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The Night Sky: A New Kind of Planisphere
"Chandler's planisphere (rotating star-finder wheel) is the finest available"--Sky News
"The
Night Sky is not just another planisphere. I think The Night Sky is the
finest
and easiest to use star finding aid in existence."--Jack Horkheimer:
Star Gazer
(Star Gazer is seen on PBS stations
throughout North America and Internationally
via satellite, the Armed Services Network, NASA C.O.R.E. and USIA WORLDNET)
Spanish Version / Japanese Version
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Sizes:
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(See both sides) |
The Distortion Solution!
Conventional planispheres severely distort the sky near the southern horizon. The distortion results from trying to stretch the whole dome of the sky onto a single flat map.
This is the constellation Sagittarius...
...as shown in a photograph (courtesy of John Sanford)
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...as shown by Conventional Planispheres |
...as shown by The Night Sky |
The Night Sky is NOT a conventional planisphere! No flat map can remove all distortion, but The Night Sky eliminates over 90% of the distortion inherent in conventional 1-sided planispheres.
The Night Sky is Designed to be Used!
- Unlike coffee-table planispheres, The Night Sky is printed with dark stars on a light background, for easy nighttime readability.
- The constellations are drawn simply, emphasizing the brighter stars. (The constellation patterns were designed in collaboration with the editors of Sky and Telescope magazine.)
- Coordinate grid lines are shown without being intrusive. Coordinates are shown because they can be useful for cross referencing with star atlases.
- A selection of deep sky objects for binocular viewing is included. It is important to point out to beginners that the best first telescope is a pair of binoculars. You may already have what it takes to start observing tonight!
- The Night Sky is larger than it looks! The map scale is larger than on similar-size planispheres because the whole sky does not have to be shown on a single map. Even the 5" pocket version is large enough to be quite readable.
Sky and Telescope adopted The Night Sky in 1976 and has promoted it ever since. The Night Sky is widely recognized by the amateur astronomy and educational communities as the overall best planisphere on the market.
Selecting the Right Chart for Your Latitude
