Portable Planetariums Home

More than a Portable Planetarium

 
 
Star Maps Handbook for Portable Planetariums´Operators
 
Recommended

For a better understanding of the skymaps in any place on the planet, download the following freeware, created by the prestigious Patrick Chevalley: Cartes Du ciel.

Available in differents languages with wide documentation as support and imaging facilities.

An excelent information source with skill to do sky maps.

 
Minimal necessary astronomy knowledge and "tricks" to work with Portable Planetariums.
The Astronomy is one of the most vast sciences that exist and, at first sight, there can turn out to be tedious the simple perspective to receive operator's training for a Portable Planetarium. Nevertheless, our experience allows us to conclude that an operator can be trainned in a little time, with a set of basic knowledge to manage efficiently a Portable Planetarium. The above mentioned basic knowledge is:

1. Orientation with the Stars

2. Basic Constellations

3. Stars: Birth and Evolution

4. Big-Bang Notions

5. Solar System Notions

6. Universe Notions

Operators must know that Orión Group is near 180 sexagesimal degrees of the Scorpion Group. Or that when a group is a visible high in the sky, the other is "under our feet" or when one is in the East, the other is in the West. Also the operator must know that: these constellation groups define epochs of the year. When in the south hemisphere is visible, high in the sky the Orion Group, beginning the night, is in full summer. If the Scorpion Gropu is high in the sky, beginning the night, is in full winter. If at the beginning of the night, Orión Group is towards the West Horizon and Scorpion Groups towards the East Horizon, is an Autumn. If exactly to the inverse, will be spring. For the Northern Hemispheres is exactly to the inverse of the Southern Hemisphere. We are saying very clair: Orion and Scorpius Groups are easiest constellations, between 88, that any person will identify. The remains are very difficult to identify without something of knowledge.

Identifiying South Celestial and South Terrestrial Poles

It is essential to know that, practically, is possible to join with a straight line the Orion´s Belt with the biggest axis of the Southern Cross and extending this axis three times and average, it marks in the sky the south celestial pole (imaginary place where there happens the axis of rotation of the Ground) ... and, the projection of this south celestial pole, to the horizon, marks the south terrestrial pole!

Identifiying North Celestial and North Terrestrial Poles

 

Utilizaremos la Osa Mayor facilmente visible con el cilindro de Hemisferio Norte de estrellas. Dentro de la Osa mayor existe el famoso asterismo (grupo arbitrario de estrellas creado por la cultura popular) conocido como "The Big Dipper o Cucharón". Las estrellas Merak y Dubeh de este grupo permiten trazar una línea recta directa a la Estrella Polaris, la cual se encuentra extremadamente cerca del Polo Norte del Cielo. La proyección al horizonte de Polaris, identifica con bastante exactitud el Polo Norte Terrestre. Estos temas pueden ser ampliados largamente, en cualquier fuente informativa.

 

Celestial Sphere Rotation

If the presentations are with a South Hemisphere Cylinder, one must use the engine that turns of " right hand to left side ". If we are using a North Hemisphere Cylinder, the movement will be of "left side to right hand"Position of the Stars Cylinders with regard to the Projector´OperatorIn both cases we will incline the cylinder towards the side of the operator. With South Cylinders we will have the north ahead of the operator and south to the backs. With Northern Cylinder all will be exactly to the inverse. The Pole (South or North) must always stay behind the operator. This will guarantee the sure identification of the constellations and will avoid serious mistakes.

Trick:

The principal stars of the Orion Group: Sirius (Can Major, white color), Rigel (Orion, blue), Aldebarán (Tauro, red), Betelgeuse (Orión, Red), forms a rhomb in the sky, inside which is observed that Orion´s Belt isvery close to the diagonals. This rhomb is very easy to identify in the sky since Orion´s Belt almost in the center and the 4 stars that form it (to the rhomb) are of different colors and they are between the most brilliant.

 
Orion Zone
Sccorpio Zone
       
Southern Cross Zone
Bears Zone