Uncle Al's Star Wheels

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. We have Northern Hemisphere version (in English) and Southern (in English, Spanish, an Portuguese) available. These Star Wheels are based on the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) Sky Challenger star wheels that have even more star wheels: a set of 6. They may be purchased through the LHS Store.

Northern Hemisphere

Nov 2007: HiRes (2 Mb PDF); LoRes (1.2 Mb PDF) - both include holder and 2 wheels (basic constellations and coordinates wheels)

Higher Latitude Starwheel (60°+; Alaska; 1.2 Mb)

Southern Hemisphere

HiRes (1.4 Mb PDF); LoRes (530 Kb PDF) - English - Aug 2006

Planisferio del Tío Al - Hemisferio Sur (Español; 564 Kb PDF; Oct 2006)

Planisfério Celeste do Tio Al (Português; Nov 2007)
Baixa res. (390 Kb); Alta res. (934 Kb)

Download Messier Catalog Excel File

To Use the Sky Wheels

Set date and time of night by rotating the Star Wheel in the Star Holder until your desired time of night lines up with the desired date.

To find a constellation note which horizon it is closest to and orient the Star Holder so that horizon is near is at the bottom, making that part of the sky to look right-side up.

Constellations higher in the sky (closer to the zenith) are closer to the center of the map.