Starwheels

Uncle Al's Starwheels are inexpensive star maps, adjustable for any time of night in any month of the year. Such maps are also called planispheres. These Starwheels were created by the Hall's Hands-On Universe project, and based on the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) Sky Challenger, a set of 6 star wheels, formerly available through the Hall's Discovery Corner Store.

[Click for larger image.]

To Use the Sky Wheels

Set date and time
Note which horizon the constellation is closest to and put that horizon near the bottom.
Constellations higher in the sky are closer to the center of the map.

Northern Hemisphere

English - Northern Hemisphere Starwheel (1.7 Mb, PDF; May 2009) includes holder and 2 wheels (basic constellations and coordinates wheels)
Higher Latitude Starwheel (60°+; Alaska; 1.7 Mb)
Kepler Star Wheel (has Kepler target field marked, as well as all naked eye stars known to have exoplanets -- periodically updated)
Japanese Star Wheel (1.6 Mb, PDF; prepared by Kaoru Kimura)
Icelandic Star Wheel (64°N; 1.4 Mb, PDF; prepared by Sverrir Gudmundsson for the Stjörnufræðivefurinn website)
Blank Star Wheel (no lines or labels)