A Galactic Chart
This map is a plot of all the stars visible with the naked eye. There are
approximately 9000 stars visible with the naked eye. This map is plotted in
galactic coordinates - the plane of the Milky Way galaxy passes across the middle
of this chart with the zero point of galactic latitude and longitude pointing
directly at the galactic centre. The majority of the stars plotted on this map
are within a thousand light years from us, which is only a minute part (less than
0.1%) of our galaxy, although there are a few naked eye stars which are probably
beyond ten thousand light years. The major constellations have also been marked
onto this map although constellations have no real significance - all constellations
consist of stars that lie at very different distances. There is a
negative version of this map which might be easier to print.
Back to the Milky Way Galaxy page
