A birthday star map of the sky they were born under

The short answer

• Print the night they were bornThe date on their birth certificate and the town they were born in. The stars stand in nearly the same place on every birthday after, so the birth night is the one that is theirs alone.
• The moon comes back every 19 yearsOn a 19th, 38th, 57th or 76th birthday the moon shows the same phase as on their birth night: 97% or more of those birthdays land within a day and a half.
• Jupiter and Saturn come back tooJupiter is back near its birth-night spot at 12, 24, 59, 71 and 83; Saturn at 29 or 30 and at 59. At 59 both are back at once.
• Order 8 business days aheadPrinting takes 2 to 3 business days and US delivery 2 to 5 more. Ship it to them at checkout if you will not be there.

Updated October 25, 2026, by the Meridian studio.

What is on a birthday star map

Our example is Diane Carter, a made-up name, born in Savannah, Georgia, on November 21, 1969. The poster is our "Our star" design in Navy, 18 × 24 in.

• The sky over their birthplaceEvery star brighter than magnitude 5.8 with the constellation lines, as they stood at about 9 in the evening by the sun. You do not need the time of birth.
• One star circled and named"Our star" circles the brightest named star near the top of the sky. Over Savannah that night it is Mirfak, 58 degrees up.
• A small street mapThe streets around the spot you type, with a heart on it: the hospital, the street they grew up on, or the middle of town. Ours is set on Forsyth Park.
• Their name, the place and the dateUp to 40 characters for the name line: a full name, "Happy 60th, Dad" or "Born under a full moon".

The editor lists every year back to 1930. For a newborn or a first birthday, our birth star map page covers birth weight on the poster, the hospital or home, and which star each birth month gets.

What comes back in the sky on a birthday

The stars return to almost the same place every year on the same date, which is why a birthday poster looks the same whether you print the birth night or this year's birthday. The moon and the planets are different. Each runs on its own clock, and on some birthdays that clock comes round to where it was on the night they were born:

• The moon: every 19 years235 cycles of the moon's phases take 6,939.7 days, and 19 years take 6,939.6, about two hours less. So every 19 years the birthday moon looks the way it did on the night they were born. We checked the 19th, 38th, 57th, 76th and 95th: the two phases are usually less than a day apart.
• Jupiter: about every 12 yearsJupiter takes 11.86 years to go round the sun, so it is back among the same stars at 12, 24, 59, 71, 83 and 95. It drifts a little each lap, so 36 and 48 miss: 13 degrees at 36 and 17 degrees at 48.
• Saturn: about every 29½ yearsSaturn is back at 29, 30, 58, 59, 88 and 89. At 59 Jupiter and Saturn are both back, a few degrees from where they stood on the birth night.

For each age, every 7th day of every 2nd year from 1930 as a birth date, against the same date that many years later, at 9 pm sun time, the hour the poster draws, worked out with astronomy-engine. Moon: how far apart the two phases are, in days (the middle value); "same phase" = 1.5 days apart or less on 9 in 10 birthdays or more. Planets: how far apart, in degrees along the sun's path seen from Earth (the middle value); 10 degrees is about the width of your fist at arm's length.

The poster draws the stars, not the moon or the planets. The editor tells you the moon of the night you type, under the preview; our free sky on any date page shows the moon and the planets for both nights, the birth night and this year's birthday, so you can check before you write a line like "Born under a full moon".

Diane turns 57: the same moon

Diane turns 57 on Saturday, November 21, 2026. Her poster is set on the night she was born, November 21, 1969, over Savannah. The poster's 9 pm by the sun was 9:24 pm on the clock there.

• The moon that night96% lit, waxing gibbous, 68 degrees up. See her birth night.
• On her 57th birthday91% lit, waxing gibbous, 71 degrees up, about 1 day apart in phase. See her 57th birthday.
• SaturnIn Cetus both nights, 63 and 58 degrees up, 25 degrees apart along its path. Jupiter is below the horizon at 9 pm on both.
• Her starMirfak on both nights. The name line could read "Diane, born under a waxing gibbous moon".

Start from this design

Robert turns 59: Jupiter and Saturn back

Robert, also made up, was born in Asheville, North Carolina, on November 28, 1967, and turns 59 on Saturday, November 28, 2026. His poster is "The whole night" in Sage, which fills the sheet with the sky and puts the street map of Pack Square in the middle.

• Saturn, 2 degrees from its birth-night spotHigh in the sky on both nights, 51 and 53 degrees up. It sits on the line between Pisces and Cetus, so the constellation name changes (Pisces, then Cetus) though the planet has barely moved.
• Jupiter, 8 degrees from its birth-night spotIn Leo both nights. At 9 pm it is still below the horizon and rises later in the night.
• The moon is different10% lit, waning crescent the night he was born, 73% lit, waning gibbous on his 59th birthday; neither is up at 9 pm. See his birth night.

Start from this design

Birth night or this year's birthday?

Print the night they were born, unless the birthday itself is the event: a party, a trip or a big day that year. Over the same town the stars on the two posters sit within about a degree of each other, so the picture is nearly the same; only the date under it changes. What tells the two nights apart is the moon and the planets, which is where the table above helps. Our gift for her page shows how often the circled star is the same on her birth night and on her birthday this year.

When to order

• 8 business days before the birthdayPrinting 2 to 3 business days plus US delivery 2 to 5: ordered 8 business days ahead, it arrives in time even when both run slow. US federal holidays do not count. See shipping.
• Send it straight to themType their address at checkout. On US orders your note, up to 300 characters, is printed on a card and packed with the poster.
• A birthday in DecemberFor a birthday close to Christmas, our Christmas star map page lists the last order days for December 2026.

Sizes and prices

Each size and frame carries the same poster. The 12 × 16 in sits on a desk or a shelf, the 18 × 24 in fits most walls, the 24 × 32 in goes over a sofa or a bed.

Shipping is free in the US. Launch prices until Nov 30. More frames, and the price of every size and frame, are in the editor before you pay.

Returns

A poster with a name that arrived as ordered is not taken back. Damaged or printed wrong: email a photo within 30 days of delivery and we reprint or refund in full. See returns.

More star maps

• Birth star map for a new baby
• Star map gift for her
• Star map gift for him
• Christmas star map
• See the sky on any date, free
• Are star maps accurate?