Star Charts and Deep Sky Data for Small Scopes

While I own and enjoy using a 200 mm Dobsonian Telescope, I find myself turning more and more often to my 102 mm refractor or my 130 mm Dobsonian. Small telescopes can be lifted more easily, set up in the yard more quickly, and more easily moved to alternate viewing places in a yard full of shade trees. My Mag 7 Star Atlas is almost perfect for use with the big Dob, but it provides too much data for small scopes. With 17 full-paged charts and 17 double-columned pages of text, it is intended for use by experienced and enthusiastic astronomers using larger instruments.

The small scope user is best served by a monthly all-sky chart with appropriate data -- perhaps showing deep sky objects down to about mag 8. I've always recommended The Evening Sky Map from skymaps.com, and I still like it. But I recently discovered that Orion Telescopes also publishes a Monthly Star Chart that is even better. Unfortunately the Orion star chart is not accompanied by any information about the objects on the map. That's a problem I could fix!

I had worked up all that basic information (and more) as part of my Observing Notes for the Mag 7 Star Atlas, so all I had to do was pull out everything necessary, condense it down to 4 pages of double-columned text, and create a single pdf file that you can download and print. That way, you'll have all the data you'll need for a full year and all the information for those charts.

So here it is -- (click on the image of the small scope to open the PDF file of data for the Monthly Charts)

Some comments and caveats:

• You'll see that I have not included the sky maps themselves.  I recommend that you go to the Orion website and download charts for January, March, May, July, September, and November. The stars rotate across the sky slowly enough from month to month that six charts are sufficient. Start here.
• Note that you can print individual monthly charts by editing the web address of the printer-friendly chart for January 2024. Change 01 in the address to 03 for March, or to 05 for May, etc. I assume that after 2024 you will also need to edit the year. Here is the address to edit:

https://www.telescope.com/assets/pdf/starcharts/2024-01-starchart_bw.pdf 

• Because the Orion chart has so much information, you may need a magnifying glass to read it.
• I have included links to the best amateur astrophotographs of the various double stars and deep sky objects in the data lists. Instead of buying a nice Dwarf2 or SeeStar50 to take automated images, you can just enjoy those already made by others. 

Astronomy is a hobby that depends on optical assistance and plenty of equipment. You are already bringing out your scope, an assortment of eyepieces, a table for the scope, a chair, star maps, a red light . . . and  now you may need a magnifying glass, too! At least the magnifying glass and charts are the lightest of the bunch.