The Night Sky 50°-60° (Small) Star Finder (Map)

~ David Chandler (Author), Billie Chandler (Editor), Milky Way by Don Davis (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Chandler's planisphere is the finest available. -- Terence Dickinson, astronomy textbook author, in SkyNews Magazine --Terence Dickinson

I think The Night Sky is the finest and easiest to use star finding aid in existence. -- Jack Horkheimer, TV's "Star Hustler" --Jack Horkheimer

Most aficionados now prefer David Chandler's The Night Sky wheel. -- J.T. Westways Magazine --Westways Magazine

Product Description

The Night Sky is a rotating star finder (planisphere) that allows the user to recognize the constellations for any time of night, any day of the year. The sky appears to rotate (due to the rotation and orbital motion of the earth), so to be successful recognizing the constellations a beginner needs to know which stars are above the horizon at any time.

This is the pocket-sized version of The Night Sky suitable for the 50°-60° latitude zone (Canada, Alaska, England, Northern Europe, etc.). There are versions for the following latitude zones: 50°-60°, 40°-50°, 30°-40°, 20°-30°, and the Southern Hemisphere. There are also large-sized versions available for the same latitude zones.

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Product Details

• Map: 2 pages
• Publisher: David Chandler Company; Small Plastic 50-60 degrees N Edition edition (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891938096
• ISBN-13: 978-1891938092
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.7 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,508,416 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have, June 7, 2008

By	David E. (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Night Sky, 50°-60° (Large) Star Finder (Map)

This is a durable and easy to use tool for identifying the night sky. Great for novices or seasoned pros. Easy to read with red light. I recommend the large version. Be sure to order the appropriate Latitude!!

4.0 out of 5 stars A decent pocket-sized star map, January 7, 2008

By	Mr. S. J. Brooks (Oxfordshire, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is quite a good star map, showing all the major constellations, the names of a few of the brightest stars and the locations of the Milky Way and ecliptic. There are also some extra dotted lines on it that I guess are to show larger structures that link constellations together, though oddly it does not show the very useful one of taking the last two stars of Ursa Major and extrapolating to the pole star (Polaris).

When I bought this I was mainly looking for a planisphere that fits in my pocket to help me recognise the constellations. This fulfills that need, though there are some ways it could be better. The two-sided projection of the sky to reduce distortion is a clever idea, but in the high latitude (50-60deg North) version I have, it means the back face only shows a small crescent of the low sky around the South direction. For high latitudes a conventional one-sided form might be better. Other planispheres sometimes have tables of the positions of the planets over several years on the back, which would have been a nice addition, whereas this one has no extended information at all, just instructions on how to use the planisphere.

The construction quality is OK, fairly good, though I'm worried the inner layer with the star chart is actually just card (although the outer layers are plastic) and I haven't tried it in very wet weather. The fact that it's a sandwich construction as opposed to two plastic layers in a normal planisphere also makes it a bit harder to turn. I also wish there was a version of this with luminous paper (OK silly I know, but still would be nice).

However, I could find very few pocket-sized (5" or less) planispheres on the internet in my latitude, and this one serves that purpose quite well. Four stars out of five.