Karkoschka's atlas for star hopping

Hi there, I wonder what star atlases those of you who star hop (and not use GOTO) use. I have been using E. Karkoschka's The Observer's Sky Atlas and I think it is the best combination of detail, size and usability. I find Tirion's atlas way too big to be ergonomic and also the detail is nowhere as good as Karkoschka's. The field laminated version is nice but not something you want to be holding in one hand while star hopping.

-Are there any other handy field atlases that you use?
-How many of you prefer to pre-plan and print out detailed sky charts from software? I find I am never that organized for that.


Clear Skies,
Ivan

I definitely prefer to print out the chart from the The Sky software. I can set filter for stars down to the magnitude I like, the DSO magnitude reachable through my 4-incher, mirror reversed for star hopping through the eyepiece.

Ron B[ee]

Ivan,

I for one love the software charts and here is why.

If I am looking for something hard to find, I print a mag 6 view to get myself oriented visually.

I then print a zoomed in view with mag 8 stars that I can use with the finder scope. This allows me to get very close to my target with the finder scope.

Then I will print a 3rd zoom level with mag 10 or so detail for the eyepiece. I can use very faint star patterns as signposts for starhopping.

I use the books in house but I would not trade the ability to print various mag stars and various zoom levels. Sometimes I may print only two levels if there are good star patterns for hopping.

It only takes a minute to print the maps, the fold up nicely in the pocket and if they get wet and trashed, who cares.

I have had real good success with the computer maps.

Daryl Crowley