Activity

Star Wheels

Activity

Star Wheels

Make and use your own Uncle Al’s Hands-On Universe Star Wheels to have a working star map for anytime of night, any month. Find constellations for various latitudes, northern and southern hemisphere, different languages, and even a Kepler Star Wheel for finding stars with exoplanets. Uncle Al’s Star Wheels are inexpensive star maps, adjustable for any time of night in any month of the year. Such maps are also called planispheres. These star wheels were created by the Hall’s Hands-On Universe project, and based on the Lawrence Hall of Science’s Sky Challenger, a set of 6 star wheels, available as a downloadable kit through The Lawrence Discovery Store.

Topics: Earth & Space Science, Astronomy

Grade Level: Grade 3 and up

Activity Type: Outdoor Activity

Make and use your own Uncle Al’s Hands-On Universe Star Wheels to have a working star map for anytime of night, any month. Find constellations for various latitudes, northern and southern hemisphere, different languages, and even a Kepler Star Wheel for finding stars with exoplanets. Uncle Al’s Star Wheels are inexpensive star maps, adjustable for any time of night in any month of the year. Such maps are also called planispheres. These star wheels were created by the Hall’s Hands-On Universe project, and based on the Lawrence Hall of Science’s Sky Challenger, a set of 6 star wheels, available as a downloadable kit through The Lawrence Discovery Store.

Topic: Astronomy

Kepler Star Wheel

Instructions

To Use the Star Wheels

  1. Set date and time

2. Note which horizon the constellation is closest to and put that horizon near the bottom.

3. Constellations higher in the sky are closer to the center of the map.

Download a Star Wheel for your area

Northern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere