Labs / Astronomy
Planetarium Sky Chart
You are lying on your back looking straight up: the edge of the circle is your horizon and the centre is the point overhead. Drag the date and time sliders to turn the whole sky about the celestial pole, and click any star to read exactly how high and in which direction it sits right now.
LST 00:00Polaris 40°Vega
What to try
- Slide your latitude toward the North Pole. Which stars stop setting and just circle the pole all night long?
- Why does the altitude of Polaris always come out almost exactly equal to your latitude?
- Jump to Sydney at 34°S. Where did Polaris go, and what appears near the bottom of the sky instead?
- Hold the time fixed and drag the date across a whole year. How far does a star like Vega drift from one month to the next?
- Let the sky spin and watch Orion. Does every star trace a circle around the same point, and which way do they turn?