Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas Jumbo Edition

I love the print version of this atlas, but not the Kindle edition. The scan resolution is poor. The navigation is underwhelming. When you look at a map, there are arrows in the margin to indicate the adjoining map. How hard would it have been to make those arrows "active" so that you would be transported to that map? Colour me disappointed!

I an new to Astronomy and have been studying every chance I get. I bought this atlas to help me find objects to view. Considering my limited knowledge of Astronomy and what books are out there, this atlas is going to be a valuable tool for me.

Carefully note the compatible devices before buying the Kindle edition; I purchased it on my Android phone and when I later tried to download it to my Kindle touch, I found it is only compatible with the Kindle Fire.

Useless on kindle!

Why? You cannot enlarge the charts!
Users are stuck with charts that size approximately 1"x3".
That makes this THE most wasted kindle book in history.
Incredible. How can I get my money back?

Ripped off,
Andrew

NOTE: I **do** own a Kindle Fire HDX 7" and this download DOES NOT WORK -
C'mon the store and S&T mag. Stopping ripping people off with this.
Useless!

I have the spiral version of this atlas and have found it to be quite handy. I looked forward to having it available on my iPad as well. The description says that it will work with the iPad. Wrong. It does not. I've attempted to get some customer support for this issue. So far no luck. Stick with the spiral version.

Cant get to load on my iPad. However I really bought it to use on the non back lit kindle standard but it is not listed as an option. Since most of us want to preserve our dark eye adaptation it would make sense for Sky and Telescope to make this available for users of the non back lit devices.

I have since returned the kindle atlas and am looking forward to my refund unfortunately.

If they release this for the normal Kindle then I will probably purchase again. But until then.....

The Kindle version just sucks. They just took low resolution jpegs from the originals and made a Kindle book. The problem being that when you try to enlarge on a tablet instead of nice clean view you get a out of focus or smuggy view. Also being on a tablet it will kill your night vision as it is black stars on a white back ground. You will be better off with the printed version and a red LED light. I asked for a refund and just bought the printed version. The spiral printed version is excellent, buy it instead of the Kindle App. You will be happy that you did.

Great for travel. Exceptional value for the price. More pages than most, and organization is much different, but it does show page numbers for adjacent fields. If size and weight are not a concern, there are several that are easier to use.

Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas The e-mail from Sky & Telescope showed the app on the base model Kindle. Immediately I thought COOL! I went to the Kindle store and ordered not expecting to have to read the small drop down list of compatable models - it showed it on standard kindle, right?. It downloaded to my Archive folder where I attempted start the app.
A dialog box opens saying "not compatible with this device". Calling the store support got me a person on the line that would only say the canned responses instead of listening to what the customer was asking or saying. Finally I got her to check on what Kindles the app would run on, not my Kindle Touch.
So... I am unhappy with the way it was advertised and with how the store support was in communicating with.

I have the printed version of this standard reference, and thought that having it on my iPad third generation would be a good addition. Unfortunately, while it will work on my much lower definition screen Kindle Fire, with repeated attempts to download it for my much higher definition iPad, it won't load and as such is....USELESS. Buy this one in print, ONLY!

I gave this book one star because the size of the charts are smaller than a playing card. Totally useless under any circumstance. Not sure so wrote the other reviews but there is no way this guide was used be anyone with any field experience. I own a Kindle Fire HD 8.9 which should replicate the size of the original charts. I do own the spiral bound copy.

This item is advertised also at the S&T website with a reference to other platforms being able to be downloaded to read the digital edition. So I downloaded the Kindle for PC and after purchase I get a message it is not compatible with my device.
This was my first Kindle experience and my last as this is a big disappointment. It would have been usable with the cloud reader but that is nonsense as this is a star atlas for use in the field. And in many cases there is no internet in the field.
Its just a well as I was thinking of a multi hundred dollar Kindle purchase and won't be wasting my money now by taking any other chances. I'll get the Spiral edition from another source. Sorry I can't review the content but hear it is very good.

Despite having the newest iPad, latest iOS, and the most recent update to the Kindle reader program, I have yet to be able to open this book. The Kindle app keeps telling me it requires an update to view this content. An update that apparently isn't available as yet....

Obviously the paper version of the Pocket Sky Atlas is a great tool based on the many good reviews here. The problem is on the Kindle version there is no night mode...it would have been nice to know before purchasing. The star charts are displayed as an image with a brilliant white background. Not good if you are thinking of using this under the stars.

The charts are very complete, but quite confusing to an amateur star gazer like myself. I should have paid more attention to other reviews that stated the same problem. I think one has to be a PhD or Astronomer to understand the charts.

I have been meaning to ask the store to remove this book from my Kindle/IPad and reverse the charge. You will get nothing out of this book unless you are a very serious astronomer with advanced academic training. It's unreadable by the general public.

