At the time it was first published, the Atlas Coeli was unique in that it contained essentially all non-stellar objects (star clusters, galaxies etc.)

Until the mid-1970s when it went out of print, the Atlas was extremely popular among amateur astronomers, especially those engaged in comet hunting and the study of variable stars.

Bright and dark diffuse nebulae are shown, and the actual outlines of those larger than 10' in diameter are painstakingly drawn.

[2] The Atlas Coeli was created in the period 1947-1948 at the Skalnaté Pleso Observatory in Slovakia (then Czechoslovakia) under the direction of Antonín Bečvář, based on an idea of Czechoslovakian amateur astronomer Josef Klepešta.

The Catalogue includes a number of other tables with data on double and multiple stars, galactic and extragalactic nebulae, and radio sources.

Paul Kunitzsch found 14 proper names of stars that are first attested in the catalogue, and for which he was unable to find any clues as to their origin.

Kunitzsch spent fifteen years trying to trace the origins of these names in earlier sources and by contacting Czechoslovak astronomers who might know of former collaborators of Bečvář's, but without success.

[5] Amateur astronomers German Hans Vehrenberg[6] and English Patrick Moore[7] follow these names.

As of early 2019, the IAU had accepted Achird, Hassaleh, Hatysa, Heze, Kraz, Sarin and Segin as official names for those stars.

Pursuant to Bečvář's request, royalties were used to purchase special astronomical photographic plates for the Skalnaté Observatory.

Stellar clusters and nebulae are not plotted, but a six-color press was used to distinguish six basic spectral classes of stars.