Chart Art w/ Constellations

Aeric

I'm doing a horoscope for a baby girl. Her grandmother would like to contribute a piece of art. She would like a chart of the horoscope with just the constellations of the zodiac visible, just the dots and lines, no labels or planets. She would like to draw in the mythological characters over the outlines herself, like an old time celestial chart. She just needs the exact position of the stars on the wheel to do it.

Like this: http://www.mediastorehouse.com/p/497/constellation-map-an-indian-sanskrit-star-map-1840-6244658.jpg

I've looked at several online planisphere and horoscope programs but I haven't found one that reproduces just the star patterns on a flat 2D chart, only the perspective of the domed sky from the ground. And they have all been dark sky, no black on white.

Can someone suggest a program so I don't have to do it by hand?
 

Minderwiz

I'm doing a horoscope for a baby girl. Her grandmother would like to contribute a piece of art. She would like a chart of the horoscope with just the constellations of the zodiac visible, just the dots and lines, no labels or planets. She would like to draw in the mythological characters over the outlines herself, like an old time celestial chart. She just needs the exact position of the stars on the wheel to do it.

I can see a number of problems here. If you aim for strict accuracy the result will be confusing.

Firstly, there's the issue of signs and constellations. These are different entities,; Westrrn Astrology uses the tropical zodiac for the signs. If this is for the chart you posted about in another thread, then that was the zodiac that you used. It starts with Aries beginning at the March equinox.

However the star patterns or asterisms are based on the constellations of stars. The constellations don't match up to the signs, being about 26 degrees out. So plotting the constellations would not produce a drawing which was easy to visually interpret. The Sun for example would appear to be in the previous 'sign'. The best solution would be to move the constellations forward to line up with the signs. Not accurate but the artistic licence would make for a more satisfactory result.

There is an alternative of using the sidereal zodiac, which is widely used by Vedic Astrologers and a minority of Western Astrologers but that would only be accurate at the cost of rewriting your interpretations and then finding that the relatives complain that you got the signs wrong. The sample you give below is a Vedic Chart and wouldn't match up to Western signs.

That's a significant problem but it's compounded several times over by finding software to produce the chart in a format that will do. I know that Delphic Oracle will produce a 2D star drawing but only as part of a full chart with planets and signs. The only thing I can think of is to then feed the chart into a design/drawing program to edit out the bits you don't want. If your any good with such programs they could well work with some of the other software you've looked at. In that way you may well get to what her grandmother wants but it's not going to be easy, even assuming it's possible.

Aeric said:

As I said above this is an Indian drawing and would not match with Western signs. Personally, I'd go for the artistic licence and have her find 12 constellation asterisms and then tell her how to order them according to your chart. There are actually at last 14 constellations that lie in whole or part on the zodiac and using them all would again introduce confusion, especially as constellations are not equally spaced and overlap.

Going for a stylised drawing would be much more effective,e even if it's not scientifically accurate.

I'll take a look at DO and see if anything can be done with it and report back.
 

Minderwiz

Delphic Oracle

I had a look at Delphic Oracle, sample chart attached. It does give the star positions of a large number of starts relative to the birth location on the birth date. There are no constellation lines just the stars marked by black dots. On the computer, hovering over a star gives it's name and position. That, of course, does not work with a print off. The positions are the true positions, so stars in the constellation of Taurus appear in the Sign of Aries but without the lines that is not obvious. Also there's a lot more constellations than the twelve that gave their name to the zodiac signs.

My feeling is that it doesn't meet your needs but I've attached it so that you can see. I've not tried to edit it in a Drawing program but I'm guessing whilst it's possible to add the constellation lines it's just too much of a job to do it.
 

Attachments

  • Delphic Oracle.jpg
    Delphic Oracle.jpg
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Aeric

Thanks for all the information. This is very helpful I may just go with Delphic Oracle.
 

Barleywine

Here's something you might be able to work with if you have an image-editing program. These are from a playing-card deck called Night Sky; they're basically a learning tool for 52 different constellations.
 

Attachments

  • Constellation Cards.jpg
    Constellation Cards.jpg
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Minderwiz

Thanks for all the information. This is very helpful I may just go with Delphic Oracle.

I can send you a copy of the chart for the birth you mentioned in the other thread as a jpg file (full size, as Aeclectic reduces the file size) if you can give me an email address; otherwise I can just attach a copy to the thread, but size will be reduced.

You can then show it to the grand mother and as her if it's suitable as a base to work from. I'm inclined to see Barleywine's suggestion as more useful from an Art point of view, so it may be that the DO chart can only be of value to place the constellations against the background.

Let me know either way.
 

Aeric

I actually collaborated with an artist friend who has a steadier hand to do it all manually. I gave her a copy of the chart and she is producing it in a large square of poster paper that the grandmother can turn into a wall hanging. But even better it is white-on-black, done in phosphorous inks so that the constellation lines are visible in light but disappear in the dark and leave the white stars with the images Grandma will draw in! Thanks for the suggestions.
 

Minderwiz

Sounds good! I don't think You would get what you want from software alone but involving an artist is going to get the results your looking for