Welcome to the Map of the Sky! This is the celestial map representing the Boreal (Northern) hemisphere and a region of the Austral (Southern) one.
The polar projection has been chosen (with the North equatorial pole in the center) to represent the celestial objects down to declination -30 degrees. The map can be used by observers located in the Northern hemisphere (the Southern Sky to be ready in the future).
Five colours (four cyan tones plus white) have been chosen to enhance the celestial objects and lines on the map. Stars up to visual magnitude 6.5 (the usual limit visible with the naked eye by an observer located in the dark country side) have been selected and plotted using a professional catalogue by a specialized astronomical software. Seven symbols were used to represent the magnitudes and nine symbols to show different stars and deep sky objects.
The positions of the stars, the Milky Way, constellation figures and boundaries, deepsky objects, equatorial coordinate grid and the names of the stars and non-stellar objects were all calculated and plotted for epoch J2000.0 (although the map matches the sky well for any year within 50 years of 2000).
An excellent educational guide to be used in schools, colleges, planetaria, astronomical clubs, observatories, etc both by (beginners or advanced) amateur astronomers and the general public, the Map of the Boreal Sky represents a user friendly window to the wonderful sky above us.
The Map of the Boreal Sky is a product of SARM, the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy , being distributed worldwide by its authors and dealers.