Stars in the sky: astronomy and map apps –

You star maps or celestial letters are the graphic records used by astronomy and precisely represent the positioning of objects such as stars and galaxies in the night sky. It is through them that we can locate the stars in the sky.

Widely used since ancient times, they were the basis for guiding large navigations and also the basis for the development of agriculture among some people in History.

Those celestial maps They have evolved a lot over the centuries and are now recreated by complex and precise technological programs. Every day, these programs work together with satellites and guide expeditions into space, for example.

In the case of sailors, if the transmission from the Global Positioning Satellite drops for some reason, they will still be able to consult a table and identify at least 58 bright stars used as a navigation guide. This way, they would be able to measure their direction and, through calculations, establish their latitude and longitude.

On the same point, even though NASA is the greatest power in space study and transit, in 2018 it instructed astronauts on the International Space Station to test and train techniques for observing stars as a possible “plan B” for their space missions.

Therefore, for anyone who knows the stargazing techniques used in ancient times, there is no need to despair if technology lets you down: as always, the stars will be there to serve as a guide for humanity.

But how to identify the graphic elements of a star map?

How to identify the stars in the sky?

If you want to understand how to identify the stars in the sky, but when you find them you have no idea what’s going on there, that’s okay! This is more than normal and most people have difficulty on how to find constellations.

To do this, you first need to understand star charts and what is translated into them.

You star maps They are normally represented in a circular shape, where the edges represent the horizon and the sides indicate the directions north, south, east and west.

Following this logic, the stars in the center correspond exactly to those that appear above our heads. Therefore, it is necessary to position this graph at the top, with the north direction pointing in that direction.

However, if you want observe the night sky By positioning your map this way, it must coincide with the current month. This is because the stars change position according to the time of year and the Earth’s translation. ?

Stars in the sky – types of graphics

What we observe in the night sky can then be portrayed in these star charts. Even though you have already learned about the correct positioning, there are some formats that you can find on the market that have different elements. For example:

Light or dark background

The most common is to find the representation of stars with a black background and the elements in white. This makes the map more natural and the observation more understandable.

However, nothing prevents the map from being colored or having a white background – which even makes it easier to print and annotate if you want to take some notes.

At the Map of My Heaven You can create your map in any color you want, both for the background and for the elements themselves. See some of our options:

Imaginary lines

These lines help guide our gaze to the main constellations (Southern Cross, Orion’s Belt…), delimiting spaces.

On the one hand, you may prefer a star map “cleaner” without them if you have more experience or can find your way around well. If that’s not the case, that’s okay, they’re there to guide you.

Below, details of the elements that make up our star map, highlighting galaxies, imaginary lines and constellations:

Mythological figures or drawn lines representing the constellations

Most of the set of stars bear the name, as well as a Greek myth associated with it.

This is the case of Orion constellation and even the zodiac constellationssuch as Scorpio constellationfor example.

Mainly in ancient times, star maps reproduced drawings that represented these mythological figures.

Read too:
Constellations of signs and Greek Mythology

Nowadays, these representations have given way to others, like a kind of “stick drawing” that connects the “star points”.

In fact, the purposes are different: if you want a more mystical reading, the old ones can be a good choice, but if you just want identify starsthe current ones will serve your purpose perfectly.

Planets

Due to their characteristics and classifications, some planets can be seen here from Earth as if they were very bright stars due to their apparent magnitude (distance that measures the brightness of a celestial body as perceived by an earthly observer).

Some of these planets are Venus, Saturn, Mars and Mercury, for example, and appear within a specific zone demarcated by astronomy on the globe – the zodiacal zone (yes, where we locate the zodiac constellations!).

Their representation may or may not appear in the charts, taking into account the period of the year mainly: these planets also have their own translation period.

Major and minor points

With stars being represented by dots, we can observe larger and smaller dots on many maps.

This occurs because the larger dots indicate the brighter stars and consequently the smaller stars with a weaker glow.

In this sense, it is very complicated to reproduce the brightness of these stars on a correct scale in a graph, since each one has its own very specific apparent magnitude and with enormous variation between them!

Distortions

Another point of great importance is to talk about the distortions presented in the celestial charts.

For example: a star map in a circular format will automatically make the constellations present in the border a little more stretched.

This distortion is natural and rectangular maps that use the Mercator projection, for example, stretch continents and countries located on their edges (as is the case with Antarctica).

Application to identify the stars

We live in modern times where technology helps us a lot to understand and learn more about the universe in which we live.

The same happens when we want to see images of stars in the sky and realize what we see in the sky at night. Currently some astronomy apps for mobile phones help us identify stars more easily. Are they

Celestial Chart: using your cell phone’s camera pointing at the night sky, the application shows stars and constellations that you can find there. There are still around 120,000 cataloged stars and a 3D solar system! Available for Android and iOS. SkyView® Lite: this astronomy app It also shows the main celestial bodies according to their location. It also brings important information, the possibility of “traveling in time” (checking the sky at a certain date in the past or future), in addition to not needing the use of data or GPS to work, in other words: you can take it to places more remote areas or use it on an airplane! Available for Android and iOS. Star Walk 2: following the same line, with it you can too watch the stars and constellations, take “time travel” and observe various celestial objects in 3D and incredible graphics. It is used on stargazing tours in the Maldives and Easter Island, as well as showing the phases of the moon and tracking satellites. It is one of the most complete and is available for Android and iOS.

Other interesting astronomy apps

If you like the topic, you might also be interested in the giant NASA app, which broadcasts daily news, incredible images of the universe, online streaming from your TV and more than 14 thousand videos from the American agency. If you are interested, you can download it for Android or iOS (available in English).

Lastly, another astronomy app very curious is the ISS Detector Space Station. That’s because you may not know it, but it is possible to see the International Space Station with the naked eye! In fact, it’s no joke…the application has star maps and a radar that shows your position on the globe and gives an alert on your cell phone five minutes before the station can be seen by you, providing direction. Surely, that’s why you didn’t count (available for Android)! LOL

The stars in the sky – Creative gift for someone special

Now that you are already a expert on how to find and identify stars, how about gift someone special with them? We at Map of My Heaven We rely mainly on the high-precision catalog of the European Space Agency (Hipparcos Mission), creating mechanisms so that you can customize your star map with any date and location – both past and future!

The result of this is that you can immortalize special moments according to an event that deserves to be remembered by you or someone you care about.

Therefore, it is easily customized to a dating anniversary gift or wedding anniversary giftone gift for creative man or simply a special gift for a special person! LOL

It’s also a great suggestion for present from a distancewe ship by post throughout Brazil.

At the same time that it pleases both men and women, it is also unique because you can customize it with the colors you prefer, a longing phrase or a love phrase and leave it just like the stars in the sky: a spectacle to be observed every day.

Create your star map personalized and take advantage of all the knowledge you have acquired in this matter to value this perfect and complex world that was truly made to be admired! Take advantage of celebrate life It is value people that make it a better place.