Customer Reviews

Luminous Star Finder: Glow-In-The-Dark with Zodiac Dial

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The Rand McNally "Glow-in-the-Dark Star Finder with Zodiac Dial" has both good and bad features. On the positive side, the Star Finder is large and easily readable. On the negative side, it contains text that says, "...the ecliptic...is divided into twelve months," and presents a "Zodiac Dial" assigning a constellation to each month. This is wrong for two reasons: (1) The zodiacal constellations are not actually in synch with the calendar months as depicted on the Zodiac Dial. For example, according to the Zodiac Dial, the sun is in Scorpius in December. In fact, the sun is in Scorpius only for a week at the end of November. (2) The sun actually appears in 13 constellations as it moves along the ecliptic (not just the 12 that astrology is based on). The zodiacal constellation of Ophiuchus has been left out. Finally, there is a table showing where to find the planets for a period of six years. Unfortunately, the Star Finder that I looked at had a copyright date of 1995, and gave the planets' positions for 1995 to 2000. The tables for the years prior to the current year are useless. It would be good if Rand McNally would update the planet tables every year or two so that the tables would be useful for a longer time after the Star Finder is purchased. In short, if all you need is a star finder, this one will work just fine. But, pay no attention to the incorrect zodiac dial.

I was hoping for something that offered more to look at as a teaching device. What I got was a flimsy piece of thin cardboard or pressed paper that wasn't worth the postage and handling much less its actual cost.
Unless the lights are out you can't really see the constellations and then you can't read which ones are which. With the lights on the images are so miniscule it is pointless to try and see anything on it.

This star finder is perfect for beginners and casual observers. Just take it outside, set the dial for the correct month and time and, voila! - you have a map of tonight's sky! Not only that, its stars glow in the dark, so you'll spend less time fumbling with a flashlight. I've found it easy to use for finding stars and constellations in the North, East and West. The southern horizon is on the outer edge of the dial, so it gets kind of distorted. There is also a planet finder on the back. It goes through the year 2000. I'm hoping Rand McNally will come out with an updated version soon. Overall, this is one of the most "user-friendly" ways to begin learning about the night sky.