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

May 2009 version (1.7 Mb PDF) 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 -- as of August 2009)

Southern Hemisphere

English - HiRes (1.3 Mb PDF; Jan 2009); LoRes (530 Kb PDF; Aug 2006)

Español - Planisferio del Tío Al - Hemisferio Sur (564 Kb PDF; Jan 2009)

Português - Planisfério Celeste do Tio Al
Baixa res. (390 Kb; Nov 2007); Alta res. (934 Kb; Jan 2009)

Pulsar Starwheels (1.3 Mb PDF; Jan 2009; in English) - pulsar target objects from Parkes Radio Telescope.

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.