The Essential Atlas The Essential Atlas is a third - generation written by Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace . It was published by Del Rey on August 18 , 2009 . The book contains planet profiles as well as extensive star charts . Publisher ' s summary . Navigate the " Star Wars " universe as you never have before - with this fully illustrated , full - color guide that maps the entire galaxy . " You know the planets - from Alderaan and Corellia to Tatooine and Zonama Sekot - and the star systems , from the Deep Core to the Outer Rim . But now , for the first time , you can pinpoint their locations and chart the travels of your favorite characters through the vast reaches of space . " Star Wars : The Essential Atlas " is a galaxy - spanning trove of vital statistics and information ranging from the astronomical and geographical ( " Systems , Sectors , Oversectors and Regions " ) to the historical and political ( " The Sith Empire " and " The Great Hyperspace War " ) . Encompassing the entire " Star Wars " canon , including all the films and , plus the novels , comic books , video games , and more , this volume is packed with dozens of detailed maps and charts , as well as pertinent data and accompanying facts on ' . From Hutt Space to the Unknown Regions , from the Knights of the Old Republic and to the and Legacy era , " Star Wars : The Essential Atlas " is the ultimate gateway to space fantasy ' s most brilliantly imagined and endlessly intriguing galaxy . Development . Dan Wallace assured readers of his blog that the book would be " light years " better than his previous book on the subject , " The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons " , which focused more on summarizing plots than on planetary descriptions . The book is " equal parts cosmology , planet profiles , political structure , colonization , history , the sweep and scale of wars , and bulleted lists presenting miscellaneous items of kewlness [ " sic " ] . " Wallace also hoped that it would be closer to older but more detailed roleplaying game ( RPG ) resources like " Platt ' s Starport Guide " and " Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook " . In another blog entry , Wallace stated he and Jason Fry planned to access Jason ' s Systems Database for use in writing the book and hoped to include all 3900 placenames . In February 2008 , Dan stated in his blog that the book survived its first round of editing and was close to 120 , 000 words , but there were still many changes to be made and more maps to make . In addition he mentioned several items that may be in the book but has disclosed that they are not canonical until its publication , including the Kymoodon Era , the Leech Legion ( a region within the Unknown Regions where blind berserkers resided ) , Cosm ' s Well ( a region of neutron stars , pulsars , and blue stragglers named by the Zeku ) and the Tetrahedron ( which was the cradle of the Republic ) . On February 24 , 2009 , Dan released more quotations from the book , as he was finishing its final stages of editing . Some names in the quotations include the Bedlam Pulsar ( where omnipotent trans - dimensional beings exist in the stark whiteness that digests the fabric of hyperspace ) , the Planetary Pioneers ( a program that , alongside the influence of the D ' Asta family , allowed the New Territories to remain loyal to the Republic ) , The Ark of Baron Auletphant , the Zareca String ( which was a jump from Rishi straight up and perpendicular to the galactic plane ) , and the Twenty Wonders of the Galaxy ( assembled by Vicendi for his work " Arturum Galactinum " ) . The authors intended for every canonical star system to be shown or else for its coordinates to be listed in an appendix . Systems from children ' s books , the RPG franchise , " Classic Star Wars " , and the Marvel " Star Wars " series were included . Due to its scope and formal nature , the atlas focuses on showing star systems rather than individual planets ; this is in contrast to some previous maps , which due to artistic license showed planets within a system as two separate locations . However , according to Jason Fry , systems may generally be labeled by the name of their most prominent planets rather than by actual system names , since planet names are usually more familiar to fans . Besides the aforementioned listing of planets , " The Essential Atlas " supplied maps on various factions and time periods , and was given an in - universe history lecture . In addition , " The Essential Atlas " was the first to name the factions depicted in the comic series " Dark Empire " and " Crimson Empire " ; specifically , the factions were named after the stories they originated in . Behind the scenes . The authors recognized the community of the " Star Wars " fan wiki Wookieepedia in the acknowledgment section at the front of the book . Nathan Butler , contributor to " The Essential Atlas " , credits " Star Wars " fan Eddie van der Heijden , webmaster of starwarstimeline . com , with deriving the Great ReSynchronization dates printed within " The Essential Atlas " . The book contains a few typographical errors and inconsistencies .