The last thing I needed was another atlas. I have several---including all the popular and expensive ones! I also have the basic and inexpensive. I have finder chart books and finder chart cards. I have field guides and beautiful presentation atlases. I have lots of software too---planetarium modeling software and charting software. Did I need this new pocket atlas? No! But I must confess that I enjoy maps and charts so this was a necessary addition to my collection. Keep that in mind: I have a built-in liking for charts so it would take a lot for me not to like a chart book!

First impression. I like the size, the feel of the paper---though not laminated it should be durable---and the design which allows the book to lay flat. Why aren't all atlases spriral bound?! I like the look of the charts---very familiar as it's pretty much a chopped up copy of my Sky Atlas 2000---

Now it gets dicey. The publishers say in the forward that they didn't want pages too small to be useful. I think they missed. In my opinion, the areas covered are annoyingly small. Had a lunar atlas format been followed---i.e., show me a large area divided into perhaps 8 charts, with the overview giving some detail, great. This is is missing. Or at least lacking. There are overview pages but they are not particularly useful unless you know exactly what you are are looking at. And I suppose that is the heart of the matter. If you know where M51 is but need to refine your position a bit by checking a reference, this pocket guide will help you--it certainly is not lacking in detail for a small atlas. But if you are trying to find M51, even with the right chart opened before you, you may have difficulty placing that piece of sky in relationship to what you see over your head.

OK. So what's better? For a pocket guide, I greatly prefer "Objects in the Heavens" by Peter Birren. His pocket guide is far more logically designed and contains much, much more information. I personally have purchased many of Peter's guides and given them as gifts to budding astronomers and each time they just seemed to know what to do with his book. I doubt that will be the experience I have when I give away the extra copy of this pocket guide.

Will I keep mine? Sure. I can make use of it. Do I recommend it? Only if you're a collector of atlases...Try Objects in the Heavens instead.

CoffeeMan

I purchased this book based on all the positive reviews. I thought it would be good for a beginner stargazer like me. This book is very confusing. Page after page of dots connected. I'm not sure where to look in the sky, what the constellations are, when to look. Help!! Maybe when I get better at finding constellations I will appreciate this book more, but in the meantime it has me puzzled.

It's a beautiful spiral bound book. that's the 3 stars. It is not for amateurs. I don't know what i'm looking at. I went by the reviews that mentioned amateurs alike would benefit from this book. Once I found my latitude, the month the numbered stars were meaniningless to me . You must be more of an advanced star gazer to appreciate this book. I'm donating it to the library.

Ah yes, another terrible the store "look inside now" page. The book is an Atlas, i.e. it is mostly comprised of loads of MAPS of the skies. But there isn't a single map in the "look inside" pages to sample and hence compare to their competitors' atlas products, many of which are also very well done, before deciding which to buy!! It's hardly very little consolation to receive the registration page and some bibliography, blank and index pages instead of at least one sample map!! It would be one thing if this is the first time I had encountered this problem. But I keep encountering it over and over on all manner of products I am considering buying on the store. Why don't they just write the truth, "here's a few garbage pages from the book to look at so you can pretend we are telling you something useful about the product and "looking inside" without our actually allowing you t do so." What a contemptuous attitude to take towards one's potential customers!! Needless to add, they aren't going to sell one to me after all!!

There are two small atlases I consider to be absolutely indispensable. Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas is one of them. The charts in this atlas were well chosen. Each covers just the right amount of sky to give both a good perspective of the area you are looking at, and enough detail for star hopping with binoculars or finder scope, (stars are shown down to magnitude 7.6). Stick figures highlight the constellations to provide an easy and intuitive reference for what part of the sky the chart covers. An all sky view key of the charts is provided at the back of the book so that charts are easily located. The charts are well organized and very easy to navigate.

The charts are printed in color and are works of art in their own right. Not only is the atlas useful in the field, but it is a pleasure to browse through anytime.

The construction of the atlas is also very well done. It is spiral bound so that the charts open flat, making them easy to view. The charts are printed on good quality paper that looks as though it will stand up well even on nights when dew is challenging your ability to view.

Although it may seem like a small thing, a nice feature of the Atlas is a scale on the front cover from which one can construct a set of circles based on the field of view of each instrument you observe with. There is even a template showing the circles of a Telrad finder. It would have been even better if a clear plastic template with field of view circles had already been included, but it was easy enough to create my own set of circles.

Overall, this is an outstanding atlas for taking into the field, and I would certainly recommend it. As I said, I consider it to be indispensable; however, unlike others, I do not consider it to be the only quality pocket atlas out there. Another outstanding atlas is The Observer's Sky Atlas by E. Karkoschka. It is a nice compliment to Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas. I like the Pocket Sky Atlas for its big broad views of the sky and it's stunning charts. I like the Observer's Sky Atlas because it has some additional detail (see my review of that book) not available in the Pocket Sky Atlas. Both are ideal as field atlases, and I keep them both very close at hand when I've observing.

