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I'm looking for the sans-serif typeface used in the star chart below.

I feel like I have seen it in other star charts and maps (it feels familiar, akin to Computer Modern in scientific papers) , but unfortunately I couldn't find a better scan, so the automatic identifiers (Matcherator, Whatthefont) failed. Identifont and "manual tag-based search" led me onto something DIN-like, but it's not quite there...

star chart

image source

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  • I see a few different sans-serif fonts in there. Which one specifically were you looking for? The italics (star names), the regular (degree markers), or the title ("Cygnus")? Or all?
    – Vicki
    Commented Sep 14, 2017 at 18:49
  • You're right - I only implicitly referred to the prevailing one: I'm interested in the star names ("Do42", "Sh2-104", "Bas6"...). I further assumed that the degree markers are merely the regular style to the italics. Don't care about the "Cygnus" one.
    – kubi
    Commented Sep 16, 2017 at 14:06
  • Adding this here for my fellow font sleuths: it looks like this chart image is from a Sky Atlas 2000, first edition.
    – Vicki
    Commented Sep 18, 2017 at 17:51
  • Great info, @Vicki. I was able to contact one of the authors (see my comment to the answer below), and he adds: "the star chart shown in the link is NOT Sky Atlas 2000.0. It is a detail of chart 119 from the first edition of my Uranometria 2000.0, published by Willmann-Bell in 1987."
    – kubi
    Commented Sep 20, 2017 at 9:08
  • That's awesome! Hooray for sleuthing!! :)
    – Vicki
    Commented Sep 20, 2017 at 17:54

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There are several fonts. Unfortunately I do not know them. Some of them are single stroke and at least one is a serif font (MR102,V1042)

But I have an idea: This kind of texts must have been done manually in the past. The practices have been established a long time ago. So, search lettering rulers. Then you can find the computer font, too.

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  • Nice idea. I had a hard time searching lettering rulers, though. Do you know a resource? I'm not sure how to make the connection from ruler to computer font, either... So far I've found Rendering Oblique JNL, an "architecturally inspired block type", but not the real deal and missing lower case letters.
    – kubi
    Commented Sep 16, 2017 at 14:14
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    You were right! With input from @Vicki I was able to contact one of the authors, Wil Tirion, who - within minutes - replied: "The atlas was computer plotted, but finished by me on the drawing table, and all the lettering was done the old-fashioned way, using stencils and templates. So, no specific typefaces. For the second edition of the Uranometria 2000.0, as well as for the second edition of my Sky Atlas 2000.0, we have used the font Stone Sans."
    – kubi
    Commented Sep 20, 2017 at 9:06

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