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Glossary term: Sky Map

Also known as Celestial map or Star chart

Description: A map that points out the position of astronomical objects (stars, planets, the Sun, the Moon, etc.) on the sky at a particular point in time.

Sky maps allow astronomers to find the locations of objects in the night sky and can be used for navigation.

Modern astronomical researchers make maps of the sky as part of astronomical surveys which record a wide variety of information about the objects they study.

Interactive sky maps for the general public are available as computer programs or mobile apps.

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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".

Related Activities


The sky at your fingertips

The sky at your fingertips

astroEDU educational activity (links to astroEDU website)
Description: Build a simple cross-staff and measure the stars!

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

Age Ranges: 10-12 , 12-14
Education Level: Middle School , Primary
Areas of Learning: Informal/Field Trip Related , Observation based , Project-based learning
Costs: Low Cost
Duration: 2 hours
Skills: Analysing and interpreting data , Developing and using models