I hope you're not in a position where you can only buy one. Choosing between the two would be difficult. As I said, I keep both with me when I'm observing. But if you do have to choose, I would suggest the following. If you want the nicest looking atlas, go with the Pocket Sky Atlas. If you want a bit more detail and you don't mind giving up the glossy color pages and spiral binding, go with the Observers's Sky Atlas. But honestly, you really can't go wrong with either one.

waste of money. looks good. but, the information is non-existent. how far away is the star? not given. is it a double star system? not given. what class of star is it? not given. and, this is no pocket book product. it does not fit in a car glove compartment, even if rolled up and rubber banded it would not fit. it does look good. the name of the starts are the only data (oh, and its location), which is in every astronomy book written. But, it does look good. tried to use it as a "lambert" star chart in a traveller rpg session. problem, another pocket sized astronomy book had to be given with this great visual book- why? for information about the star. buy something more informative.

If you are new to astronomy and maybe have a pair of binoculars or a low-powered telescope, or even just your eyes, and want to learn the constellations, then your best bet is really to download Stellarium and get yourself a handheld planisphere for carrying around. You will have enough on your plate to start learning the constellations and some of the nearer objects. As your hobby grows and time goes by you will probably notice that against the background (and sometimes foreground) of the stars of the constellations you are looking at are other stars that look interesting but you don't know much about them. This is where a sky atlas comes in and it is an essential if you want to move beyond learning the constellations.

This isn't the place to plug another book but I feel one should get a mention quickly (in return I will plug this book there). "The Stars: A New Way to See Them" by H. A. Rey really does take constellation exploration to a whole new level and then some more. I thought that a planisphere would be more than enough but that book by Rey, although it looks like a cartoon book for kids, is the kind of material that Hubble would probably open beside him for warm up. If you are looking for the next step after the constellations then that is the book you want first... and then a proper sky atlas. Both books compliment each other a lot. Rey teaches you constellation navigation. The atlas gives you the details.

So if you are looking for a sky atlas then the probability is that you have a scope (eyes are not enough to see the magnification detail beyond 1 to 4, such as 5, 6, 7 + that these maps offer) have some degree of experience with the constellations and want to learn more about everything else you are seeing through your scope. You have qualified yourself in need of a sky atlas. The next question is not if you need a sky atlas or not (you do) but what type of sky atlas is for you and ultimately this depends on the power of your scope and what you want to do. Now here I find myself plugging another book but I think it safe to say I can return the favor when I review that product and in the end a dedicated astronomer is going to own all of these. The Sky Atlas 2000.0, 2nd Deluxe Unlaminated Version by Wil Tirion is twice the price of this and is much bigger and more detailed. There is a laminated version that is more expensive yet again put perfect for lots of outdoor use. Anyway the point is that this maybe the sky atlas that you want especially if you have a bigger scope. At the same time many astronomers just like to sit outside with a medium sized spiral-bound book and explore the stars with their low to mid range scope. If this is you then this is probably the book you want and it is a very nice star map indeed.

First of all it is a spiral-bound star atlas. You can lay it flat on the table beside you. Not a lot of star maps can claim that. However it is not so much of a pocket book but rather a thin but regular sized book. Don't expect this to fit in your jacket pocket. You will be carrying it like a regular book but it's thin, very thin. The design, weight and size are very strong points that this book has to offer. In fact many large scope owners may get this book for its ease of portability and skinniness.

These are black stars on a white background that many astronomers recommend as better to look at under red light (and you will need a red light with this book to make full use of it). Other objects are identified by greens, blues, reds and yellows. The index tells you what these are. The layout is medium difficultly to navigate (it isn't easy and you will spend time on it, but that is the nature of this field and is not the fault of the book) and like a good map you can follow where you need to go and with more experiences get faster doing it.

You can't really fault this map in terms of what it brings to your night gazing diversion. It truly opens up the skies to you in a way that you can hardly predict if you have never owned a star atlas before. The index is comprehensive, there is a constellation chart divided into pages for easy reference and there are several ways to navigate the stars from coordinates to star hopping by shape and dispersal to a combination of all the above. The constellation borders are present as well as grids. If there is any star map you should get then really this could be that one.

I say `could be' because I have some reserves. A larger star map maybe what you really wanted instead. Sometimes the detail in this map overwhelms its size. Working on the big dipper is nice because the number of stars can be handled, however turn to Vega and Cygnus which is on the Milky Way and the stars amounts jump by a factor of 10. Suddenly you go from shapes you can easily remember to pages where there are almost more black dots than white spaces. It actually looks like a blow down instead of a blow up. The overkill of stars is challenging and quite simply a bigger map would help make more sense of what you are seeing. Yet again it just requires more work on your part to figure them out. It is not impossible, but things get cramped.

Another issue is that not all the constellations will fit on the one page. Draco for example spans a few pages and so requires page flipping and the way the book is made doesn't mean that the next page follows on directly from the last although there are arrows indicating which page to turn if you go in that direction. While these do work sometimes you will have to go back and forth to the index to complete some constellations. There are no reduced maps for the larger constellations. So be prepared for some constellations to span more than one page.

