Star map

[Stephen Swain]

Stupid question but can you use a star map in you're back garden ?

 

[MarsG76]

Yeah, of course.... paper is preferable with a dim red light to illuminate it... the dimmest setting on phones and tablets is still too bright and will ruin dark adaption, so it's not advisable to use those while observing. 

That said tho, I did find that in my iPad and iPhone with iOS versions 9 and 10 (and of course 11) there is a ZOOM setting in accessibility... you can fully zoom out so there is no zooming if not needed, but the luminosity of the screen halves and might be dim enough to use while observing... it is actually so dark that its barely visible in day light and at night its hard to read until dark adapted, so here might be a solution for using a tablet with starmaps as opposed to paper and books that can get moist with dew, effectively ruining the maps.

 

[Geoff Lister]

Philips do a glow-in-the-dark planisphere

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Glow-Dark-Planisphere-Latitude/dp/1849071985

I've got one, (the Amazon site just reminded me that I bought it on 22nd January 2012), and it seems to work.

A quick Google search revealed it available for £5.99 from:-

https://www.psbooks.co.uk/Philips-Glow-in-the-Dark-Planisphere-For-Latitude-515-Degrees-N-9781849071987?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwNWQh9-22AIVp5PtCh2QSACpEAQYAyABEgLjwPD_BwE

[Ruud]

With Cartes du Ciel (sky chart) you can print your own charts.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/skychart/