Norton’s Star Atlas – a brief
history
Norton’s Star Atlas first appeared in 1910 and rapidly established
itself as a standard reference work for amateur and
professional astronomers alike. One reason for its success was
the convenient arrangement of the charts into vertical slices,
technically known as gores, each covering one-fifth of the sky.
In addition, the charts depicted all but the faintest stars
visible to the naked eye under good conditions.
The charts were drawn by Arthur Philip
Norton (1876–1955), a British amateur astronomer and
schoolmaster, after whom the Atlas was named. (For a biography
of Norton, click here.) Over the succeeding years the Atlas went
through numerous editions, in the course of which Norton redrew
the charts twice, in 1933 and 1943, each time extending the
magnitude limit and incorporating other improvements. During
this time the reference handbook section, which was mostly
contributed by others under the guidance of the book’s
publisher, grew to become as valuable as the Atlas itself.
Norton’s final version of the charts
remained in print long after his death in 1955. I was appointed
editor for the 18th edition, published in 1989, by which time Norton’s had
come to look seriously dated.
The 18th edition of Norton’s marked a
major departure in the book’s history. For the first time
it contained nothing by Arthur Norton himself, although his
name and legacy lived on.
The charts were completely replotted by
Bartholomew’s in Edinburgh using the latest edition of
the Bright Star Catalogue and its Supplement, the standard compendium
of naked-eye stars produced by Yale University Observatory.
In parallel with this, the text was
extensively rewritten and reorganized, while attempting to
retain the book’s essential character with its emphasis
on reference information and practical observing advice. The
19th edition, which followed in 1998, saw the move to
computerized typesetting of the text.
For the 20th edition, which first appeared
in 2003, publication of this quintessentially British Atlas
moved to New York, although the editor and contributors
remained in the UK. Its pages were spectacularly redesigned and
the charts redrawn by award-winning designer Charles Nix and
his associate Gary Robbins. The text received a major overhaul
and included new sections on computerized telescopes and the
use of CCDs for astro-imaging, both of which are changing the
face of amateur astronomy. (Note: The 20th edition was first
published under the Pi Press imprint of Pearson Education Inc.
In 2007 a corrected reprint with improved binding was published
under the Dutton imprint of the Penguin Group, although still
bearing the 2004 copyright date of Pearson Education. The
Dutton edition is the one to look for.)
Who knows where developments will lead by
the time of the book’s centenary in 2010?
Ian Ridpath
ian @ ianridpath.com
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Asteroid 3869 Norton, imaged by Alan Fitzsimmons and Catherine Dandy of Queen's University Belfast on 2001 July 25 with the 1-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on La Palma. The asteroid lies to the right of centre and is indicated by white tick marks. Asteroid Norton was named at the suggestion of Ian Ridpath to commemorate the publication of the 18th edition of the Atlas in 1989. The asteroid, initially known as 1981 JE, was discovered by expatriate Brit Ted Bowell of Lowell Observatory.
Asteroid 3869 Norton – orbital
elements
Period: 3.84 years
Perihelion: 2.14 AU
Aphelion: 2.76 AU
Eccentricity: 0.126
Inclination: 4°.4