Star visibility/illumination takes some getting used to. H. A. Rey's book, although cartoons, prepares you for illumination issues much better. You may see a sector you want to examine, count 4 to 5 visible stars among 10 possible ones and yet only see 2 (again depending on visibility and quality of scope) or maybe much more than you expected.

Sometimes the dot size between what you can see and won't see is so close that you won't know until you look. From time to time this simply throws you off... sometimes a way off to the point that you don't even know if you are looking at the right sector or not. What does this mean? Is the sky atlas bad? No, far from it, this book is clearly a cut above what most pocket sky maps offer, you just might not be prepared to put the work in that this book demands of you. Casual star gazing is one thing. Using an atlas can quickly turn this leisurely pursuit into work.

Many readers come away only having looked at two or three sectors in the space of an hour. The good news is the sky is not going anywhere. The bad news is that we only live so long. I think if you are willing to move at a slow pace then you can enjoy this atlas adventure a lot more.

The IAU website uses a very similar set of maps that you can look through to see if it is a map design you would like to work with but the maps in this book are of much better quality. Still you get the overall idea. So about this book, what is the verdict? This is a 5 star experience regardless of quirks. We are talking about condensing into 80 charts, over 30,000 stars and 1500 deep sky objects. Sometimes you win them and sometimes you loose them. You can debate whether this is a problem of the book or a problem of viewing conditions/equipment but you can't debate that there isn't much competition out there for something this size and price and that is where it wins, hands down. It's an economy star atlas with lots of perks and a super design but is no replacement for a full star atlas. Still if you are a binocular user and looking to experience more then get this at all costs. Your astronomy will improve tenfold due to it.

Pros:
- So much in so little space
- Spiral-bound and designed to lay flat
- Low cost
- Guaranteed to improve your hobby tenfold
- Black stars on white

Cons:
- Some charts get overwhelming because of their content
- A basic moon map wouldn't have been too much to ask for
- You will work hard even on the easier sectors
- Some constellations span more than one page

This is not the first small-format 7th magnitude atlas to appear on the market. But it is the first that is actually usable. The creators have somehow managed to fit in a compact, affordable package an atlas which includes over 30,000 stars down to magnitude 7.6 with very little crowding or cramping. To achieve the compromise, the charts number 80, arranged in 8 gores (strips of sky from pole to pole), each one covering 3 hours of right ascension, the charts within ordered from north to south. This arrangement works well, as maps of the same season are in the same section. I would have wished the gores to be arranged in order of descending right ascension rather than ascending, but this is a matter of general principle; in this atlas it has hardly any practical effects.

The atlas is superbly useful in the field. It goes considerably beyond the traditional 6th magnitude atlas, revealing three times as many stars, making better use of 6x30 and larger finder scopes, and enabling the user to find bright asteroids and the planet Neptune. The colors used in the charts are not a problem under a red flashlight. Even the stick figures which depict the constellations are drawn so that they are readily distinguishable from the coordinate lines and do not interfere.

It contains a feature overlooked in too many small atlases. At the edges of each chart are the numbers of adjoining charts. Just go out into the field with an atlas that doesn't have them, and you'll understand immediately why they are important.

There are detailed charts of the Pleiades, LMC, Orion's sword, and the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. This last one probably should have been oriented vertically (portrait instead of landscape). At the expense of a couple galaxies on the western fringes, the chart would reach 6 or 7 degrees declination farther south--just about down to the star Porrima--to include quite a lot more galaxies, including M61.

It is small enough to pack alongside a pair of binoculars or in a car's glove compartment. The spiral binding is a useful touch. It allows the atlas to lie open flat without paperweights and also makes it easy to fold back and hold it in one hand. The pages are sturdy and dew resistant. The cover, however, should be tougher.

In places the charts seem a bit busy; this is due not to the scale, which is only slightly smaller than that of the Sky Atlas 2000.0, but to the occasionally lavish labelling. For example, what is the point of adding "Bode's Nebulae" to M81 and M82?

With such small pages, the area covered by each chart is limited. But the designers have managed the resulting problems well. The charts contain enough overlap that when an area of interest falls on the seam between two charts, one of them is likely to include the area in its entirety. The layout of adjacent charts on two-page spreads also helps.

To be sure, the Pocket has imperfections, but many of them are a compromise between competing considerations, and they are handled as well as in any small atlas on the market.

As a space saver, the compilers have omitted the lists of interesting objects. No problem, just buy a separate observer's guide and write out a list of your targets before going out for the evening.

For advanced observers, the Pocket is a great companion to Uranometria or the Millennium, use the Pocket for quick, hassle-free finds of ordinary objects and the big atlas for ferreting out the real challenges.

Users of binoculars and small telescopes have long faced a selection of 5th to 6th magnitude star atlases which show under 10,000 stars and range in quality from OK to poor. There is now no need to worry about the choice. Just get the Pocket.

