Nightward / Cities / Los Angeles
Star map of Los Angeles — the night sky over Los Angeles, on your date
From Los Angeles, Cassiopeia never sets — it circles the pole all year. Pick the night that matters and we draw the sky exactly as it stood above Los Angeles — 34.05°N, 118.24°W — at that hour.
Design your Los Angeles star map — from $29 Free to preview. Nothing to install.
What the sky over Los Angeles is actually like
Los Angeles stands at 34.05°N, and latitude is the thing that decides which half of the sky you are allowed to see at all. From here Cassiopeia is circumpolar: never setting, just wheeling round the pole through the night. The Southern Cross (Crux) never rises from Los Angeles — no date or time will bring it above the horizon. That is why the city matters on a star map and is not simply a caption under it.
- Latitude. 34.05°N — a middle latitude — most of the sky comes round across the year
- Never sets from here: Cassiopeia.
- Never rises from here: the Southern Cross (Crux).
- Rises and sets from here: Orion, Cygnus (the Northern Cross), Scorpius, Gemini.
- Only partly clears the horizon from here: the Plough (Ursa Major).
- Darkest it gets in midsummer: a good 6.1 hours of true darkness even on the shortest night
- Passes closest to straight overhead: Gemini — very nearly at the zenith from this latitude
These are computed, not written: the same star positions the card itself is drawn from, evaluated for Los Angeles's latitude. Change the city on your card and the sky really does change.
When the sky over Los Angeles is actually dark
A good 6.1 hours of true darkness even on the shortest night. Astronomical night — the point where the Sun is far enough below the horizon that the faint stars come out — is what decides whether a sky is worth looking at, and it depends entirely on how far from the equator you are. It does not change what goes on your card: the map is computed for the moment you choose whether or not anyone could have stood outside and seen it. It is simply worth knowing about your own city.
Why the date matters as much as the place
Place decides which stars you can ever see; date and time decide where they were standing. The sky over Los Angeles on a January evening is not the sky over Los Angeles in July — the Earth has moved a long way round the Sun in between, and the same constellations rise hours earlier. That is why a star map of a particular night is a keepsake rather than a poster: it is only that sky if the moment is right.
Make one for Los Angeles
- Pick the moment. The date, the hour, and Los Angeles — or anywhere else on Earth.
- Choose the occasion. Each one is its own designed sky.
- Make it yours. Names, a message, your own words.
- Download and print. A 3000×4200 file — a clean 10×14″ print.
Occasions people make Los Angeles star maps for
- Anniversaries in Los Angeles
- Weddings in Los Angeles
- Newborns in Los Angeles
- Birthdays in Los Angeles
- Memorials in Los Angeles
- Travel in Los Angeles
- Graduations in Los Angeles
- Fresh starts in Los Angeles
Questions people ask
- Can I get a star map for Los Angeles on any date?
- Yes — any date, any time, anywhere on Earth. Give us the moment and we compute where every visible star actually stood above Los Angeles, the same calculation an observatory runs, pointed backwards.
- Is the sky over Los Angeles really different from other cities?
- Genuinely, yes. Los Angeles sits at 34.05°N, and latitude decides which part of the sky you can ever see. The Southern Cross (Crux) never rises from Los Angeles — no date or time will bring it above the horizon.
- Do I need the exact time?
- No. If you only remember the evening, use something like 21:00 — the sky over one night barely turns between 20:00 and 22:00 at the scale this prints. If you know the hour, use it.
- What do I actually receive?
- A 3000×4200 print file — a clean 10×14″ print at 300dpi. You print it, so there is no shipping and nothing arrives late.
Start your Los Angeles star map