Star Charts come in a lot of different styles, types and sizes. You can get complete books (recommended if you are a serious amateur who really wants to dig into the hobby) or easy to use star wheels that you rotate according to the date and time (recommended for beginners)
Available at Amazon.com
Star Maps for Beginners: 50th Anniversary Edition
The Concise Atlas of the Stars
Most casual stargazers and amateur astronomers have limited time to spend on their hobby. Given the choice, they would prefer to spend their time viewing stars and constellations rather than trying to find or identify them.
The Concise Atlas of the Stars uses transparency overlays for the full-page images of the night to identify the stars, nebulas, galaxies and the 15 most interesting constellations. Each constellation featured is presented as a full-page spread with a transparent overlay. Details include:
- Name of the constellation
- Location, luminosity and dimensions of the main stars and most interesting objects
- Best time of night for observing
- History and characteristics
- Map of the constellation and its surroundings
- Transparency showing the outline of the constellation with its stars
- Full-page night-sky photo of the constellation.
A concealed wiro-binding allows the book to open flat at any page to keep hands free for adjusting a telescope.
Attractively illustrated with clear star maps and spectacular photographs, this book will be consulted again and again The Concise Atlas of the Stars is an accurate and handy reference to the night sky.
Sky & Telescope's Star Wheel 40 North
Available at Edmund Scientific
The Edmund Scientifics Star Chart
Our famous rotating roadmap of the heavens shows the location of the stars, constellations and planets relative to the horizon for the exact hour and date you determine.
Our 8 1/2" square star chart was plotted by the late astronomer and cartographer George Lovi. The reverse side of the locator is packed with additional data on the planets, meteor showers and bright stars.
Included with each star chart is a 16-page, fully-illustrated pocket size instruction booklet.
The Electronic Night Navigator
Find and Identify Constellations, Stars, Planets in Just Seconds!
Compact, Easy-to-Use
The portable, hand-held Night NavigatorT automatically shows you where to look to find the four visible planets-Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Saturn, all first magnitude (brightest) stars visible from your location, and 43 different constellations and Zodiac Signs. Sixteen different illuminated screens chart the night sky.
To operate just press the find button, type in your request and Night NavigatorT tells you which chart to select, highlights the object on the chart, and helps you locate the object in the sky by beeping when you are facing in the correct direction.
The Edmund Scientific Sky Atlas - Laminated Deluxe Edition
This enhanced second edition has nearly double the number of plotted stars, ensuring that star patterns will be easier to recognize with a telescope or binoculars.
The number of deep-sky objects is approximately 2,700. The charts illustrate the stars, double and multiple stars, variable stars, deep-sky objects, constellation boundaries and much more!
The Sky Atlas Deluxe contains twenty-six laminated star charts (21" x 16"), covering both hemispheres, and seven detailed charts of selected regions together in a wirebound book. Each main chart is at a scale of 8.2 millimeters per degree. The Sky Atlas 2000 will surely be very useful and relevant to the astronomical individual for many years to come
Map of the Universe Poster - (Available at Scientifics Online)
Imagine being able to stand on the highest mountain top gazing up at an impossibly clear night sky.
What would you see? Well, you might see something like this intense view of the whole of the universe spread out before you in all its cosmic glory. Shows all major constellations, nebulas, stars, precession cycle...and it glows in the dark! A huge 36" x 36". .
Milky Way Poster -
This magnificent panorama of the Milky Way, assembled by photographer Axel Mellinger, captures the glory of our home galaxy as never before.
Mellinger obtained 18 wide-angle images over a span of 2-1/2 years, traveling to observation sites around the world-from California's White Mountains to South Africa's Cederberg Observatory.
He then digitized all the exposures and stitched them together into this seamless and timeless mosaic. Inset identifies major constellations and bright stars. Measures 48" x 16".
The Telescope Nerd 