This is for the sky and telescope pocket sky atlas...
First, you should be aware that almost if not every single 1 star review on this product is because the ipad/ipod type portable app didn't work. While I'm not discounting their frustration, these two items should be separate on the store. The spiral bound book is a five star item as the reviews reflect. The pages are smooth and water resistant (pretty much waterproof) coated. The size is extremely portable but big enough to be very useful. The charts are smaller chunks of the sky than your typical full size book, but that is to be expected.
It is laid out so that as you turn the pages you go from the top of the celestial sphere to the middle. In essence, it is like you took a globe of the celestial sphere and chopped it horizontally into sections like a tiered wedding cake. Each page shows the next larger chunk of sky sphere slice. This way it is easy to find something on one page and if you need to see a little beyond the item you can turn to the next or previous page depending on the orientation and see a portion of the previous page and the majority is the next slice of sky.
It feels very durable. I've carried it in my backpack and used it in heavy dew conditions. So far it still looks pretty much new. The binding allows a fully open position so the page you're on can be fully flipped all the way around the book and behind it to lie flat or it can lie flat open with two pages.
The sky charts are simply beautiful will tirion-esque art. Simple, clean and informative. I highly recommend this book as a portable guide and all around star chart/atlas.

This atlas is thoughtfully laid out for use at the telescope in the field. The paper is a heavy dull-white stock that does not show reflection under a red light. Because the book is spiral bound, the pages lay flat freeing up your hands. No more trying to find a heavy object to keep the pages from turning.

Inside the front cover you will find printed a sample double page chart layout with a legend. Also printed is an angular distance scale and a Telrad bull's eye. I made a clear transparency copy of this page using an 8 ½" x 11"sheet of overhead projector film by running it through a copy machine. I cut out the angular scale and then I cut the Telrad bull's eye in a long rectangle about 1" x 3" leaving the bull's eye at one end and using the other end as a handle to move the finder around the map. I put these in a small envelope and tucked it inside the atlas.

The contents page lists the best months to view the objects by R.A. range during evening, midnight and mourning and on which chart to find them. Towards the end of the atlas, there are four close-up charts of some of the most observed regions of the sky. The index is broken down by star name, galaxies, open and globular clusters, bright, dark and planetary nebulae. The Caldwell and Messier catalogs are listed separately. The back cover has the chart key for both north and south hemispheres. There are 80 main charts containing 30,796 stars to magnitude 7.6.

The introduction explains in easy to understand detail how the charts are labeled and arranged. The same chart legend appears on the first page of each chart as well as the R.A. range and best time and month for viewing. All the charts are printed in color on a white background for easy reading under a red light. A location guide to constellations and what the Greek star letters mean is also included.

Each page has the same basic layout as any good star atlas. The lines for the R.A and Declination are clearly marked. You will notice that a small blue triangle with a number inside is located on three sides of each page. These triangles point to the adjoining charts that make up more of that part of the sky. The number in the triangle indicate which chart.

There are two printing errors in the atlas on page 55 and on the close-up Chart C. You can download the printable corrected color pages from the Sky and Telescope website.

You can the cut and paste the corrected pages directly over the page in the book. I used spray adhesive.

Bottom line, this is a very compact and easy to use atlas you'll ever come across. It is very user friendly and a must have to "grab and go" with your favorite telescope or binoculars.

Book reviewed by Jack Fox, Richmond Astronomical Society

This is a superb atlas for use in the field. It's portable, shows enough stars to resemble closely what one would see in the finder scope and is easy to use once one gets familiar with how it's laid out. It's also quite durable, mine has been dew soaked and even had water poured on it (from pooled dew on an eyepiece case lid) and the atlas shows no harm or damage. One note: DO NOT BUY THIS IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN INTRODUCTION TO STARGAZING. That's not the book's intent...it's a map, not a field guide. The only thing that kept me from giving it a 5 star rating is that it would have been nice if they'd included a clear acetate page with FOV circles that flips out of the cover and could overlay the pages. I've made some, but they always seem to get lost. It would also have been nice if the showpiece double stars had some way of differentiating from the other doubles listed. Idea for the publishers...how about a double star atlas in the same size format? :-)
CAH

I am an active amateur astronomer with several star atlases. I bought this atlas almost a year ago, and I have ended up using it more than any of my other atlases. The format is compact and convenient, it points out the major sky features very well (even providing outlines of larger nebulae), and is a great complement to a medium- to small-sized telescope. I even find this atlas makes interesting bed-time reading, helping familiarize myself with the locations of objects that I haven't commonly observed in the past, like carbon stars (cool, deep-red stars that are particularly beautiful in a low-power star field). The atlas is quite sturdy and has held up well. My only quibble is that in the edition that I have, there are a few small areas (roughly a half-inch in diameter) on a few of the maps that are blanked out, as if a small piece of scrap paper were in the way during printing. I believe this error may affect many or most copies of the first edition, but I am not certain about that.

