Firefly Planisphere Deluxe

Rating:
Summary: All You Ever Wanted in a Planisphere (and More)
Review:

A planisphere is a wonderful thing for astronomy. It is a quick and lightweight way to find out what is up in the sky at any time of night, it never needs batteries (other than perhaps a light source to read it by), and it also can help you to learn how the night sky moves from hour to hour and month to month. It gives you a tactile connection to the night sky that computer programs cannot. I don't think any amateur astronomer should be without one.

To be sure, not all planispheres are created equal. Some are paper, some are plastic, some are a bit of both. There are planispheres that show light-colored stars and constellations on a dark sky; there are planispheres that show them the other way around. One of my favorite planispheres is the Chandler planisphere, which uses both sides of the planisphere--the northern sky on one side, the southern on the other--to reduce the distortion that is much worse on other planispheres.

As nice as it is, the Chandler planisphere has a few drawbacks that keep it from being the ideal specimen--for me, at least. The map disc is made of paper, rather than plastic (the sleeve is plastic, though); also, the thing is a bit too small. Probably in large part for that reason, there are just too few stars on it for me to do much with it beyond getting my general bearing.

Now, a new planisphere has stepped into the fray. Designed and executed by Wil Tirion, the leading light of stellar cartography, the Firefly Planisphere is a work of art. The moment you pick it up, you can tell it's substantial. The map disc is thick and large: 15 inches across, and about a millimeter thick. The planisphere as a whole weighs several ounces.

That bulk is not without benefit, though: this planisphere has a wealth of information readily available on it. The large stellar database is only the beginning of the story: all stars down to magnitude 5.5 and north of declination -50 degrees. It's the other objects shown that are the real forte of this item: all of the Messier objects, plus quite a few NGC objects outside the Messier catalogue. All galaxies are shown with their proper orientation and, space permitting, their proper sizes and aspects as well.

Also marked on the map are the celestial equator and the ecliptic, as well as the basic outline of the Milky Way. (The sky of the planisphere is a medium light sky blue, with the Milky Way shown in lighter blue.)

The mask, whose purpose is to obscure the stars except those up in the sky, is also a work of ingenuity. The planisphere is designed for latitudes between 40 and 60 degrees north, a wide range, but unlike the Levy planisphere, which is a bit larger and covers a similarly wide range of latitudes, the mask is not simply set for a latitude in the middle of the range. Instead, the mask has three separate horizon lines--one for 60 degrees, one for 50 degrees, and one for 40 degrees. The latitude range is a bit high, being designed for use in Europe as well as North America, but there are things you can do to make the planisphere usable even outside that range. (See my page at http://astro.isi.edu/notes/firefly.html for more on this.)

In addition to these two standard components of the planisphere, the Firefly planisphere has a third component: a pointer, calibrated with a declination line (marked to the nearest degree) and the analemma, too. The declination line can be rotated freely from the map and mask, allowing you to measure the declination of any star. The analemma can be used to find out more precisely the time of sunrise and sunset. The procedure for doing so is a bit complex, but is described in detail in the accompanying 24-page booklet, written by noted author Storm Dunlop.

Of course, the booklet covers all the other functions of the planisphere. It also has a section describing the various types of objects plotted on the planisphere. In addition, the booklet gives the celestial coordinates for the planets at various times from 2003 through 2006. By using the right ascension dial on the map disc, and the declination markings on the pointer, one can easily pinpoint the location of most of the planets, plus the asteroids Ceres and Vesta, to within perhaps half a degree.

In short, the Firefly planisphere has just about everything one could hope for in a planisphere, except it doesn't employ the clever trick of the Chandler planisphere to reduce distortion. Why not?

It's because, as it happens, the other side of the Firefly planisphere is already used up--with a second star map, this one to a slightly larger scale, showing stars to magnitude 6.0. It's just about a fully functional unaided-eye star map! Because it only employs blue and black ink on a white sky, this map is easier to use under a red flashlight than the front map. The printing on this side is not quite as nice as the front side, with the constellation and declination lines especially showing some aliasing effects, but they don't noticeably affect the use of this map, only its aesthetics.

It's impressive to me that all this functionality (a) can be squeezed onto a 15-inch disc, and (b) costs so little, relatively speaking. Yes, it is expensive as planispheres go, but only because so much work went into its making, and because you can get correspondingly much information out of it. I've seen planispheres that go as deep in stellar catalogue, but without nearly as many objects or features, go for twice as much. And if, like me, you enjoy star maps on the face of it, you'll definitely want to get this one, because like John Keats's thing of beauty, it's "a joy for ever."

Rating:
Summary: Close But No Cigar
Review: I only gave this 3 stars, but one simple change would give it 5. The constellation lines are drawn in red. What's bad about that? Well, astronomers use red lights at night to preserve their night vision. Red light makes red lines invisible, so this planisphere is useless at the telescope where it's most needed. Changing the color to black would improve this by 1000%. As a result, this planisphere sits home never used.

