To each his own, I get pleasure out of looking up and seeing familiar shapes. I rarely use a planisphere as I learned with HA Rey, and drew those shapes into my star charts.
What is really needed is a planisphere or planetarium program that shows them as HA Rey does, they are much easier to remember than stick figures. Personally, I'm more interested in seeing (and photographing) amazing
objects in space than I am in memorizing constellations. If we lived in another part of the galaxy I'd still be interested in examining the same classes of objects but the constellations would be far different. Do beings on every inhabited planet have to bother memorizing the designs just because their ancestors did?
--- On Mon, 2/28/11, erikhansen@thebluezone.net <erikhansen@thebluezone.net> wrote:
From: erikhansen@thebluezone.net <erikhansen@thebluezone.net> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] End of the Planisphere? To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Monday, February 28, 2011, 10:19 AM
Planispheres require no 3g or 4g coverage or WiFi, mine only works when the compass is activated (requiring 3g or WiFi). Does anyone else think T-mobile's claim of "nationwide 4g" false advertising? If you are going to remote locations smart phones are of little benefit and they will adversely affect your night vision, the small screens need to be well backlighted. Planispheres will remain useful as a teaching tool, they require no monthly subscription or gigabytes of memory.
The best way to learn the sky is get a dobson and find objects without goto or electronic devices. These devices have increased the number of people engaged in astronomy but have not seemed to increased learning the constellations.
BTW, Sky&Telescope has a new AP "SkyWeek".
Ah yes, I've seen that one and had it on my list to get but it somehow
fell off. I'll have to take a look. I think my S&T one was dual sided as well, but I may be thinking of another.
Yes I do use red light but usually my adjustable one. Getting the angle of the light right is most important though. But now that my vision is getting worse a white background may be the better way to go; I'll have to give it a shot.
Thank, Craig
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Kim Hyatt Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 9:56 PM To: 'Utah Astronomy' Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] End of the Planisphere?
I still insist that the David Chandler planisphere is the best, for a number of reasons. While not unique to Chandler's, the white background and dark text make reading the small print easier for me than on those planispheres that use a dark background with light text. (Craig, maybe your red light, or whatever other colored light you use at night is just too bright.) But the best part of Chandler's planisphere is the reverse side that depicts objects in the southern sky without the distortion of planispheres that do not have this feature. Finally, a word in favor of all planispheres: I've never had one break when I've dropped it.
Kim
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Craig Smith Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 9:29 PM To: 'Utah Astronomy' Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] End of the Planisphere?
Computerized devices will certainly replace paper/plastic for most people. I like the ease of use of a planisphere but there are things I don't like: - Too small and too distorted. I tried the large David Levy one but it doesn't store easily in anything, and the white background ruins night vision (more than a computer screen I think). - Most have glare and are difficult to read unless you get the light just right. My eyes are getting worse which doesn't help.
My current favorite is the Sky and Telescope one. It's also just a bit large though; I haven't tried Orion's, but I've tried several others and have been very disappointed.
For years I've wanted to make a tablet-style computerized planisphere. The farthest I got was to create something in Excel. The main reasons I like them are: - The entire real estate of the device can be used to display just what you want, so you get a much larger image and it's not as distorted. - You can adjust what it displays. You also get planets. - You can adjust the magnitudes of what it displays to better match what you're looking at.
I've tried a couple phone versions and they are just too small. To me the iPad or another tablet PC is perfect. Screen contrast continues to improve, especially with LEDs, so that should help night vision issue. Some programs are better than others in this area as well.
Craig
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Jay Eads Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 12:06 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] End of the Planisphere?
I'm kinda of on an astronomy kick since the weather continues not to be good for visual observing. So I just got done reading an article that talks of learning the constellations and the article got me thinking. I learned the constellations with a planisphere and from time to time I will still use one. However, in the article the author talks how he had a group of novice astronomy students out and each had a copy of the Edmund's Scientific Planisphere. Some also had SkySafari, StarMap and Distant Suns on their cell phones and they found the constellations and objects far quicker than those using the planisphere. Thus the author came to the conclusion that cell phones and apps are probably on the verge of replacing the planisphere as the tool used for finding constellations and other deep sky objects, especially for the younger generation. One of my observing friends is in his 20's and he uses Distant Suns in the field all the time. So the question I ask is do you use a traditional planisphere (and I could say atlas since some of these aps go down quite deep) or are you still an old book, atlas, planisphere type of guy? It also leads to an interesting thought which is what will be the tools of the amateur astronomer say in 20 or 30 years?
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