Some HNSKY screen shots of Messier objects using the new astrometric catalog UCAC2 , GSC-ACT and USNO A2:

The star patterns look very natural and there are in theUCAC2 about 4 times more stars then in the GSC. The about 48000 bright stars missing to magnitude 8 are not noticeable in a database of 50 millions or so. An other feature is that the star proper motion for each star is given and easy to implement. The UCAC2 is not complete for the most northern parts but will be in 2004. Here are some screen shots using the planetarium program HNSKY.

M11,  left with GSC-ACT, right with the new UCAC2:

M11 with USNO A2:

M6,  left with GSC-ACT, right with the new UCAC2:

M6 with USNO A2:

M4,  left with GSC-ACT, right with the new UCAC2:

M4 with USNO A2:

M2,  left with GSC-ACT, right with the new UCAC2:

M2 with USNO A2: