Planisphere

I love it easy to use, you can see where everything is, however it is a shame the planets are left out, however planets are easy to spot(they don't twinkle and are really bright) It is a little expensive for what you get I think its for the quality of the paper they use, its thick semi glossy paper for the instructions and for the planisphere it's self it is nice thick laminated card, and easy to use

Excellent product. Prompt delivery. Great fun to use and very very enlightening and educational.

Simple but a joy to find what your looking at.

Good quality excellent product not difficult to use with practice.

I was interested in the stars

it is the simplest way in for the novice to star gazing

Really handy for finding your way about your own night sky

Excellent quality. As described. Comes even in a protective case. Clear instructions. Very good readable size. You just need to take care of the summer time setting as it's according to BST. You need to do a bit of conversion tho. But down the road just perfect!.

Sehr enttäuschend. Vom royal Observatory in Greenwich hätte ich mit mehr erwartet. Keine Skala für Deklination oder altitude ablesen. Da kannst du dir die Ring Skala für die Right Ascension auch sparen. Blauer Hintergrund macht das Lesen bei Nacht mit Rotlicht unmöglich. Das resultiert in schwarzer Schrift auf dunkel violett. Diese Karte ging postwendend zurück.

Great quality product

Got this for my dad. He seems happy with it. Decent quality. Takes forever to mail though! You are looking at about a 2 month wait to get it.

The item reviewed is 5- below. Over the last years , I bought 5 planispheres; here is the fruit of my comparisons, they have the same diameter of 12 inches except the 'Guide to the Stars', 16 in. Actual sky map diameters are 2-3 inches less. I have written them below, in order of preference from better to worse, imho. **If you know of a better planisphere that I do not know about please let me know. :-) Thank you! ** 1-Guide to the Stars by Ken Graun 2013 ISBN 1928771017 : 16 in diameter with much details; map background is white with stars in black in rather lean font, both disliked by me. The reverse of the back wheel bears enlightening text. Juxtaposed wheels have the same diameter. (Some planisphere's front wheels are smaller, which I prefer). Would be perfect if font fatter/easier to read and background black, like a starry sky! 2-Philip's Planisphere 2012 ISBN 1849071888: the reverse of the back wheel bears text. Crisp yellow (?) font. (am colorblind) on black background, nice. Juxtaposed wheels are of the same diameter. 3-Philips glow-in-the-dark Planisphere 2011 ISBN 1849071985; reverse has no text for it bears, in relief, the UNPROTECTED white gritty phosphor (likely vulnerable, will it eventually fall? Should it be sandwiched /covered?); that phosphor (Mn-Cu doped ZnS?) needs to be exposed to a strong light to glow. The strong light source for this can be shone upon the reverse of the back wheel although instructions rather say to unclip (white flimsy looking plastic clip in the middle) the front wheel to shine light directly to its obverse. Text is larger than the non glowing version from Philip's and thus there are less details given (names of the 7 Big Dipper stars etc are not printed on the glow in the glow-in-the-dark vn). The overall impression is that this is an unfinished product with bare phosphor exposed on the back wheel in direct contact with the holding fingers, a disagreeable sensation to say the least. Juxtaposed wheels are of the same diameter. 4-Firefly Planisphere 2009 (ISBN 1552978532) : star names font is difficult to read compared to the Philip's. Map has dark background. Juxtaposed wheels are of the same diameter. 5-Royal Observatory Greenwich Planisphere (Collins 2013 ISBN 0007540752): Surprisingly despite its name this one is rudimentary, exactly the opposite of what I expected. No details. Dark background. Juxtaposed wheels are of the same diameter. For beginners or kids. Notes: a) 2-3-4-5 seem to be copycats (all written 'Star Map by Wil Tirion') under different publishers with some little differences! b) Planispheres 1 to 5 are built in such way that the stars at their rim are hidden; one must lift the first wheel to sneak under to read the edge of the maps!!!

For the price I expected better quality. The rivet that everything rotates on was installed crooked. I returned it and went back to my paper DIY planispheres.