Custom Chart Making Using Photos - Forums

Topic starter

Jan 16, 2024

Hi,

I just wanted to share an experimental personal project that I started. I like to use my photos to study star atlases and the idea dawned on me that I can use my own photos to generate my own custom star charts. Basically, I open the photo in GIMP and then create a second white chart layer. I set the opacity of the chart layer to 50% and then draw the principal stars in GIMP over the photographic stars in the photo layer, along with objects of interest. Afterwards, I adjust the opacity of the chart layer to 100% and export to PNG, TIF and JPG formats. Finally, I import the image in LibreOffice and do some basic labelling before exporting to PDF format. I'm posting my first try here. In further charts, I would like to add image scale, direction and star magnitudes. Sure, I could use a planetarium program to print charts, but this project has a certain do-it-yourself satisfaction level. I intend to use these charts for visual observing.

Here's the reference image that I used and the resulting charts from this process.

Steven

Leo

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Steven Fanutti

Topic starter

Jan 16, 2024 · Edited: Jan 18, 2024

Another example, this time a simple constellation chart based on this image:

Scorpius

Steven Fanutti

Topic starter

Jan 17, 2024

I tried another method, basically negating an image with some processing to bring out stars and applying basic labels. Here's the result.

Steven Fanutti

Topic starter

Jan 17, 2024 · Edited: Jan 18, 2024

I wanted to finish off this project with a few more finder charts that I created from my photos using the second method that I described above. The process works well, but in the interests of time, I kept the object labels to a minimum. Conceivably, one can create their own star atlas or star chart library this way.

Here are the reference images and charts created from them:

The Andromeda Galaxy and R Andromedae

Eta Cygni

Cygnus

Backyard Milky Way

Steven Fanutti

Topic starter

Feb 2, 2024 · Edited: Feb 2, 2024

UPDATE: I downloaded my data and found solved images that saves me a lot of time. I used the data to create a customized star chart of the galactic centre and Cygnus Star Cloud. Here's PDF files with the unlabelled and labelled images:

Galactic Centre Finder Chart.pdf
Cygnus Star Cloud Finder Chart.pdf

Here's the rest of the charts that I have created so far, fully manually:

Antares Finder Chart.pdf
Eta Cygni Finder Chart.pdf
Gamma Cygni Finder Chart.pdf
M31 and R Andromedae Finder Chart.pdf
M65 and M66 Finder Charts.pdf
NGC 7000 Finder Chart.pdf
Virgo Cluster Finder Chart.pdf

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Steven Fanutti

Topic starter

Oct 25, 2024 · Edited: Oct 28, 2024

UPDATE: Here are some new custom charts that I created from my photos. "B" charts are for binocular observers, "R" charts are reversed for observers using refracting telescopes. For Newtonians, just flip the "B" charts upside down:

M44 Finder Chart.pdf
NGC 4565 and NGC 4725 Finder Chart.pdf
NGC 7331 Finder Chart.pdf

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Steven Fanutti

Topic starter

Jun 25, 2025 · Edited: Jun 25, 2025

UPDATE: I have resumed making charts out of my photos. Here are a few new ones and revisions. I have found LibreOffice Draw and GIMP to be excellent software for creating these. I am particularly proud of my Eta Cygni / Cygnus X-1 Finder Chart. I added comparison stars for variable star estimates for that one. I look forward to doing more charts like it.

R Leonis Finder Chart.pdf
NGC 6992 and NGC 6960 Finder Chart.pdf
Eta Cygni Finder Chart (2).pdf