Introduction

The aim of the Deep Sky Surfing Atlas is to provide high-quality detailed maps of the sky showing all deep sky objects that can be viewed in binoculars and small- to medium-sized telescopes.

The atlas constains 270 maps, each showing a region of the sky about 15 degrees square in area. Each map is accompanied by a table describing the objects visible in the map.

The atlas shows:

• stars down to about magnitude 9.0
• globular clusters down to magnitude 11.0
• open clusters down to magnitude 11.0
• galaxies down to magnitude 11.0
• diffuse and planetary nebulas down to magnitude 11.0
• a dozen or so of the most well-known dark nebulas
• a few well-known asterisms
• all deep sky objects on the Messier, Caldwell, R.A.S.C., Saguaro and Orion lists (see below), including those fainter than magnitude 11.0

The atlas is produced in PDF format. The images are very large, in order to produce good quality when printed. Consequently, they may look a bit ragged when first viewed in Acrobat Reader, since they have been scaled down to fit in the window. Zooming in by 300% will give a better idea of how they will look when printed.

Organization of the atlas

The 270 maps in the atlas are divided into groups according to declination. There are naturally more maps in the groups corresponding to middle latitudes, since more real estate needs to be covered.

The following table shows the breakdown:

Around each map is a border which contains the numbers of the maps that continue the view in the corresponding directions.

The Maps

For ease of downloading, the maps are grouped into sets of eight:

Maps 001 to 008   Maps 073 to 080   Maps 145 to 152   Maps 217 to 224   
Maps 009 to 016   Maps 081 to 088   Maps 153 to 160   Maps 225 to 232   
Maps 017 to 024   Maps 089 to 096   Maps 161 to 168   Maps 233 to 240   
Maps 025 to 032   Maps 097 to 104   Maps 169 to 176   Maps 241 to 248   
Maps 033 to 040   Maps 105 to 112   Maps 177 to 184   Maps 249 to 256   
Maps 041 to 048   Maps 113 to 120   Maps 185 to 192   Maps 257 to 264   
Maps 049 to 056   Maps 121 to 128   Maps 193 to 200   Maps 265 to 271   
Maps 057 to 064   Maps 129 to 136   Maps 201 to 208   
Maps 065 to 072   Maps 137 to 144   Maps 209 to 216   

Map Legend

Here are the symbols used to represent the various types of deep sky objects:

Symbol	Abbr	Type
	GC	globular clusters
	OC	open cluster
	GAL	galaxies
	DN	diffuse nebulas
	PN	planetary nebulas
	AST	asterism
	DRK	dark nebulas

Data Table

Each map is accompanied by a table showing information about each deep sky object. The information is displayed in two lines; the second line is omitted if there is nothing to display. The columns are:

First Line

Second Line

Dreyer Descriptions

The deep sky objects in the NGC catalog are described using a shorthand notation developed by the catalog's editor, Johann Dreyer. This notation combines abbreviations that indicate the object's brightness, size, shape, impressiveness and various other characteristics.

The complete list:

Examples:

Index of Maps by Constellation

Sources of Data

Nearly all of the data used to generate the maps and tables are publicly availabe on the Internet. The main sources are as follows:

Stars

The star data comes from the full version of the HYG database, prepared by David Nash. This database contains data on 87476 stars down to magnitude 9.0, and is available at: http://www.astronexus.com/general/data/hyg.php

Constellation boundaries

The constellation boundary data came from NASA. Amusingly, some of it needed to be corrected (e.g. the boundary of Cepheus near the north pole).

Deep sky objects

The data for the deep sky objects comes from the database prepared by the Saguaro Astronomy Club of Phoenix, AZ. This impressive work contains information on over 10,000 deep sky objects. It's available at: http://www.saguaroastro.org/content/downloads.htm

Messier catalog

The Messier catalog is the most well-known catalog of deep sky objects, and contains most of the brightest objects visible from the northern hemisphere. It was created by the comet hunter Charles Messier in the late 1700's. Ironically, he prepared the catalog in order to avoid mistaking deep sky objects for comets. There are many, many sources for Messier catalog data; the following site includes photographs of each: http://www.seds.org/messier/. These objects are shown in the "M" column of the atlas tables.

Caldwell catalog

Patrick Moore developed the Caldwell catalog for amateur astronomers to advance beyond the relatively easy objects in the Messier catalog. These objects are shown in the "C" column of the atlas tables. The list can be found at: http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/similar/caldwell.html

R.A.S.C. catalog

Alan Dyer of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada has published a list of 110 "Finest N.G.C. Objects" beyond the Messier list. The list can be found at: http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/similar/rasc-ngc.html. These objects are shown in the "R" column of the atlas tables.

Saguaro catalog

A. J. Crayon and Steve Coe of the Saguaro Astronomy Club, Phoenix, AZ, have compiled a list of 110 "Best Objects in the N.G.C." beyond the Messier list. The list can be found at: http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/similar/sac110bn.html. These objects are identified in the "S" column of the atlas tables.

Orion catalog

Orion Telescopes and Binoculars publishes a DeepMap&tm; folding star chart showing the location of roughly 600 deep sky objects. Ray Cash's web site lists 537 of these objects: http://pages.sbcglobal.net/raycash/dmcon.htm. These objects are flagged in the "O" column of the atlas tables.

Dark nebulas

Only a very few dark nebula are displayed.

Binocular objects

Deep sky objects are flagged as viewable through binoculars if they appear in any of the following lists:

• The Astronomical League list of binocular Messier objects (easier and tougher objects) http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/binomess/binomesb.html
• The Astronomical League list of additional non-Messier binocular objects http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/dsbinoc/dsbnlist.html
• The Astronomical League list of souther skies binocular objects http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/sskybino/ssbinoc2.html
• Benjamin Crowell's BinoSky list at http://www.lightandmatter.com/binosky/binosky.html
• The Kingsville Astronomical Society novice and advanced binocular observing programs at http://www.geocities.com/kingsville_astronomical_society/dstsbinonovi.pdf and http://www.geocities.com/kingsville_astronomical_society/dstsbinoadv.pdf
• The BCAS deep sky binocular list at http://www.geocities.com/bcastronomy/Deep_Sky_Binocular_List.html

Constellation Figures

The green lines showing traditional constellation figures were added by the author, after consulting several standard star atlases.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the efforts of the following people and organizations for developing and publishing the data sets used in building the atlas:

A. J. Crayon, Steve Coe and the Saguaro Astronomy Club of Phoenix, AZ: deep sky database, and Best of the NGC list

David Nash: HYG database of stars

Alan Dyer and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada: Finest NGC Objects list