3D Sky - Interactive Sky Chart

3d sky viewing is an excellent way for amateur astronomers to get acquainted with the night sky. An interactive sky chart is not only a handy tool for studying the constellations and learning where they are located, but it also serves as a guide that gives you directions to find the stars and constellations visible from your specific location. For any aspiring astronomer, an interactive night sky map is a great place to start.

Interactive sky maps come with a number of benefits for amateur astronomers and anyone who is merely curious about what stars, constellations and astronomical asterisms they are seeing when they look up into the night sky.

An interactive sky chart shows everything that one can find in a traditional night sky chart – star positions, planets in the solar system, constellations, and other night sky features – but interactive sky viewing also allows one to study the night sky as it appears to observers from any location, at any given time.

All you have to do is type in the longitude, latitude and the local time of any given place on Earth. Sky maps usually also offer horizon views of the night sky, which makes it even easier to find a place to start.

The 88 star constellations are not always easy to find in the night sky. If you live too far north or south, there is a good chance that you will not be able to spot all the prominent stars and constellations that you are looking for. The 3d sky chart shows you the night sky map for the exact place where you live. This can not only help with orientation, but also serve as a tool for discovering the constellations that can be easily seen from your location, which makes it an excellent constellation guide for beginner astronomers.

Once you enter the date and place, the interactive sky chart will instantly display the view of the night sky at your location. The night sky map will feature the most prominent constellations, making them very easy to find in the sky. The most notable constellations in the northern hemisphere include Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, and Perseus constellation. Some of the best known ones in the southern sky are Carina, Eridanus, Sagittarius, Canis Major, Centaurus and Crux (The Southern Cross) among others. Famous constellations located near the celestial equator include Aquila, Ophiuchus, Orion constellation, and so on.

The 3d night sky chart is a very convenient tool for locating the position of the planets in the solar system at any given point in time. This can be very helpful to determine the best time to observe the planets, with the naked eye or with a telescope. It also helps amateur astronomers tell the difference between a planet and any of the brightest stars in the night sky if two or more prominent celestial objects are in close proximity.

The planets of the solar system are not easy to pin down if you are only getting started with your education in astronomy. The outer planets – gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – are not easily found without a telescope or binoculars and they constantly travel (granted, slowly) across the night sky. This is why it is important to know in which corner of the sky they are going to be and if there are any bright objects nearby that will make it easier to see the planets. The terrestrial planets – Mercury, Venus and Mars – change position relatively quickly and are often confused for stars on a clear night. To find them, it is important to know in which constellation they are located at any given point.

Some interactive sky maps offer a pretty good view of deep sky objects, ones that you can’t see as clearly with a regular telescope. These include galaxies, star clusters, nebulae, supernova remnants, and so on. Wikisky.org and Google Earth’s Sky tool are probably the best known sites to offer such sky maps.