![]() Or should we use an "inside-out" scheme, so that the constellations "looked right" at the expense of geometry? In the end, we chose the latter. The first question proved the most basic: should we portray the sky as if Earth were at the globe's center? This "God's-eye view" would be geometrically correct, but it would mean that all the constellations would have a left-for-right flip that would render them "backward" as seen in the sky. And so, with a green light from management, we set to work. In early 2015, Roger and I huddled with Illustration Director Gregg Dinderman to flesh out a bold idea: could we use the S&T star charts as the basis for a globe of the entire celestial sphere? We knew the project would require lots of effort, yet the more we looked around, the more we realized that no one offered the detailed yet affordable star globe that we envisioned. ![]() This 12-inch freestanding globe allows you to explore the stars with an “inside-out” perspective that closely matches what you see in the sky. Nearly a quarter century later, those distinctive all-sky charts and their derivatives used elsewhere in the magazine still help untold thousands of stargazers find their way around the night sky. The new maps also used refined "stick figures" for the constellations that are uniquely Sky & Telescope's. The new charts, in full color and far more photo-realistic, incorporated Roger Sinnott's computerized plotting and his new algorithm for sizing the "dots" to show stars' relative brightnesses. ![]() That's when we introduced a radically new portrayal of the month's all-sky chart, replacing black-and-white versions painstakingly drawn by the late George Lovi and carried for 25 years. Our state-of-the-art representation of the entire celestial sphere lets you explore the stars above as never before.Īs Sky & Telescope celebrates its 75th year of publication, we editors look back at the January 1993 issue as a milestone of particular note. ![]()
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