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 full-sized version of The Night Sky suitable for the 30°-40° latitude zone (southern half of the US, North Africa, Middle East, etc.). We have versions for the following latitude zones: 50°-60°, 40°-50°, 30°-40°, 20°-30°, and the Southern Hemisphere. We also have pocket-sized versions available for the same latitude zones.

This planisphere is small enough to keep on hand while you're outside with the scope, but large enough to be read easily. It also shows up well under a red light. This planisphere is great for beginners to get a feel for the locations of major stars and constellations. This planisphere is best as a supplement to a sky atlas.

I recently took an astonomy class at my local college. This was a great tool for identifying/locating objects in the night sky.
Until you use one of these planispheres with a red lensed flashlight, you won't realize the advantage of a dark on light format.

Yup, this planisphere, a red lensed flashlight, and a lounge chair under the night sky....and being able to tell my wife I'm doing homework!

I am in the business of painting the night sky on people's ceilings that are visible only at night (www.NightSkyMurals.com). Over the past 20 years I have used different star charts and planispheres to place the constellations in accurate locations for those that want an accurate night sky painted.

Many years ago, I went through many different brands of planisphers and none have even come close to the Night Sky planisphere by David Chandler. It is so easy to read and follow where others that I used were very hard to read and understand. My kids can even look at the Night Sky map and then look up at the night sky and find what they are looking for.

I like to give them out now (when I remember to order them) to my customers who get a mural from me. I will also leave Dave's "Exploring the Night Sky..." too. They are both great items and are great for people new to star gazing and also for the old timers.

Great product and worth every penny!

I have owned other planispheres in the past, but this is the one I am keeping. Just know what the date and time are to align them in the margin, face north or south,and read with a red filtered flashlight.
The planisphere has one side showing the northern galaxies and the other side for southern galaxies which means it isn't all crowded on one side. It is easy to read and fun to trace in the sky.

Get a start chart if you don't have one. It's cheap and an excellent way to know what's in the sky. It doesn't show you everything that available for deep-sky observing, but that's not its purpose. The chart is setup for those items with the most visibility.