How to Choose and Crop a Photo for a Print
How to choose a photo that will print well: checking resolution and DPI, cropping for the right aspect ratio, and fixing common print problems before you order.
Read more →This is where we write down everything we learn making star maps: what to give and to whom, how to print and frame a poster so it looks like it cost more than it did, what was actually overhead on a particular night, and how the companies in this category compare when you read their own pages carefully.
Nothing here is filler written to rank. Every guide is something a customer asked us first, every comparison carries the date we checked the prices, and every article tells you plainly when the answer is “you do not need to buy anything for this”. If you would rather skip the reading and see your own sky, the designer is free.
How to choose a photo that will print well: checking resolution and DPI, cropping for the right aspect ratio, and fixing common print problems before you order.
Read more →How to frame a poster correctly: standard frame sizes explained, matting, glass vs acrylic, and which off-the-shelf frames actually fit 12x16, 18x24 and 24x36 prints.
Read more →Where to print a poster locally or online: Costco, Staples, CVS, Walgreens, and specialist print labs compared on price, quality, and turnaround.
Read more →What separates a star chart, a star map, a sky map, a celestial map, and a planisphere, and which term to use for a custom, personalised print.
Read more →Which constellations are visible from your latitude, why the Southern Cross is invisible from most of the US, and how to check for any place and date.
Read more →The night sky on seven famous historical dates, reconstructed from a real star catalog: the Moon landing, VE Day, and more, with exact times and places.
Read more →How the sky came to have 88 constellations: Ptolemy's 48, the southern additions, the IAU list of 1922, Delporte's 1930 boundaries, and asterisms.
Read more →The 17 brightest stars, Sirius to Regulus: their constellations, when to see each from mid-northern latitudes, and one memorable fact apiece.
Read more →Why the night sky changes with the season: Earth's orbit, the Sun hiding half the sky, the four-minute nightly drift, and each season's constellations.
Read more →Why most custom star maps leave out the planets and the Moon, which makers include them, how the Milky Way differs, and exactly what our maps contain.
Read more →How to read a star map: the horizon circle, the zenith, why east and west swap, the compass ring, magnitude, the grid, and holding it up to the sky.
Read more →What makes a custom star map accurate: catalog, magnitude, projection, time zones, precession, what is left out, and how to check one in Stellarium.
Read more →
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