Guide to the Stars

Very handy and easy to use

My goodness, this thing is big! I mean, I knew it was big from the dimensions given but to actually see it in person is still surprising. It's well made, easy to read and packed full of information. I love the tidbits on the back and the star map itself is informative with prominent galaxies, nebulae and clusters marked inside their respective constellations. I had a hard time deciding between this one and the Chandler Night Sky one. I finally decided on this one because I wanted something that was easy to read. Plus, the fact that you had to flip the Chandler one over to get the southern view was a little off-putting. I know that they created it that way to get rid of the distortion but I thought that distortion wasn't really a big deal. But now that I have the actual planisphere in hand and go outside with it, I can see what people are complaining about. It does make things a little off, but not something you can't mentally compensate for. So in actually, I would give this 4.5 stars. It's still useful and I love how big it is and how much information it has on it. But I'm thinking of getting the Chandler one now too.

This is the best star map I've ever had and I've been studying astronomy for over 30 years. I have 3 other star maps but this one is the easiest to use to actually find the constellation that you're looking for in the sky

We had stargazing maps when my son was in school but I can no longer find so I ordered this with The Night Sky map. Size is good if your eyes are as bad as mine. You must know your latitude, read below. The downside for some people will be - 16.25 inches in diameter map, meaning careful it does not get bent. Will need a special place to store where it will not get damaged. I could get creative and find a way to hang by running thick string through the center. Another downside - wish the backside had same plastic laminate as on front, to protect from dirt and moisture. Don't lay it down on lawn or anything moist. Map is a thick cardstock (cardboard). Does not dial like The Night Sky map in pic but that is not a problem, the laminate cover moves over the map. The font on map is bold making it easier for me to read. Guide to the Stars map is good for latitude 30° to 60° northern Hemisphere (north of equator). I googled my City's latitude to make sure it would work. The backside supplies info on your first nights out; Telescope & Binocular Object Notes; Tickle of Mythology; The Moon; Meteor Showers dates; The Planets; Celestial Tidbits. Note: The planets are not charted because they move through the constellations but it does have the ecliptic path of Sun Moon & Planets on the map. I have a Night Sky app on my phone and helps me Identify the planets. Chart Notes provide Constellation names in uppercase with names of stars in italics, and identifies Clusters, Nebulas, Galaxies, Globular Clusters, and Planetary Nebulas. Ordered Guide to the Stars map, The Night Sky map, and a Red LED flashlight - arrived in one box. Guide to the Stars was curved to make it fit and arrived undamaged. Later ordered Eyeskey waterproof compass. Enjoy your voyage to the stars and beyond...

This is a BIG Planesphere. 16 inches diameter for latitudes 30° to 60° North. The extra large size size has its pro's and con's. The good part is that it is easy to see the names of the constellations and (this was important to me) the names of the more prominant stars. I have been using it to help learn the main navigation stars for celestial navigation. It is better than any other planesphere I have ever seen or used in that regard. The bad part is that it is too large to be convenient for an evening out by the telescope. It won't fit in even a very large pocket and you would have to work out some sort of illumination that was wide field enough so you could read it -- which might not be so great for your night vision or considerate of others around you. However the same provider does offer smaller versions if that is what you are after. Double check that you have the correct size in your shopping cart before you press the BUY button. For session planning indoors or learning the night sky including star names it is five star all the way. I could easily see having this large one for that purpose and picking up a smaller one for stargazing sessions.

Who puts a piece of tape on the clear part of this product, so when you pull it off, it leaves the tape resedue there to get dirty? Amazon, that's who. The guide itself physically dirty as if it was in the floor. That's annoying. Fortunately, aside from some dirt, it's in good shape. It's a bit of an adjustment to get used to it. I live in a relatively dark area, but one that has a lot of trees. This is a great tool even to help figure out in a partially blocked sky. I bought it to help me find things with my telescope and binoculars for sky viewing, and I suggest it for anyone. I'm just not sure you should buy it from Amazon as I did unless having it be in need of some windex doesn't annoy you as much as it does me. UPDATE (9/22/12): I have used this now for a few nights, and am finally getting the hang of it. It took a while to line up the stars with what I was seeing, and Google Sky Maps(GSM) was a big help to confirm what was what. I use this to star hop with my 120mm refractor and my 9x63 binoculars. Once I finally got myself aligned, it became easy to find things like Andromeda. Using this guide, it is MUCH easier to find things in the sky. I does take a while, but it is totally worth the investment. To me, I think it's a good companion to GSM, because GSM can help you put the names to what you are seeing. Once I got confident in what I was seeing, then I used the guide more than GSM. GSM is still fantastic to help you find planets. I was able to find Uranus last night as well, but couldn't find Andromeda Galaxy all that well until I figured this guide out. Now, with the guide, it's easy. It really just takes time to orient to the sky as the map shows it. I am new to astronomy; I've had the scope for 6 months, and the binoculars for a few years.

This review is for the "Guide to the Stars" planispheres. Both have instructions on the front and a legend describing what you see. The ecliptic is explained and spring/summer and late winter tours are suggested. On the back is a tutorial on viewing in general with hints on preserving night vision and locating stars and constellations. There's a chart of meteor showers giving the time of year and constellation for the major ones and explaining what causes them. There are also celestial tidbits listing the 10 brightest stars, explaining star twinkle and more. Some binocular and small telescope objects are listed with hints on how to identify them. The larger planisphere lists more of them. The phases of the moon are explained, plus hints on using your hand to approximate distances. The visible planets are discussed along with suggested telescope power for viewing them. The large Guide to the Stars is huge, 16 inches across, and easy to read. The front includes the Greek letter designations for many stars. The publisher took advantage of the extra size and included more information and larger print than the smaller version. The smaller version of Guide to the Stars is 11 inches across and is also easy to read. It has the same tutorial as the larger one. I had initially bought the The Night Sky 30°-40° (Large; North Latitude) which I found very frustrating to use. Read my review of it for more comments.

easy to use works great

I bought this Star Finder for my grandchildren, so I wanted something that would not fall apart easily. I was very pleased to discover that both of the moveable parts are made of plastic, so if they are caught in the rain with it, it won't disintegrate. It was bought for Christmas, so they haven't tried it out yet, but from what I can tell, the operating instructions are both easily understood and found on the front. I like the white background for the star chart. The back of it has a lot of interesting tidbits of stellar data. I will buy this again.

Este planisferio es un buen producto para la observación astronómica

High quality, clear, easy to read

This was my fault for not reading description fully, thought I was getting the 16" version used. Had I known this I would not have purchased it. Note: when using the other purchase options, do not assume the the the other options are for the exact same item!

Great item. Arrived on time