Things I like:
Spiral bound (can be opened flat for one or two page viewing)
Paper is sturdy & semi-glossy (dew resistant)
Convenient size (not too small or big)
Very good/clear charts (lots of detail)
Layout is easy to use (sky sections & order make sense)
Color coded details (easier to quickly identify what each item is)
Most items are labeled (M, NGC, IC, etc)
Index is very handy/complete (gives page #(s) for cataloged items)
Inexpensive

Things I didn't like:
Smaller size means flipping pages a lot
Although better than most, paper still suffers when dew is heavy
In crowded parts of the sky, labeling is hard to discern

Conclusion:
This Atlas is a tie for my favorite. I compare it to my S & T Sky Atlas 2000 (laminated). What it lacks in detail, it more than makes up for in portability. If S & T would make a laminated version of this (hint-hint) it would be a best seller.

In my Observational Astronomy class we used this book during observational nights. My copy is well LOVED. It has a detailed break down on the viewable stars in the night sky using a finder scope or binoculars. The legend is easy to use and the book is well organized. If you couple the use of this book with the "star hop" method for finding deep sky objects or things of interest in the night sky, you have a very powerful way to find stars.

This is a wonderful little star atlas. Very useful for doing the Astronomical league's Messier Club. In the back of the book (last page, very easy to find) is the messier list with the page number of the item.

In the front of the book are other lists.

It's very portable but at the cost of small pages and constellations often run off the page. The pages do have a decent amount of overlap which helps when star-hopping.

The one thing I wish it had and was why I gave it four stars instead of five, I wish the pages were somehow coated so that dew wouldn't make the pages soggy. The pages are tougher than standard paper, but not dew proof.

For many years I was in search of a detailed deep sky atlas that fit on my lap, was easy to read, and concentrated on a single constellation for every page. This atlas has come closest to fitting that description!

This atlas has an excellent amount of detail. It centers most of the constellations nicely, so there is minimal cutoff and hardly any need to flip between pages to see the rest of the constellation you are interested in. The symbols follow almost the same format as the Tirion charts. Some companies offer this in a chemically treated version, making the pages more resistant to moisture. I found the pages heavy stock adaquate enough to handle dew quite well without any chemical treatment. The sprial binding allows you to keep the atlas folded in half, so it sits on your lap nicely. No more running back to the table to read the atlas, then back to the EP. You can stay put!

Highly recommended!

First of all, thanks to Sky & Telescope team for this book. I've been reading reviews for different atlases for almost a week before I bought it. But full of doubts. The reason? The price! Mmm... those 14 bucks sounds like it would not be a telescope class atlas.

Anyway, I was looking for portability. And I mean portability, not pocket size or all-in-4-folders stuff. So, I purchase it and start waiting.

And then it comes.

First, I love the nice colours and publishing quality. Even the smell... But is not a mere fact of aesthetically confort, so I grab it and go for a star party and open the package just under the stars.

Well, not bad at all. I found almost everything just using the telrad-like add in the front cover and making some visits to the last pages. In a word: "perfecto" for those 14 dollars!

But human nature is to be always asking for more, so I missed some features:

- An small table or resume about globular clusters and galaxies at the beginning of each "RA block". I'm not talking about a full in depth list, but maybe some (up to 10th magnitude list, for instance)

- Better or harder cover. It is too fragile!

- A small list of typical meteor radiant position (might be a one page list)

Anyway, is a 5 stars choice.

I wasn't sure what this atlas would be like. I mean, how many stars could you pack into a "pocket atlas". The answer - a lot. This atlas, in fact, does a very good job at putting most of the important stars and deep sky objects found in the 2000 sky atlas. The thing that impressed me the most, however, was the layout and organization of the book. After struggling for years with trying to find the right page or chart to see a particular portion of the sky, this atlas makes that job easy. It's opened up an whole world of casual sky browsing. Of all the atlases and guides I own (about 10), I like this the most.

I've been an amateur astronomer for over 50 years and have owned just about every star atlas published. The Sky & Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas is by far the best general star atlas I've ever used. It is a convenient compact size, yet the charts are quite large in size. It is very well laid out, with page breaks adjusted to keep constellations together. Most important, the type is larger and more legible than in any other atlas, important when you are trying to read it under a dim red light. It contains enough stars for easy starhopping, and most of the deep sky objects any amateur is likely to look for. It's one of the few atlases to include constellation figures. Finally, the price is extremely reasonable. Highly recommended!

I met this atlas in a star party that was conducted by the Israeli astronomocal association in the desert.I was delighed to use it:it has a very accurate star charts with many objects that are not mentioned in many other atlases like "the snake nebula" - i did'nt know it is even exist without this atlas!.the atlas is very friendly and is sutible for the novice astronomy amateur and for the advanced one.it contains objects for small aperture telescopes and for large ones as well.it is in A5 size and is very convenient to carry to the field.a very convenient atlas "to the eyes": the constellations lines are colored in green,the milky way in blue and deep sky objects are in:red,yellow,and green.It is highly recommanded product by me!

