Many attempts have been made to photograph the entire sky. However, most atlases published to date were based on analogue film technology and consisted of a compilation of individual photographs. Today, digital photography and image processing technology have opened up completely new possibilities.
This innovative, in-depth atlasis the first to make use of this technology, showing the entire sky on 82 large-format sheets at a scale of 1° per cm. The atlas is based on 3,000 digital photographs of the sky taken by astrophotographer Axel Mellinger at various locations in the USA and South Africa, which he combined to form a single image of the entire starry sky. The associated computer calculations make it possible to display all atlas pages in a uniform scale and projection.
Each atlas page is accompanied by an inverted reproduction on which all deep sky objects are marked, in particular double stars, variable stars, open star clusters, galactic and planetary nebulae, globular clusters and galaxies. More than 1,500 deep sky objects and 2,500 stars can thus be found and identified on the maps.
The Photographic Star Atlas is a unique work for visual and photographic deep sky observers and is unrivalled in its detail and completeness.
