Maps are among my favourite things. They let One thing that has not changed in our modern
(Cambridge gee me know what can be found where and whether it scientifi cally accurate charts is how the brighter
University is of interest to me. Of course, there are maps of stars are shown by the biggest dots. All stars are,
Press)
differing scales, providing more or less detail, and of course, the same-sized single points of light
I’ll choose the map I need for the task at hand. in the real night sky, but it is impossible to show
I may just want to know what part of America their brightness any other way on a printed page.
Minneapolis is in… or I may need to check which Our brains do seem to cope with this ‘fudge’ quite
oak tree to turn right at, in order to fi nd the hedge nicely. In fact, it’s something you may never have
THE STARS: A NEW WAY to follow to get to some megalithic standing stones. thought about.
TO SEE THEM Once at the stones, if I look closely, they may The other thing to consider is the projection:
by Hans
Augusto Rey reveal some astronomical event or depiction of the when a three-dimensional sky dome is fl attened
(Houghton heavens carved or painted by some ancient people! and warped down onto a piece of paper. Take a
Miffl in) Cave paintings dating back over 10,000 years in the look at one of the fi nest star charty-things around
south of France and some of the petroglyphs (rock – a planisphere – and you’ll see what I mean. In
art) in the deserts of America could be considered an effort to squash the sky fl at, the constellations
our earliest forms of star maps. are stretched out around the edge and look very
How far we’ve come since then. Today’s star different from the real sky. This is also a problem
SOFTWARE maps, found in astronomical books, are plotted by with all-sky monthly charts found in astronomy
computer from data collected by spacecraft. We’ll magazines. Again, this is something most of us can
look at these in more detail shortly. cope with, but for beginners it can initially seem
quite odd when the real constellations look different
CHART-BUSTING from the printed ones. Nonetheless, a planisphere
Don’t dismiss old charts and maps as they contain is a bit of kit that you’ll always fi nd useful.
a wealth of fascinating historical information. They But there’s more to atlases than just star
STARRY NIGHT feature forgotten constellations or those that have positions and brightness – although they are, of
Simulation Curriculum Corp. changed their names, as well as grand artwork and course, vitally important if you’re trying to learn
www.starrynight.com
indications of the society’s culture at the time. the sky. With symbols that don’t detract from the

_ ` a b ¡ c d e f g h +
Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon Zeta Eta Theta Iota Kappa Lamda Mu
STELLARIUM
Freeware IT’S ALL GREEK TO US
www.stellarium.org
Who was the fi rst person to map the sky? Why do constellations have a
Latin possessive? Time to learn your Alpha, Beta, Gamma
The idea of understanding the sky a giant multi-volume work, The 150 AD. Well over a thousand
was in evidence during Greek Almagest (also known as The years later this ‘book’ found its
times. Most of the information Great Syntaxis Of Astronomy), way to Italy and was translated
we have about their thinking and by the mathematician and into Latin, which is why we have
constellation designs comes from astronomer Ptolemy around Latin names for the constellations.
20 skyatnightmagazine.com 2012