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. (To read a scan of the first edition online, click here.)
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 by the late Stephen James, 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.
Ian Ridpath
ian @ ianridpath.com
Asteroid Norton
 | ||
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 Norton’s Star Atlas in 1989. The asteroid, initially known as 1981 JE, was discovered by expatriate Brit Ted Bowell of Lowell Observatory.
Period: 3.84 years
Perihelion: 2.14 AU
Aphelion: 2.76 AU
Eccentricity: 0.126
Inclination: 4°.4