Planispheres: Guide To The Night Sky

For my observational paper I wanted to do something different, but yet simple, something that would state that you don't need a lot of money, or special equipment to indulge into astronomy and actually enjoy it. I looked into maybe buying a small telescope, but I thought I would get creative. So began my research into what ancient astronomers used for stargazing, and what sailors would use as navigational tools. My research led me to, …showed first 75 words of 940 total…

…showed last 75 words of 940 total…problem is that the planisphere map is only a few inches across, yet the sky that it represents stretches from horizon to horizon. What looks like a small group of stars on the map can spread over a large area of the sky. The trick is to find an easily recognized group to give you a feel for the scale of the map, and then look for other groups until you are familiar with it.