As a professional astronomer, I have been surfing plenty of sky atlases, ranging from very simple to heavy and complete ones. This book is just great for those observing the heavens with thier own binoculars or telescope, as everything is in your hands, requiring just a little space. The choice to divide the whole sky in RA is a good one, as you have the season maps close each other. You have stars down to magnitude 7.5 and the maps are really accurate and a joy to look at. The milky way is reproduced with two different colours, accounting for the different star densities. You can quickly skip to any other map, thanks to the general index and indications given on each page.

Plenty of double and variable stars, as well as deep sky wonders complete this book, which is going to stay w

very close to my portable telescopes by now.

Features I like:

+ Highly detailed & labeled however not over-detailed.
+ Spiral bound is very handy.
+ Made of good quality paper.
+ Small (like medium notebook) and light weight - great for backyard observations. You don't sprain your hand when you carry it.
+ Great bargain for small price!
+ Good Index including Messier objects.
+ Detailed maps of pleaids, Virgo clusters etc.

Features I like less:

- Its size is also a disadvantge: divided to many charts that sometimes makes you confused. Can be difficult to navigate if you don't have a basic knowledge of sky.
- The spiral bound might cause pages to deteriorate in time.
- Lack of monthly maps that show the sky and the constelations change.

In a nutshell: Great bargain for the price. Very handy for observations. Best for the average stargazer.

As a relative beginner to Amateur Astronomy I was a bit hesitant regarding the complexity of this small atlas. However I wanted something comprehensive yet small enough to carry to an observing site. I found the atlas not only truly comprehensive but also relatively easy to use (once I read the directions). A great portable atlas of the night sky and highly recommended.

Emilio J. Vazquez, MD

I bought this atlas after seeing it referenced in several articles and reviews. As a manual Dobs telescope user, I depend on star-hopping. The one-hand format of the atlas, and the easy navigation to the correct map, make it very useful when one is looking at the chart, then the eyepiece, then the chart, etc homing in on the faint fuzzy target.

Since getting this last fall, I've only pulled my SA2K atlas out once!!!

For hunting down Messier Objects and brighter NGC's this is PERFECT! Great layout, great scale, and you can't beat the price or portability. Small enough to keep in your backpack, purse, bag, briefcase, whatever - never be afraid to go stargazing on your next trip.

Roger has written a very useful book, both for it's size as well as it's content. The atlas provides a comprehensive positional summary of interesting objects in the sky. I highly recommend this book as an excellent starting point that will get you where you are going in the night skies!

Francis J. O'Reilly

I absolutely love this Sky Atlas! It is by far one of the best astronomical purchases I have made. Naturally after using it for a little bit, you start to memorize which part of the sky is on which page and it becomes even easier to use. Very easy to use under red light and it even displays the Greek Alphabet letters associated with each star (ex. Beta Orionis). Even if you have no observing equipment yet, this will help you learn the sky better than any of those huge books. It's so small you can just turn the book to orient the page with the position of the constellation your looking at. From a fairly seasoned Observer, I highly recommend it!

Finally!! A PERFECT atlas for amateurs with small or medium sized scopes (up to 8"), binoculars, or naked eye. Sky and Telescope has really outdone themselves with this one. It looks like they have really taken all of the comments about SkyAtlas 2000.0 into heart when designing. Constellation lines, good scale, telrad finder circles, very good index, etc. Pages are nice and heavy and take pencil and erasing really well.

Don't be intimitated by the fact that there are 80 charts. The layout makes sense, and it won't be long before you memorize your favorite constellations.

GET THIS!!!

I do visual variable star measurements and after dealing with the complexity of my sky chart software and the overly simple two other atlases that I have this fits the bill perfectly. It shows magnitude to 7.6. It you still enjoy looking at a star chart rather than messing with a go-to scope you might want to give this atlas a try. I think particularly it is well-suited for advanced amateurs too who are looking for the lesser-known deep-sky objects.

I can't get over how useful this atlas really is. Even though I use a GOTO telescope I still use it for my observing sessions. Our club members bought a pile of them a few years back, which led me to develop a monthly "Pocket Sky Atlas Challenge" for users. You can find the Pocket Sky Atlas Challenges, starting with September, here:
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I now have two, one for the observatory and one next to my computer.

Well done Sky and Telescope!

I work at an observatory and use sky atlases and surveys of all sorts. As a hobbyist I have a collection of various atlases in my field bag. The Pocket Sky Atlas is now the most used atlas I own. Its depth of detail is perfect for medium sized (6-12") telescopes and good for smaller telescopes and binoculars as well. The choice of symbols and colors make this an easy chart to read in red light. It conveniently fits in a small pack or glove box for the observer on the go.

Many reviews have already extolled the virtues of this atlas: the wonderful look and feel (in the tradition of Becvar and Tirion's Cambridge atlas), the convenient size (take it on field trips or read it in bed), the spiral binding that allows it to lie flat, the hard thinking that has obviously gone into the layout. Constellation figures, tick. Clear constellation names, tick. Extensive inclusion of star names, plus locations of some nearby stars that didn't make the magnitude cutoff, tick.

