The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project

What is it?

This project is my attempt to produce a free, downloadable set of high-quality star charts -- the Mag-7 Star Atlas -- capable of being printed at reasonable resolutions on the average home printer.

The Mag-7 Star Atlas plots stars down to Magnitude 7.25, with double / multiple stars indicated by a thin horizontal bar. Plotted DSO's (Deep Sky Objects) include all objects on the Messier list, the RASC's finest NGC list, and the Herschell 400 list --- more than 550 DSO's in total.

I hope the Mag-7 Star Atlas will be useful for beginners who can put the printed charts in a binder to serve as their first star atlas. I think more experienced observers will find it useful as well: as a naked-eye or binocular atlas, for marking out a nights observing plan and/or to make notes on in the field and file with your observing reports and drawings.

North of declination +65

RA 0h to 4h, Dec +65 to +20

RA 4h to 8h, Dec +65 to +20

RA 8h to 12h, Dec +65 to +20

RA 12h to 16h, Dec +65 to +20

RA 16h to 20h, Dec +65 to +20

RA 20h to 0h, Dec +65 to +20

RA 0h to 4h, Dec +20 to -20

RA 4h to 8h, Dec +20 to -20

RA 8h to 12h, Dec +20 to -20

RA 12h to 16h, Dec +20 to -20
RA 11.5h to 13.5h, Dec +20 to 0

RA 16h to 20h, Dec +20 to -20

RA 20h to 0h, Dec +20 to -20

RA 0h to 4h, Dec -20 to -65

RA 4h to 8h, Dec -20 to -65

RA 8h to 12h, Dec -20 to -65

RA 12h to 16h, Dec -20 to -65

RA 16h to 20h, Dec -20 to -65

RA 20h to 0h, Dec -20 to -65

South of declination -65

But Free? Really?

Yes. And not just free of charge -- you have other freedoms as well. This work is licenced under a Creative Commons License. Basically you are free to download, use, and or distribute this work for non-commercial purposes with appropriate attribution. You can create and distribute derived works if they follow the same licence.

If you are the administrator of an online astronomy group/forum, please consider hosting copies of the charts on your site for members. Even better, consider publically hosting or mirroring these charts.

Alternate Public Hosts and Mirrors:

The Czech Astronomical Society is graciously providing a mirror site for this project. Many thanks to Karel Mokry and the Czech Astronomical Society for providing this service!
The Cloudy Nights online astronomical community and equipment review site have now made the charts available on their website. Cloudy Nights is perhaps the largest online astronomical community, filled with nice people and plenty of information. Many thanks to Allister St. Claire and Cloudy Nights!

The Mag-7 Star Atlas

There are 20 primary charts and one supplemental chart (11a for the Virgo Coma Berenices region) comprising the complete Mag-7 Star Atlas. Based on early feedback, I've made two versions available: a black on white version for use in the field (where red light may interfere with different color schemes), and a version with DSO's, constellation lines and boundaries, and gridlines highlighted in different colors. Different colors help to visually break up the charts making for a more relaxed viewing experience (whether viewing on-screen or printing in color for a "desktop" version). Apart from color, the two versions are identical. Enjoy.