How To Read A Star Map
Then turn off the.
How to read a star map. Most maps feature a compass rose in one corner that shows which directions are indicated by the various markers. Go ahead and point the map so north on the map faces north in the sky. How to read a pilot s map of the sky. Published june 8 2016.
Holding it the regular way will be fine though. The starburst like diagram is called a pulsar map because it shows the location of our sun relative to known pulsars. Check the map s orientation. You ll notice that north and south match up but east and west do not.
Find the big yellow w on the map s right side and orient it so the w lies at the bottom as you look due west. Then see how many degrees apart these stars are on the map by referring to the scale of degrees along the sides. Unless otherwise specified the top of the map will always correspond with north. It may be hard to find a good star pair on your map to measure a field so small.
So here s another way. The largest dots are the very brightest stars which are visible no matter how bad the light pollution is. The outer rim of a zodiac chart is divided into 12 sections. Most star maps use different sizes of dot to show the brightness of stars.
The section in which your birth date falls is your zodiac sign. Pulsars are the rapidly spinning remains of dying stars the leftover. Open up the map and take a moment to double check that you re examining it from the correct perspective. Stars on star maps are represented by dots or more correctly circles.
Now do the same to find the field diameter of the telescope s lowest power eyepiece. To hold the star chart simply hold the map up over your head until all the cardinal points match up. Your birth date will fall into one of those sections.