Famous space mapmaker Wil Tirion died at 81

A famous Dutch space mapmaker, Wil Tirion, who created two landmark star maps, died and his age was eighty-one. His son, Martin, confirmed the news of his death.

Martin said Wil remained some weeks ago before his death. However, he fell sick suddenly, and his health started deteriorating rapidly. As a result of his short-term illness, he passed away on July 5, 2024.

According to Martin, people can send their condolences to his email address (martin.tirion@live.com) or Wil’s (wil@wil-tirion.com). They will remain active in receiving heartful condolences from people for some days.

Wil Tirion was also an award-winning astro-cartographer. His work has been published in dozens of maps, books, and magazines. Sky Publishing Corporation and Cambridge University Press published his most well-known work, Sky Atlas 2000.0.

Sky Atlas featured 26 pages of maps showing stars as dim as magnitude 6.5. Other versions were also available with laminated pages. It was the favorite of people living in humid climates.

His 1998 release of the second version had seven “close-up” charts of populated areas, 43,000 stars down to magnitude 8.5. It has three options: The Field Version featured white stars on a black backdrop, and the Desk Version featured black stars on a white background.

*Sky Atlas 2000.0 2ed Field Edition Laminated*

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However, the third version is Deluxe featured laminated sheets. Following the release of Sky Atlas 2000.0, Wil received many requests to design charts for other publications. Hence, he started doing that in 1983 and quit his job to become a full-time mapper of stars in 1984.

Willmann-Bell in 1987 released his second atlas, Uranometria 2000.0 Volume 1, The Northern Hemisphere to -6°. George Lovi and Barry Rappaport were co-authors of this atlas.

Wil Tirion made these star charts in a 300-page book, showing about 10,000 deep-sky objects in addition to all stars brighter than magnitude 9.5. He also released Uranometria 2000.0 Volume 1, The Southern Hemisphere to +6°, which tracked stars below the celestial equator.

The incredible map-creating service of Wil continued for decades. However, it came to an end with his death. It is significant to note that it is unknown how famous space mapmaker Wil Tirion died.