If you are wanting to set up not only a realistic night sky but also one that is astronomically correct I now have new constellations stars that work with my XVR-530 star ceiling kits for star gazers that want more than just a random star ceiling. I will not be giving any details here about what my star kits consist off or going into how and why my star ceiling art works so before making a purchase you will need to read the description for my XVR-530 star ceiling that has full details and instructions on placing the random stars. This page is only about the constellation side of the star ceiling that you will create and the instructions on how to fit them.

The Little Dipper
(Within the Ursa Minor Constellation)

To order your constellations you will need to choose 3 templates that work with each single random star kit and 4 or 6 templates for each twin pack from the above selection and then give me a note letting me know which ones they are, for example; C3, C7, C11, C14. You do not have to send me a separate email to give me this information you can simply leave it as a note to the seller when you checkout through PayPal. I will be adding more star constellations to this list so if you want one that is not here let me know and if it's suited to my ceiling art I will add it. Some constellations are not suited simply because they contain to many stars and will interfere with rest of the star ceiling so I will let you know if that is the case, as an example the phoenix constellation (C13) and gemini (C8) is pushing this limit.

You will need your constellation templates and one person to help you with a torch. The torch should have a wide beam as shown in this picture as a narrow beam will not produce a very clear image. The person holding the torch and template can use the back of a chair to help steady their hands but it's not critical. This person should hold the torch at a distance from the template that will give a constellation projection of around 1 metre or 3 feet in length as seen here in the above image, you do not want to space any star constellation closer together than this. Bringing the torch closer or further to the template will vary the shadow image size. The torch beam should hit the printed side of the projection template.

Once your helper is projecting the image you can place the correct colour marker in each position and it's a good idea to have the amount and colour you need ready to grab from your hand as seen here. Place orange markers over the small holes, red markers over the medium holes and blue markers over the large holes.

You will be able to place almost any star constellation in around a minute. The person holding the template should concentrate on keeping the shadow image fairly steady for this time and don't worry it's very easy to stop at any point and then re-align the shadow to match the markers that you have already fitted. Do the same until you have the markers of all your constellations fitted. Also make sure they have separation don't have each constellation butting up to the next or it will make it harder to spot the stars within a given constellation.

Once the markers are in position you can simply take the corresponding star from the set and place it within the marker. Take micro stars from the set that match the colour of the marker you are fitting, so if it's a blue marker take any star that is in line with the blue triangles and the same for the red and orange markers. That's it, when you have fitted your stars you will have star constellations placed in an astronomically correct position and without the tedious process of trying to map out your ceiling. Remember it is very important to have each star constellation spread over at least a 1 metre or 3 foot area and not closer.