Custom Star Map

Every night sky is different, and yours already happened. Give us a date, a time and a place, and we compute where every star, planet and phase of the Moon actually stood over that spot. Then we print it.

What you get is not an illustration of a night sky. It is the record of one.

What’s on the print

• The real sky above your chosen date, time and location, computed to the minute
• Every star down to magnitude 5.5, which is more than a thousand stars on a typical chart, and roughly what good eyes see from a dark site
• Constellation lines drawn in, or left off, your choice
• Planets shown and named, if any were above the horizon that night
• The phase of the Moon that night, and whether it had risen at all
• Coordinates and compass ticks along the edge, because a map should say where it was taken from
• A caption in your own words beneath the chart
• Nothing branded on the front. Ever. The print is yours, not an advert for us

Computed, not decorated

This is the part most star map shops leave vague, so here it is plainly.

Most personalized star maps are one piece of artwork with your date typed onto it. The stars are decoration. Move the date by six months and the picture doesn’t change.

Ours are computed. We run the same astronomical software we use to produce monthly sky guides for thousands of amateur astronomers, project the sky onto the page from your exact latitude and longitude, and plot every star down to magnitude 5.5. Change the date by a single day and the map changes with it, because the sky did. If you want to see how a chart is put together, our guide to reading a star chart covers the same conventions we print.

We’ve been publishing astronomy at Love the Night Sky for thirteen years. We are not a print shop that discovered stars. We’re astronomers who print.

The night decides the picture

You can’t request a beautiful sky. You get the one that was there. That turns out to be the point.

Sometimes the Moon was full and high, and the chart is thin, because moonlight drowns the faint stars. Sometimes it was new, and the sky is crowded. Sometimes Jupiter happened to be days past its brightest of the year, sitting directly above where you were standing. It really was, and the map proves it.

We’ll tell you what was up there. That’s usually the line people end up reading out loud.

Nights people ask us for

The night you met. Usually the hardest to date precisely, and usually the one people care about most. If you can get within a day, we can work with it.

A wedding night. Or the engagement, which is often the better story.

The night a child was born. Parents tend to know this one to the minute, and the Moon phase almost always means something to them.

A night that was only ever yours. No occasion. A good one.

Getting the details right

You’ll need three things: the date, roughly the time, and the place. Town is enough for the place. If you aren’t certain of the time, tell us the part of the evening and we’ll use a sensible hour and say so.

If the night is genuinely uncertain, write to us. We can look at two candidate dates and tell you which sky makes the better picture, which feels like cheating but is entirely allowed.

Not sure the night is the right one? The night we met is the one people agonise over most. And you can always try Tonight’s Sky first, free, to see how the data looks.

Where it is printed, and when it arrives

Every print is made to order at our printer in Bell, California, and sent out in a rigid tube. Delivery is free to the US, the UK and Canada. Allow two to three weeks from your order to dispatch: two working days for us to send your proof, a little time for you to approve it, then eleven days at the press. UK and Canadian orders cross the Atlantic on top of that, so they are worth ordering early.

Common questions

How do you make a personalized star map?

You give us a date, a time and a place. We compute the positions of the stars, planets and Moon as seen from that spot at that moment, project them onto a flat page and typeset the result. Nothing is drawn by hand, and nothing is generated from a pattern.

How much does a custom star map cost?

Three sizes: 11 x 14 inches at $44, 12 x 18 inches at $54 and 18 x 24 inches at $79. Delivery is free to the US, the UK and Canada, and the price includes the proof you approve before anything is printed. If you would rather print it yourself, the digital file is $19 and includes all three sizes.

Is there a free star map?

Yes, and we run one. Our Tonight’s Sky tool shows you what’s visible from where you are, right now, at no cost. It’s a good way to see how the same data behaves before you buy a print of it.

Can I personalize the star map itself?

You choose the date, time and place, the caption, whether constellation lines are drawn, and the size. The stars themselves aren’t adjustable, because they were where they were.

How accurate is it?

Positions are computed to the minute you give us. The one thing we simplify deliberately is time zones: we print the date, not the clock time, so the print stays true whichever side of the world it hangs on.

Can I have a night that hasn’t happened yet?

Yes. The sky is predictable a long way out. A wedding date next June is no harder than a first date twenty years ago.

What sizes are there?

Three: 11 x 14 inches, 12 x 18 inches and 18 x 24 inches. The chart is computed once and typeset to fit whichever you choose, so the detail holds at every size.

The night we met

That is the night people ask for most often, and the hardest to pin down. A star map of the night we met covers what to do when nobody can quite agree on the date.