Norton’s Star Atlas 20th edition
Addenda and corrigenda
The 20th edition of Norton’s Star
Atlas was first published in late 2003 under the Pi Press
imprint of Pearson Education Inc. In 2007 a reprint with
corrections and improved binding was published under the Dutton
imprint of the Penguin Group, although still bearing the 2004
copyright date of Pearson Education. The corrections below
refer to the earlier printings bearing the Pi Press imprint.
page 2:
In Table 1, under the right-hand heading
DECLINATION OF STAR the subheadings should read “south declination for northern observers” and “north
declination for southern observers”.
The subheadings under the left-hand heading are correct. Thanks
to Bjoern Rehnfeldt for pointing this out.
page 3:
After 2007 the date of the vernal equinox
is exclusively March 20. From 2044 it can occur on either March
19 or March 20 until the end of the century, when the dates
revert to March 20 or 21.
page 52:
An updated butterfly diagram can be found
at
page 53:
In the bottom part of Figure 18, showing
the orientation of the solar disk as projected onto a camera
screen, W and E should be reversed for both the northern and
southern hemisphere disks.
page 68:
In Table 19 the headings Maximum Dist. from
Sun and Minimum Dist. from Sun have been transposed.
page 69:
In Table 21 the Moon’s inclination
should read 5°.15 and its density 3.35.
In Table 21 add footnote c: “Diameter of solid
body; diameter at cloud tops is 5550 km”.
In Table 21, add a leading 0 to the
eccentricity for Saturn’s moon XXV Mundilfari
In Table 21, Saturn’s moon XXVII
Skadi should be Skathi and XXX Thrym should be Thrymr.
page 70:
In Table 21 (continued) delete superscript b next to
Triton’s diameter and footnote b.
page 80:
In late 2005 oval BA began to redden,
turning into a mini version of the Red Spot.
page 87:
Hermes (first entry in Table 31) was
rediscovered in 2003 October and assigned the number 69230. Its
orbital elements are: period, 2.13 years; perihelion, 0.622 AU;
aphelion, 2.688 AU; inclination. 6°.1; eccentricity, 0.624.
Amor (sixth entry in Table 31) is not the
first known to cross the orbit of Mars. Eros, discovered 34
years before Amor, too crosses Mars’ orbit. (Thanks to
Jean Meeus for pointing this out.)
page 88:
The 16th edition of the Catalogue of Cometary Orbits,
published 2005, lists orbital elements for 2221 individual
comets, of which 341 have confirmed or computed periods of less
than 200 years.
page 92:
The parent body of the Quadrantids is very
likely minor planet 2003 EH1.
page 95:
The maximum possible duration for a total
solar eclipse varies over time due to long-term changes in the
shape of the Earth’s orbit. Currently the theoretical
maximum is around 7m 32s but is decreasing.
page 104:
In Table 38 “Scuptoris” should
be “Sculptoris”.
page 105:
In Table 39, Sadachbia is Gamma Aquarii.
page 128:
In Table 55, add outburst of RS Ophiuchi in
2006.
page 136:
In Table 59, the declination for the
Wolf–Lundmark–Melotte galaxy should be negative,
not positive.
page 144 (Chart 1):
In the reference to adjoining charts, Chart
10 should read Chart 7, Chart 16 should read Chart 9 and Chart
14 should read Chart 11. (Thanks to Jim Snyder for pointing
this out, and the similar errors on Charts 4 and 11, below.)
page 148 (Chart 3):
Delete open cluster NGC 7772 (not really a
cluster).
page 149 (Chart 4):
In the reference to adjoining charts, Chart
5 should read Chart 6 and Chart 13 should read Chart 14.
page 152 (Chart 5)
There is a spurious star symbol in
Triangulum to the left of 11 Tri. It is apparently a duplicate
symbol of Alpha and arose during the redrawing of the charts
for this edition. Thanks to Matthew Stevenson for pointing this
out.
page 152 (Chart 5), page 157 (Chart 7),
page 158
The star labelled Epsilon Monocerotis at RA
06h 23.8m, dec. +04 36, on Charts 5 and 7 and in the table of
interesting objects for Charts 7 and 8 is more usually known as
8 Monocerotis.
page 163:
In the list of clusters, nebulae and
galaxies, delete dimensions of NGC 4258.
In the list of clusters, nebulae and
galaxies, change dec minutes of NGC 4486 to 23 (from 24)
In the list of clusters, nebulae and
galaxies, change RA minutes of NGC 5128 to 25 (from 26)
page 168 (Chart 13):
In the reference to adjoining charts, Chart
13 should read Chart 3 and Chart 9 should read Chart 11.
page 171:
Delete NGC 6603 from list of clusters,
nebulae and galaxies. M24 is the large star field, not this
cluster (and neither of them are shown on the map).
On Charts 5 and 7 and table of interesting
objects for Charts 7 & 8, Epsilon Mon should be 8 Mon.
Star charts: Due to a printing error,
in some copies of the Pi Press edition the star symbols on
Chart 13 are missing in the Milky Way area. If you have one of
these copies you can obtain a replacement from the publishers.
Contact Stephen Morrow (Stephen.Morrow @ us.penguingroup.com).
Have you found any errors? If so, please
send me an email.
Ian Ridpath
ian @ ianridpath.com