Some reviews have called it your ultimate reference, but because of its one downside, this it cannot be. I purchased it to be something midway between Tirion's Star Atlas 2000.0 (1st ed. to mag 6.5, yes I know it's old now...) and the 3 volume Millenium Star Atlas (too heavy for anywhere but the desk). But despite covering more stars with a higher zoom than Tirion's atlas, it uses less star labels.

Take Leo Minor for example, hardly a constellation where congestion would be a problem. Tirion's map is about 50% smaller, yet I had to copy the following Flamsteed numbers from Tirion into Sinnott's: 7, 9, 13, 22-24, 27, 32-35, 38, 40, 43-44, 48, 50. It seems like more are omitted than included, and the fact that I was able to pencil them in means that there was plenty of space for the publishers to be a bit more generous. In the southern hemisphere, e Eri/82 G. Eri is a large, nameless dot (an important star, one of the closest to the Sun). This was extremely disappointing, and I considered rating it only 3 stars (after all, these labels are one of the primary reasons to buy an atlas), but the other positives pursuaded me, at length, to award it 4 . . . just.

To finish on a positive note, they did print Rho Aql correctly: it recently slipped into Delphinus, and now has to be printed with its constellation name as well as its Greek designation. Good one.

Richard @ [...]

I downloaded a sample to see what the charts looked like on my devices. The last page of the sample is before the first chart,so I still don't know. There are many negative reviews on the Kindle version, so I will not purchase unless I can see a couple of charts. The spiral bound book, by the way, is excellent.

This is a good field guide at the telescope. I like the layout and the information contained within it. Spiral bound is a plus, allowing you to lay it flat and not loose pages after a few weeks. However, I know it's a pocket book but its not! It's a little to big to be a pocket book and to small for easy identification of stellar targets. The size is just wrong! Bigger and it would be awesome, smaller and it would be very handy, as it is I use an old 1970s Patrick Moore book that is pocket size.

Loaded on Kindle but was not full screen and was hard to see charts. When I tried to load on IPhone 5 and IPad 2 it would not download using Kindle App. Talked to Kindle people for 30 minutes with no luck. They told me it would be worked on and will be calling me back in 24 to 48 hours.

Needed a way to identify stars seen during night watches on our sailboat in the Caribbean. This book is perfect for that. Love the "sky-strip" organization, that makes it usable at all hours of the night and in every season. Also, the green lines connecting the familiar constellations make it easy to understand the reasons for some of the names, eg Gemini and Ursa Major. An excellent useful book.

Having been a been avid amateur astronomer for the last 50 years (1966), and one who still uses charts to star hop in locating deep sky objects. I looked forward to receiving the "jumbo" edition of the "Pocket Star Altas" based on the "Sky Atlas 2000" charts. I imagined this would be using the format of the improved "2nd edition" that "binned" the star sizes every 1/2 magnitude for 18 different sizes on the chart, making it appear much like the sky you will be looking at. NO! It inexcusably bins the star sizes by whole magnitude into only 8 sizes. This is a throw back to the awful 1981 1st edition of the Sky Atlas 2000, that even if you could excuse it's over 600 labeling errors, was useless in trying to use a finder scope with. A whole magnitude is a BIG difference in how a star appears, a half magnitude representation is about all you can get away with on any chart for it to be useful in tracking down an object. If I had known this before hand I would not have wasted my money!
For a better deal just get yourself a full size "Desk Edition" "2nd Edition Sky Atlas 2000.0". Don't waste your money on this until they correct the star sizes in some future 2nd edition.

S&K's new Pocket Sky Atlas is the triumphal culmination of years of research and thoughtful formatting work. Quite simply, it represents the easiest to use "at the scope" guide yet available. I highly recommend this work for the neophyte star gazer, as well as the most seasoned amateur astronomer.

I tried to load this on three different versions of the Kindle application:

iPad
Windows 7
Windows 8 (on a Samsung Slate and a laptop)

Not supported on all three. Assume it works on a Kindle device.

Refund was easy, but took a little looking around on the the store site to figure it how to return a digital order.

It wasn't what I expected. I pretty much wanted a book for dummies on the sky for my fiance's xmas present of a telescope. It's a beautiful book and it has introductions at the front with great illustrations, and if we were to get hardcore into sky charts and all that numbery jazz, I'm sure we'll be glad to have it. But in the meantime, we'll have to have someone help us out with it.

This rating should probably be closer to a 4 however I just can't get over the misleading description "Pocket" Sky Atlas. Over all it is what you would expect from a sky atlas. Decent easy to read maps, affordable price. However if you want a true "pocket" sky atlas to take in the field that will fit in your pocket, I would suggest looking elsewhere.

I bought this for my husband at Christmas because we like to stargaze (casually) and wanted something with basic instruction. This book is for somebody who is serious about astronomy - not a casual binocular stargazer.