Star atlas · sixteen patterns

The patterns overhead

Fifteen classic constellations — the shapes the stars make for us — plus one famous asterism, the Pleiades. Each is drawn from its true star positions, with stars sized by their real brightness, so the chart matches the sky. Read the finding note before you go out, and work the pattern from its brightest, labeled anchor.

Trace them yourself

The five circumpolar shapes — Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and Draco — never set from mid-northern latitudes: they wheel continuously around the north pole and so appear under every season’s chip. The season filter simply tells you when the other patterns climb high enough to be worth your night. Star sizes are true to life: on any card, a 0.4-magnitude Betelgeuse or a 0.1-magnitude Rigel sits unmistakably larger than its 4th-magnitude neighbors.