The Star Finder is a planisphere which users can dial the date and time and see the pattern of the stars in the sky. The Star Finder Project was created by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for the 2009 International Year of Astronomy based on an earlier planisphere produced by the National Research Council Canada.
It is made of two pieces of card stock. It is printed in colour and cut to shape by the printer. The user only needs to fold the holder's flaps on the creases and place the round blue sky map into the holder. The flaps have instructions so that someone who has never used a planisphere before could find star patterns in the sky. The back of the star map and holder also has brief comments on 7 different astronomy topics.
The Star Finder was specifically designed to help beginners learn more about astronomy and help those with an interest to get more involved with the hobby.
The Star Finder is available in French (thanks to the help of the FAAQ (www.faaq.org)). A companion website (www.cherche-etoiles.ca) is available with a wealth of basic astronomy information.
