When the gift of a telescope got me started in astronomy, it took me very little time to realize I was lost amongst the stars.  I was fortunate enough to begin with a copy of Turn Left At Orion, a guide to worthwhile targets for small telescopes that doesn't require that you know stars and constellations.  As the brighter stars became familiar sights, a Rand McNally Star Finder was a nice complement to the book, allowing me to investigate how the constellations were arranged across the sky.  Mine shows stars down to 4th and 5th magnitude.

At some point I realized I was ready for a star atlas.  Finding all of the Messier objects would require a fairly good one.  Wil Tirion has had a hand in publishing a variety of popular atlases, including The Bright Star Atlas, The Cambridge Star Atlas, Uranometria 2000.0, and Sky Atlas 2000.0.

Just a side note: There was some discussion on the NOVAC listserv about the plural of atlas.  Atli or Atlases or Atles?  Someone found a reference to the plural of Atlas being Atlantes.  Atlas was the name of a Titan who was condemned to hold the sky on his shoulders for all eternity (the ancient Greek answer to why the sky doesn't fall).  Greek architects occasionally used sculpted male figures in place of columns for support, and the Latin plural of Atlas is Atlantes.  So you could say, "Look at those anatomically correct Atlantes holding up that entablature!"  Female figures used for the same purpose are caryatids, by the way.  However, if we're just talking about a collection of maps, www.dictionary.com indicates the plural is simply atlases.
Tirion's atlases are oriented for different levels of users.  Oriented for the beginner and "as a handy reference for the more advanced amateur," The Bright Star Atlas is a wide field atlas of 10 charts showing the 9,096 stars comprising the Yale Bright Star Catalog and including 600 deep sky objects.

Slightly more advanced is The Cambridge Star Atlas 2000.0, which has 20 charts with 9,500 stars down to magnitude 6.5 and 866 non-stellar objects.  The charts are arranged by month and have reference pages opposite each chart.
For the experienced amateur, Tirion, Barry Rappaport and George Lovi wrote/compiled Uranometria 2000.0, which displays 332,000 stars as faint as magnitude 9.5 on 259 charts, plus 10,300 deep sky objects.  Now you are getting into some serious detail!

Club member Bill Burton writes about Uranometria 2000.0: "For a number of years, Uranometria has been the gold standard for star atlases for those searching for faint deep-sky objects without the benefit of "goto" computer technology.  I only have Volume I, covering the Northern Hemisphere to a declination of -6 degrees, and have never used Volume II (Southern Hemisphere) or owned Volume III (The Deep-Sky Observer's Companion), although I have borrowed the latter from the NOVAC library.  Volume I begins with a 39-page introduction on the making of the atlas, followed by an outline of the whole history of star atlas-making, or uranography.

"Simply stated, if you're searching for deep-sky objects fainter than about 10th or 11th magnitude, Uranometria is a must.  To me, the greatest pleasure in deep-sky observing is in searching for and finding these faint objects through star-hopping--the thrill in punching coordinates into a computerized mount, pressing a button, and waiting for the whirring noise to stop before you step up to the eyepiece is lost on me--the object was not "earned."  If you're committed to the star-hopping approach, then you need a star atlas with stars at least as faint as those visible in your finder in a dark-sky location.  In order to center the target object precisely in the finder, where usually it's not directly visible, you need to hop across and position your finder crosshairs between some pretty faint stars, and only Uranometria provides those.

"To achieve this complete coverage each plate covers a pretty small area of sky, and therefore Uranometria is overkill if you just want to quickly snag some Messiers and brighter NGC's on an observing night.  The biggest complaint with Uranometria  is that successive plates don't go from left to right across the sky, but rather from right to left, so that two adjoining plates are never shown together in the correct orientation in the opened atlas.  This non-intuitive layout makes deep-sky hunting over an area larger than each plate more difficult; consequently the star-chart index to all of the plates is essential for efficient use of the atlas in a night's observing session.  So if a decent-sized telescope, faint deep-sky objects, and star-hopping are in your future, consider Uranometria  for your observing library."

