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(More customer reviews)In 1987 and 1988, the two-volume 9.5 magnitude Uranometria became the first star atlas to go deep. It included thousands of deep-sky objects for owners of the large scopes that were coming onto the market. But the first edition had a flaw that made it a nightmare to use.
Imagine opening a road atlas to a two-page spread of, say, the State of Montana and finding the eastern and western halves reversed. In place of one state, you have two disjointed halves.
Ridiculous, you say?
Of course. But, believe it or not, that's the way the first edition presented its two-page chart spreads.
How could any cartographer be so colossally stupid? It comes from following tradition without thinking for oneself. All previous star atlases had ordered their charts in ascending right ascension, presumably so the user would move forward through the book as the sky rotated. But what does this mean for users? With north at the top of the chart, users reach the right edge of a chart, have to stifle the instinct to continue right to the next page, force themselves to reverse direction, and turn--of all places--to the previous page instead. Many users unconsciously learned to live with the inconvenience and even got used to it.
The compilers of Uranometria, like everyone before them, applied this tradition to their new atlas, which had charts on both sides of the page. It wasn't until their atlas reached the field that the magnitude of their blunder became apparent. Users definitely did not appreciate the reversed two-page spreads.
The compilers of the Millennium Star Atlas took note of the fiasco and brought out the first atlas sequenced in order of descending right ascension. Besides correcting the page-spread reversal, it made page flipping intuitive: from the right edge of a chart rightward to the next page and from the left edge leftward to the previous page.
When the second edition of Uranometria came out in 2001, the compilers were wise enough to correct the fault; the Second Edition of Uranometria also sequences charts in descending right ascension. Uranometria is, finally, a practical work for advanced astronomers with large telescopes.
Uranometria vs the Millennium? The paperback Millennium shows over four times as many stars to magnitude 11, but some reviewers remark that it shows fewer objects. Whether true or not, the added precision of Millennium is certainly an asset, especially considering the small difference in price: Millennium is listed at $150 and available for as low as $116 plus shipping to Uranometria's $100. Will Uranometria answer with a softcover edition?
Whether you choose the Millennium or the second edition of Uranometria, you will not go wrong. The first edition? Don't even take it as a gift.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Uranometria 2000.0, Vol. 2: The Southern Hemisphere to Plus 6 Degrees
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