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Star maps

Custom star map of the night you were born

The real sky over the place and the minute you choose: the stars from the Yale Bright Star Catalogue, the Moon and the planets where they actually were, and beneath the circle a name or a line of your own, the date, the place and its coordinates. Draw yours below; the preview is free.

Example star map: the sky over Houston, Texas at 9:56 pm on Sunday 20 July 1969, with the Moon low in the west beside Jupiter, headed One small stepExample
Example: the sky over Houston at 9:56 pm on 20 July 1969, the minute of the first step on the Moon. The Moon is low in the west, with Jupiter beside it.

Set in capitals above the date, up to 60 characters. Leave it empty and the date takes its place.

How you would like it

Paid once. No account needed: the private link is yours to keep. Prices in US dollars.

How it is drawn

  • The circle is the whole sky overhead, with the horizon as its edge: north at the top and east on the left, as it looks when you lie on your back and look up.
  • Every star down to magnitude 6.5 is in it, the brightest named, with the Moon and the planets that were above the horizon at that minute.
  • Rings mark 30 and 60 degrees above the horizon, and a small cross the point straight overhead.
  • The same drawing makes the preview, the digital files and the print, so what you see here is what you receive, without the preview mark.

Questions

What details do I need?
The date, the place and the time, as a clock there showed it: the time on a birth certificate is right. The time zone of the place is looked up for you, summer time in that year included. A name or a line of your own is optional.
What if I do not know the birth time?
The sky overhead turns a full circle every day, about fifteen degrees an hour, so a star map is drawn for one minute and an order needs a time. If you know it roughly (morning, just after midnight), enter your best guess: it is closer than any default. Without a time the free preview shows the sky at midday, labelled as such.
Can I use it for an anniversary, a wedding or another day?
Yes. Any date from 1800 to 2100 and any place: the night you met, a wedding, a first home, a birth. The top line takes a name or a dedication of up to 60 characters, and the poster does not use the word birth anywhere.
How big are the files?
The poster is a PNG of 5,400 × 7,200 pixels, which is 18 × 24 inches at 300 dots to the inch, about 2 MB. It prints as sharply at any smaller size of the same 3:4 shape, such as 12 × 16 or 9 × 12 inches. The square is 2,400 × 2,400 pixels, for a screen or a smaller frame.
What are the print and the frame like?
Both are 18 × 24 inches, printed to order from the same file as the digital star map. Prints are not on sale yet.
Can I change the name after buying?
On a digital star map, yes: its private page lets you set or change the line at the top and download both files again, whenever you like. The sky, the date and the place stay as you bought them. For a print, write to us with your order reference before it is printed.
How accurate is it?
Every star down to magnitude 6.5, about the faintest the eye can see on a dark night, comes from the Yale Bright Star Catalogue and is turned to your place and minute, with the slow drift of the sky since the catalogue's epoch taken into account. The Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are drawn where they were, when they were above the horizon.
Is this the same as a birth chart?
No. A birth chart is the astrologer's wheel of signs and houses; a star map is the sky itself, as you would have seen it looking up. Your chart is free: draw your StarMap.