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All SKY MAPS
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All SKY MAPS
All sky maps are used to located stars and other objects in the sky for a certain date, time and observing location. Just like the Sun moves across the sky during the day the stars will move across the sky during the night. Most of the stars will rise in the east and set in the west. The northern stars will circle the Polars in a counterclock wise direction. Therefore, different sky maps are use through out the night to indicated the positions of the stars.
These sky maps were created to show the entire sky and fill a printed page. Five versions of each sky map are available:
Clicking on the star map shows a more detail constellation sky map.
These sky maps only show stars and not any planets because planets do not repeat their positions in the sky on a yearly basis as do the stars. For planet locations down load the freeware program Home Planet for Windows 95 by John Walker.
To determine the circle sky map to use select the month/date that is nearest to your observing date and then select the closest observing time. Do not be concerned that when you selected a circle sky map that the title is different than you expected. Only 12 different sky maps used to cover the complete year and different times during the night. The names for the sky map was selected as when you would use it 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM in the evening. Therefore the sky maps are titled January Evening, February Evening, ... etc. Notice on each sky map it shows other month/dates and times when that circle sky map is valid to use for observing. Also, see the second table below to see how the same sky map is used for other month/dates and times.
Date |
PM Evening |
AM Morning |
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January 1 |
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January 15 |
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February 1 |
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February 15 |
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March 1 |
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March 15 |
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April 1 |
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April 15 |
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May 1 |
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May 15 |
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June 1 |
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June 15 |
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July 1 |
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July 15 |
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August 1 |
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August 15 |
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September 1 |
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September 15 |
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October 1 |
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October 15 |
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Daylight Saving Time Ends, Standard Time Starts |
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November 1 |
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November 15 |
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December 1 |
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December 15 |
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The below table is another way to determine which sky map to use. To use it first select the nearest month/date row to your observing date. Then select the time column that is nearest to your planned observing time. The intersection on the month/date row and time column will give the best sky map to use. If the intersection is blank select a one hour earlier or later observing time.
This table shows clearly how every 15 days later the same sky map is used one hour early. For example, the sky map for September 15 at 6:00 AM is the same sky map for the following dates and times
Date | Time |
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September 15 | 6:00 AM Standard Time or 7:00 AM Daylight Saving Time |
October 1 | 5:00 AM Standard Time or 6:00 AM Daylight Saving Time |
October 15 | 4:00 AM Standard Time or 5:00 AM Daylight Saving Time |
November 1 | 3:00 AM Standard Time or 4:00 AM Daylight Saving Time |
November 15 | 2:00 AM Standard Time |
December 1 | 1:00 AM Standard Time |
December 15 | 12:00 PM Standard Time |
January 1 | 11:00 PM Standard Time |
January 15 | 10:00 PM Standard Time |
February 1 | 9:00 PM Standard Time |
February 15 | 8:00 PM Standard Time |
7:00 PM Standard Time |
The time in the table is local Standard Time from January 1 through April 1, and November 1 through December 15. Local Daylight Saving Time from April 15 through October 15. Daylight Saving Time is when clocks are moved one hour ahead of Standard Time. The effect can be seen in the table by comparing April 1 and April 15 rows in the below table. April 1, 7:00 PM Standard Time the February evening sky map is used. Also on April 15, 7:00 PM Daylight Saving Time the February evening sky map is used, but remember 7:00 PM Daylight Saving Time is the same as 6:00 PM Standard Time.
Date |
PM Evening |
AM Morning |
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7:00 |
8:00 |
9:00 |
7:00 |
11:00 |
12:00 |
1:00 |
2:00 |
3:00 |
4:00 |
5:00 |
6:00 |
January 1 |
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January 15 |
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February 1 |
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February 15 |
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March 1 |
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March 15 |
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April 1 |
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Standard Time Ends, Daylight Saving Time Starts |
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April 15 |
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May 1 |
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May 15 |
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June 1 |
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June 15 |
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July 1 |
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July 15 |
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August 1 |
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August 15 |
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September 1 |
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September 15 |
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October 1 |
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October 15 |
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Daylight Saving Time Ends, Standard Time Starts |
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November 1 |
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November 15 |
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December 1 |
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December 15 |
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