Introduction:
Glow paint makes excellent glow-in-the-dark stars. There are many kits available that allow you to fairly easily create a pretty starry scene, but even the best of the kits are only marginally realistic. 4 years ago I used the StarRooms kit and was very pleased, except for the fact that they squeezed the entire globe from +90 to -45 declination into a hemisphere (you can see ALL the constellations at once!) with the North Star directly overhead.

Later, we moved into a new house, and I wanted to do a better installation. This would require making my own set of tools. I realized that I had a fair shot at fixing all the problems with the previous installation by making a half a transparent dome printed with the stars, then projecting them up onto the ceiling, and painting stars in glow paint wherever the shadows appeared. (StarRooms works the same way, except the transparency is flat, and contains too much sky crammed into too little space.)

Making the transparent dome was the big challenge. Painting the stars was straightforward, especially having done it once prior. I'll attempt to demonstrate how I completed the project.

The Dome:
There are plenty of software packages that do a great job of creating star charts. I used Starry Night Deluxe (Sienna Software) to print out charts on transparency film. Charts were carefully cut into wedge shapes along the arched lines of constant longitude. The wedges are 2h wide in RA (30 degrees), requiring 12 total wedges to cover the sky. The wedges were carefully assembled into a hemisphere. Here is a sample of the charts:

The above charts are shown at higher contrast than actually printed. The grid lines and Milky Way were deliberately printed faint to allow the stars and constellation lines to more easily be seen.

The next figure shows the assembly. The pieces were attached with clear packing tape. Ordinary cellophane tape is very hazy, and shows up as dark shadows in projection. Clear tape is much less obtrusive. Notice that the constellations are backwards! They would appear correct if you put your eye in the center of the dome (which is of course, exactly the geometry we are after in the end.)

A mini mag light with the reflector removed serves as an excellent point source. You need a very small source to get sharp images on the wall. If you have ever made a "pinhole planetarium," you might recognize this sucker as the granddaddy of all homemade pinhole planetariums.

The dome was mounted on a board with a hole for the flashlight at the center, and a threaded hole for a tripod adapter.
 

Painting the Stars:
This section you'll have to take on faith, because there is no way I'm wasting film on trying to photograph the glowing stars I painted. But you are welcome to visit some evening, provided you are a well-behaved guest.

The dome and flashlight were mounted in the center of the room, which measures about 15 x 15 feet, at a height of about 4 feet off the floor. The room was sealed to all external light, shades drawn, DROPCLOTHS PLACED VERY CAREFULLY OVER EVERYTHING. A fluorescent blacklight was turned on to charge up the glow paint. The stars were then dotted onto the walls, ceiling, drapes, windowshades, and everywhere a star shadow appeared. I used wooden dowels of various diameters to make brighter stars larger, etc. Didn't worry too much about accuracy here either. The Milky Way was spattered on with a toothbrush. I painted M31 in by hand, and added faint stars by memory (where the charts didn't print stars).

The effect? Almost good enough to provide temporary dark-sky relief in the middle of January. The walls and ceiling literally disappear and the room opens to the glory of the heavens! Oh, and my daughter thinks it's OK, but she's only 4 and I really did it for myself.

It's been 4 years since I've done this project and two since creating the site. My daughter (who is now 6 years old) can now recognize many major constellations and even some obscure ones, notably Delphinus, on her ceiling and in the real night sky! We use a red laser pointer in her room to identify constellations, then we go outside with a green laser pointer and find the real constellations (you can see the beam, very cool!)

WAF = 7.5 *

Next project: Southern Sky in the Master Bedroom! (Don't hold your breath...)

-Rob Brown, January 31, 2002.

* WAF: Wife Acceptance Factor, scale of 1-10, where 10 = Kitchen Remodel, 1 =  electrical appliance for Valentine's Day.

Frequently Asked Questions

I've been contacted from people all over the world wanting to know more about this project! You'd think there would be more sites like this, but apparently I'm one of the very few...

1) Where do you get glow paint that lasts all night long?  http://www.riskreactor.com/   But I haven't tried this yet and I can make no guarantees. There are other sources available on the web too.
2) Do the stars just go on the ceiling? NO! They go halfway down the walls too. Like in a planetarium, except the room is a box instead of a dome.
3) How do you get the Milky Way to look right? Skip the toothbrush idea. Use a spray can (Krylon glow paint, I have a can but I can't find it in stores anymore) or get the powders from riskreactor.com and buy an airbrush. You won't regret the expense.
4) StarRooms is out of business.
5) No, there's no kit you can currently buy that even comes close. If you want to have a realistic looking sky, you have to do it yourself. Most people are going to be happy with putting big cartoony glowing star stickers on the ceiling. This project is for the select few with discriminating tastes and a little time on their hands.
6) There are people out there who would gladly charge you some big bucks to do an installation in your house. I make no recommendations except "buyer beware."

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE PAGE VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE CONTACTING ME WITH QUESTIONS.