This is a little kit for making a nice 11”x17” chart of the Zodiac. The kit has three components.
Trust me that there is no end of pedagogical value in taking several hours to make a nice star chart, even though it is a fairly atypical astronomy assignment.
Using the Simbad database, we have a list of Simbad Query Results of bright stars, and in the query results, I have bolded the stars in the 12 constellations of the Zodiac. These stars are the ones you will be plotting.
This blank Lambert Projection focused on the declinations encompassing the Zodiac constellations is nice to print out on 11”x17” paper (reduced enough that you have some margins).
This Sample Showing Scorpius gives you an idea of what you have to do to get started. It shows the declination axis labeled from -42° to +42° in increments of 3°. It shows the right ascension axis labled from 20h on the left, counting down to 0h and then counting down again 23h, 22h, 21h, and 20h again further to the right. It shows the minutes of right ascension counting down 48, 36, 24, 12, over and over again for each hour of right ascension. It shows symbols you can use for magnitude 1, 2, 3, and 4 stars, and finally, it shows the stars of Scorpius.
