Each panel of this map shows the sun and stars looking south at noon on the first day of each sign in teh Zodiac. The stars at midnight at that time of year are mapped on the opposite panel.

The stars are mapped as they are currently seen in the sky. You'll notice that the sun is not currently in the constellations named in the Zodiac at the dates corresponding to the astrological signs. For example, the sun currently comes into Pisces about March 20 - the first day of Aries.

The dates for the astrological signs were accurate about 3,500 years or so ago when astrology was developed, but due to precession of the equinoxes (a slow wobble in the Earth's rotation), the constellations have drifted eastward a little over 15 degrees - or one month's time - since then.

The vertical figure 8 on each panel is the analemma, or the equation of time. It is a measure of how far ahead or behind the sun is from where you expect it to be if the earth traveled at a constant speed in it's orbit. The analemma is traced on the ground by the shadow of a stick marked at it's longest point each through a year.

This map is currently unavailable, though we hope to publish it later. If you would like one, however, email me.

Wouldn't this map be cool with a map panel added in the center of the sky overhead at the moment of your birth (or some other momentous moment)? Click the thumbnail image to view the full map [~280K].