Tirion also produced the Sky Atlas 2000.0 2nd Edition with Roger Sinnott, and it has 26 charts and includes about 2,700 deep sky objects amongst 81,312 stars to magnitude 8.5.  A good compromise, the Sky Atlas 2000 is one of the first "serious" sky atlases that a beginner will come across, and is the atlas that I purchased and use on a regular basis.  Purchasing it is not as easy as you might expect, however, as there are several editions for various uses.  If you have joined NOVAC's email listserv, you have probably witnessed more than one discussion about Sky Atlas 2000.  I will cover the pros and cons of the various editions (field and desk, laminated and unlaminated, etc) in Starting Out Right in the next newsletter.
Wil Tirion is not involved in every atlas project, and the classic Norton’s Star Atlas edited by Ian Ridpath is a very popular atlas now in its nineteenth edition.  It plots stars to 6th magnitude.  If you aren't delving deeply into the Virgo Cluster, Norton’s is supposedly a very well-done atlas for exploring the sky.

If you are really serious about your star maps, Uranometria  is not the most comprehensive collection of maps of the night sky.  The Millennium Star Atlas, produced by Michael Perryman and Roger Sinnott, Tirion's collaborator on the Sky Atlas 2000.0, has 1,548 charts showing tiny sections of the sky, with stars shown as dim as 11th magnitude.  That comes to about 120 times as many stars as Norton’s 2000.0, 13 times as many stars at the Sky Atlas 2000.0, and three times as many as Uranometria 2000.0!  1,058,332 stars to be exact.  Now that is a serious atlas!  The price tag is also serious, at about $250 for the nicely bound set of three volumes.

Pete Johnson, our venerable ex-President and current Trustee, says the following about The Millennium Star Atlas: "Volume I covers 0-8 hours (right ascension), with II and III covering 8-16 and 16-24 hours respectively.  They are outstanding in the detail and clarity.  All galaxies are represented in their true orientation, etc.  The only downside is that they are too nice to take into the field.  It's like taking three volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica out in the dew.  Yea, right.  But they are a definitive reference set."

Wandering around a NOVAC star party, you will notice that people aren't always using the atlases I've mentioned.  Below are some reviews of other atlases and star maps used by NOVAC club members.

Will Hopkins, a new NOVAC member, uses Astrocards.  He writes: "Having returned to astronomy after a 20-year hiatus, I quickly realized that my old Petersen's Guide was not optimized for use with my new Dob.  I intended to purchase a traditional star atlas, but followed a suggestion to try Astrocards.  I'm glad I did - these things are great.

"Astrocards are printed on 3x5" laminated stock and come in three sets: The Messier Objects, and two sets of deep sky objects.  Each card features a small reference chart and a detailed 12x9 degree chart showing guide star and objects.  Most cards highlight three objects, with other objects also shown (including galaxies down to magnitude 13.5).  I've found the cards to be accurate and very easy to use with an 8x50 RA finder.  The real beauty of the system is that you can take the cards right to the finder and eyepiece.  I sort the cards by constellation and NGC number, and cross-reference them to the Night Sky Observer's Guide.  Highlighting key objects in light green or blue helps in navigating under red light."

NOVAC member John Deriso writes about The Starlore Handbook - An Essential Guide to the Night Sky: "Not essential, and not a practical field guide because the too-small colored figures will obscure the star positions in dim light.  But, if you're into mythology and enjoy artists' renditions of constellations rather than just stick figures, this is a good cloudy-night reading.  All the major and minor constellations are covered.  It includes modern colored sketches, and a smattering of paintings from antiquity.  Worthwhile to have on your bookshelf, if you like interjecting a little storyline and mythology while you're impressing neophyte visitors with your skywatching.  Might make a shared observing session a little less clinical."

