ESSEX-based Roger Lascelles Maps has produced a second edition of its Daily Telegraph Chart of the Night Sky, after the first edition sold out.

Dennis Hawes, managing director of the company, said demand for the chart has been fuelled by the BBC’s Stargazing Live series in January, featuring Professor Brian Cox, and interest in the transit of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun earlier this month.

The chart shows the constellations of the northern hemisphere for every month of the year, together with information on the 20 brightest stars, the planets, the Earth’s orbit, the seasons and the phases of the Moon.

The new edition has been checked by science journalist Adrian Berry, who writes the monthly Night Sky column for The Daily Telegraph and who will be featuring the map in his newspaper column.

The chart, which quickly reached first place in the Daily Telegraph best sellers list, is available in three formats – folded, unfolded and encapsulated.

A total of nine maps in the Daily Telegraph range are produced by Roger Lascelles, which was formed 25 years ago and was relocated from London to Bradfield, near Manningtree. following its purchase by Mr Hawes in 2005.

In addition to its work on the Daily Telegraph series, the company also produces its own series of more than 40 red cover maps, ranging across the world, as well as stocking a comprehensive selection of maps covering French and Italian towns and regions.

The economic downturn has led to sales of some of these slowing, but Mr Hawes has made use of the downturn in international sales by expanding his range of Ordnance Survey scale-linked British walking and cycling maps, so tapping into the rising domestic holiday market.

These are published by sister company Heritage House, which he has been running for 22 years, and which specialises in books and maps celebrating Britain’s cultural and natural heritage, with a special focus on East Anglia, Dorset and the New Forest.

All of its newest maps are produced on disc so they can easily be updated or overprinted to create bespoke versions for customers such as tour operators, shipping agents, travel agents, government departments, schools, colleges, universities and libraries.