Rating:
Summary: Truly amazing -- but not for the beginner
Review: The Firefly Planisphere Deluxe is the results of truly great, astronomical minds Storm Dunlop and Will Tirion. Anyone with a good working knowledge of the night sky will most likely appreciate the plaisphere for it has a vast amount of information printed right in front of you. (See other reviews for the extraordinary features of this device.)

However, if you are just starting to learn the night sky you may find this planisphere more complex than helpful. You may wish to try a simpler plainisphere or other visual device to help you get aquanted with the sky at first. The great amount of detail that appears is printed in very small type that can be a bit challenging for the naked eye to read. I use a magnifying glass myself. Also, the inclusion of such a wide range of horizens (40, 50 and 60 degrees north) makes this large plainshere really function as a somewhat smaller version. If they had printed a smaller range for the horizon they could have used the space available to make it easier to read and understand.

In conclusion, if you have a pretty good feel for the night sky the Firefly Plaisphere Deluxe may be just right for you. If you are just getting started you may find it a bit overwhelming, at least until you grow into it.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent and highly usable
Review: This is probably the best planisphere I have (I have 3) and very usable. It is usable both as a desk top study/planning tool and also out in the field. The front side of the planisphere that contains the sky mask is more suited for indoors use. The color-coded stars and red constellation lines are impossible to see in the dark with a red flashlight. However, this side is eminently suitable as a desk top planning tool given the tremendous wealth of detail and info.
The back side of the planisphere is unmasked and contains a very detailed sky map mainly for Norhern hemisphere users. This is blue-tone printed and is usable in the dark and the details show up well under a red flash light. An extra bonus are detailed markings of double stars, variable stars, all the Messier objects and selected NGC objects, such as the double cluster. The large size of the planisphere might be ergonomically inconvenient in the field and a little dorky looking, but hey it's virtually a star atlas with all the fabulous detail! After using this planisphere for a while, I picked up some of my others and they just look juvenile. I've gotten spoilt! I would say the next most decent planisphere is one of David Chandler's ( I like the distortion-free flip side Southern view option of his).

Rating:
Summary: This planisphere is a hit
Review: This planisphere is truly remarkable. Yes, after reading the previous review, the red lines connecting the principle stars of the constellations can be somewhat cumbersome to the novice. (But, turn the map around and there on the back of the disk, you have a complete black and white map of the front plotted down to the sixth magnitude intended to be used with red light.) This planisphere is designed for the more experienced observer, but it still can be used by people just learning their way around as well. The revolvable indicator is very useful to plot and assess the location of objects not plotted on the chart relative to your local horizon. If there were to be changes for a second edition planisphere, I would like to see the map extended southward to include the 30 degree north latitude zone, and being a deep sky observer myself, perhaps in addition to the messier catalog, the top 300 objects on the NGC catalog plotted on the map as well. Contrary to other reviews, there is still considerable idle space in many areas of this map, especially the southern half of the map area, for plotting additional deep sky objects. Otherwise, I highly recommend this planisphere for any astronomer's reference library.

Rating:
Summary: Planisphere Deluxe
Review: This planisphere provides a wealth of detail and usefulness for latitudes between 40 and 60 degress north, and for stars below magnitude 6. It is perfect for visual, binocular, or telescope observing. Its large size and plastic guide provide accurate RA and Dec values; astronomical objects are color coded and their magnitude is indicated by relative size. One side of the planisphere has a celestial map allowing identification of the night sky on any day, guided by an appropriate "mask" revealing the sky that's visible. The opposite side of the planisphere has no "mask" but is a complete map of the sky for the latitudes covered - if you don't have an atlas of the sky, this is a great starting point. The planisphere is large, aiding accuracy, and is very sturdy and well made. For many people, this may be the tool that gets them hooked on astronomy, even if they don't have a telescope! Though I have several other planispheres, none compares; it's one of those quality products that's a joy to use! The planisphere comes with a 24 page guidebook that is not totally clear; however, the instrument itself leaves me totally satisfied.

Rating:
Summary: Planisphere Deluxe
Review: This planisphere provides a wealth of detail and usefulness for latitudes between 40 and 60 degress north, and for stars below magnitude 6. It is perfect for visual, binocular, or telescope observing. Its large size and plastic guide provide accurate RA and Dec values; astronomical objects are color coded and their magnitude is indicated by relative size. One side of the planisphere has a celestial map allowing identification of the night sky on any day, guided by an appropriate "mask" revealing the sky that's visible. The opposite side of the planisphere has no "mask" but is a complete map of the sky for the latitudes covered - if you don't have an atlas of the sky, this is a great starting point. The planisphere is large, aiding accuracy, and is very sturdy and well made. For many people, this may be the tool that gets them hooked on astronomy, even if they don't have a telescope! Though I have several other planispheres, none compares; it's one of those quality products that's a joy to use! The planisphere comes with a 24 page guidebook that is not totally clear; however, the instrument itself leaves me totally satisfied.