NOVAC member Steve Johnson uses a 1973 copy of Atlas of the Heavens by Antonin Becvar.  He describes it as 16 charts bound together in 13" by 16.5" format.  Each chart folds out to 23" by 16".  The accompanying catalog is a sturdily bound book, about 9" by 12", 360 pages.  Both have survived many dew-soakings, etc. very well.  The stars are shown down to magnitude 7.75 or so (32,571 stars), so they do not include the entire Henry Draper catalog.  The quantity of objects is plenty for me - most or all of the NGC, certainly most or all of the objects that I ever need to try to see with my 8" newtonian."
NOVAC member Michael Hubbard writes about the Herald-Bobroff Astroatlas: "After having a particularly frustrating time finding M1 one night, I decided it was time to buy star charts with sufficient detail to help me find things.  The feature that most interested me was its several sets of charts at different scales with increasing levels of detail and decreasing star and object magnitude.  There are six series of charts with limiting stellar magnitudes ranging from 4 to 14 and non-stellar magnitudes from 12 to 15.  The 94 charts of the "C" series, with stellar limiting magnitude of 9 and non-stellar magnitude of 14, is a good match for the stars visible through typical 7x50 binoculars and 8x50 finder scopes.  Stars and objects are printed in black on heavy, but not completely dew-proof, whire paper.  The cover is laminated to resist dew.  The size and weight of the atlas is large and heavy for one-handed reading."

Mike Mills provides this review: "Erich Karkoschka's Observer’s Sky Atlas is a very handy book to have in one's observing library.  It is a very good introductory tour guide to the 250 brightest deep sky showpieces, 250 binary stars, and 80 variable stars.  It is compact and slender, at only 130 pages, and its simple star charts are accurate and very easy to read.

"Karkoschka has divided the sky into 50 regions, approximately aligned with the major constellations.  Each sky region is described on two facing pages.  The odd-numbered page contains a large scale constellation finder chart and smaller scale finder charts for the notable deep sky objects in that region, while each even-numbered facing page contains descriptions and data for the interesting objects shown on the charts.  The constellation finder chart shows stars as faint as sixth magnitude, while the finder charts go down to ninth magnitude.  I have found that the charts make it easy to star-hop to any of the listed objects using a 7x50 finder scope.

"Facing each chart page is a listing of the interesting deep sky objects that are plotted on the charts.  Nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters are listed by NGC and Messier designations.  Also given for each object are its constellation, visual magnitude, surface brightness, size, shape, type, distance, celestial coordinates, and a brief description of how it appears in a small telescope.  Bright stars are listed with their magnitudes (visual, color, and absolute), common names, approximate distance, and celestial coordinates.  Binary stars are listed with magnitudes, separations, and phase angle.  Some binaries also have miniature charts showing their orbital orientations through 2020.  Finally, a few variable stars are listed with brief descriptions.  One very handy feature included with each object description is a finder icon: a small rectangular box with a dot placed in it that indicates where to find the object on the opposite chart page.

"The front section of the book introduces and describes many important astronomical concepts, like celestial coordinates, sidereal time, and magnitudes.  Its last 12 pages make up an appendix that is full of useful information, including a calendar of astronomical events through 2018.

"Although it is not as complete as Uranometria or The Deep Sky Observer’s Guide, The Observer’s Sky Atlas contains an impressive amount of information.  All 110 Messier objects are listed as well as 140 other notable deep sky objects.  Most importantly, it is extremely easy to use.  It is small enough to hold with one hand while standing at the eyepiece, yet the charts are detailed enough to easily find each object in a 6 or 8 inch instrument.  Highly recommended, particularly for beginners."

Next time you are out observing, take a walk around the site to see what other members are bending over and peering at (without startling them!).  Take some time to shop before you buy, whether you are looking for something to complement what you have or if you are looking for a more advanced observing aid.  Many thanks to the members who contributed atlas comments and reviews for this article!