Our Solar System

Anniversary star maps

The sky of the night it all began.

The stars over the place your story started, at the minute you remember: a first date, a proposal or your wedding day, with the Moon in its phase and the planets where they stood.

Design your anniversary star map · £19 Open this example
Example: BrightonMonday 27 April 2015, 21:00 BSTBlack · 50 × 70 cm

What the sky held that night.

Over Brighton at 21:00 on 27 April 2015, worked out by the same engine that draws the print.1

  • The Moon, 67% litA waxing gibbous, high in the south.
  • MercuryLow in the north-west.
  • VenusHalf way up in the west.
  • MarsLow in the north-west.
  • JupiterHigh in the south-west.
  • 4,385 starsEvery star to magnitude 6.5 above the horizon, the brightest of them Sirius.

A sky that was yours alone.

Come back to the same date a year later at the same hour and the stars stand in much the same places. The Moon and the planets do not: each has moved on along its own path, so the sky of your night, with its Moon and its planets, belongs to that night.

The Moon's phases come back to about the same time of year after almost exactly 19 years, the Metonic cycle,13 so a full Moon on your first date returns near that date years later.

In the traditional lists of anniversary gifts, paper is the first anniversary in the US and the first or second in the UK,12 which makes a print a natural early gift.

Words for an anniversary star map.

A title and a line under it. Each opens the designer with the words in place, ready for your names.

Questions about anniversary star maps.

Which date should I use for an anniversary star map?

The day your story began: a first date, the proposal, or the wedding itself. Many couples choose the night they met for an early anniversary and the wedding day later on.

Can I give it as a first anniversary gift?

Yes. Paper is the first anniversary gift in the traditional US list and the first or second in the UK list.12 The print file is yours to print on any paper you like.

Does the sky repeat on our anniversary?

The stars come back to much the same places at the same hour each year, but the Moon and the planets move on. The Moon's phases return to about the same time of year after almost exactly 19 years.13

How accurate is the star map?

We test it. For four reference moments our chart is checked against JPL's Horizons system and the US Naval Observatory: the planets land within 3 arcseconds, the Moon within 12 and the bright navigational stars within 1.5. On a 50 × 70 cm print the worst of them is less than 0.03 mm from where it belongs.1,2,3

What do I get when I buy the print file?

A PNG image of your design at 300 dots per inch, at the size you chose (5,906 × 8,268 pixels for 50 × 70 cm), ready for any printer. Straight after payment we make your file at full size, ready to download from your order page, and we email you a link to it that keeps working.

Design your anniversary star map · £19All about the prints

More occasions.

Not sure of the night yet? See the night sky on any date, free, then keep the one you want.

Sources

  1. Our own test of the chart against [2] and [3] for four reference moments (tests/prints-chart.test.js in our code, October 2026): planets within 3″, the Moon within 12″, the navigational stars within 1.5″; under 0.03 mm on a 50 × 70 cm print.
  2. JPL Horizons System, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons
  3. Astronomical Applications Department, US Naval Observatory. aa.usno.navy.mil/data
  4. The IANA Time Zone Database and its notes on how reliable old entries are. iana.org/time-zones, theory.html
  5. Wedding anniversary, table of traditional gifts (Traditional US and Traditional UK), Wikipedia, read 14 October 2026. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_anniversary
  6. Metonic cycle, Wikipedia, read 14 October 2026: "a period of almost exactly 19 years after which the lunar phases recur at the same time of the year". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonic_cycle

The example's names are made up. Prices are in pounds sterling; the print file is a digital download. Every data source is on our credits page.