Renowned celestial map maker Will Trian has died

The Dutch celestial cartographer produced two major star atlases and provided illustrations for several popular volumes.

Dutch sky cartographer Will Drien, who created the two major star atlases used by amateur astronomers worldwide, died on July 5. He is 81 years old.

Trian’s most famous work, Sky Atlas 2000.0, first published in 1981 by Sky Publishing Corporation and Cambridge University Press, consisted of 26 pages of maps that showed stars at magnitude 6.5 faint. It came in several versions, with laminated sides that were popular with visitors who lived in humid climates.

A second edition, released in 1998, added 43,000 stars to size 8.5, seven „close-up” illustrations of crowded areas, and came in three options: the deluxe edition with laminated pages and black stars on a white background, felt. The version had white stars on a black background and the desktop version had black stars on a white background.

Once First Edition Sky Atlas 2000.0 Appeared, Trian found himself besieged with requests to create illustrations for other publications. So, in 1983, he started doing it full-time.

His second atlas was co-authored with Barry Rappaport and George Lowy Uranometria 2000.0 Volume 1, Northern Hemisphere to –6°Published by Wilman-Bell in 1987. Trian created a star chart for this 300-page book. It showed all stars to magnitude 9.5 and brighter than 10,000 deep-sky objects. The following module, Uranometria 2000.0 Volume 2, Southern Hemisphere to +6°It listed the stars below the celestial equator and appeared the following year.

In 2001, Wilman-Bell published a new edition Volume 2. This 338-page work contained 280,000 stars and more than 30,000 deep sky objects.

Trion also contributed to a stellar roster Bright Star Atlas 2000.0 (with Brian Schiff), Collins Night Sky (with Dunlap Storm), Men, monsters and the modern universe (with George Lowy), and Cambridge Star Atlas 2000.0.

In 1993, the International Astronomical Union honored Tirion by designating the minor planet 1931 UE (4648) as Tirion. He is survived by his wife Koki and two children: Martin and Nara.