[AANC Contacts] Uncle Al's Kepler Star Wheels

[Alan Gould]

At the latest AANC Board meeting, I mentioned Uncle Al's Kepler Star 
Wheels - a free make-it-yourself planisphere that can serve multiple 
functions with interchangeable wheels.

The concept is derived from the original Sky Challenger which can be 
purchased through Lawrence Hall of Science gift store:
http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/pass/AST110&111&121.html
My favorite wheel in that set is the "Test Your Eyes-Test Your Skies" 
wheel that has certain constellations with magnitudes of the stars 
labeled, so you can test how good your seeing is (your eyes and/or 
your skies).  The binocular treasure hunt is excellent also as is the 
Native American constellation wheel.  Sky Challenger also includes 
the Star Clock: a sort of "circular slide rule" for telling time from 
the relative positions of Polaris, Cassiopeia, and the Big Dipper.

The free "Uncle Al's" wheels can be found in these places:

---Hands-On Universe versions http://www.handsonuniverse.org/
at http://www.handsonuniverse.org/activities/uncleal

---and LHS website link from the online Star Clock 
http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/starclock/
at http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/starclock/skywheel.html

---Uncle Al's Kepler star wheels at the Kepler site http://kepler.nasa.gov/
with link to free PDF at http://kepler.nasa.gov/ed/starwheel

What with the Kepler spacecraft to launch next Thur (Mar 5), Uncle 
Al's Kepler starwheel is particular suitable since it has the Kepler 
target star field marked correctly in Cygnus-Lyra area. It also has 
marked all the naked-eye stars known to have planets (as of about a 
year ago).

Enjoy.

----Uncle Al