Credits

Where the sky
on our prints comes from

Nothing on an Atlas Print is a stock illustration of space. The Moon, the planets and the stars all come from real missions and real catalogues, and the people who made them asked to be credited. So here they are.

The Moon

Built from the colour map and elevation model of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, published by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. We light it ourselves, to the positions of the Sun and Moon for your birth date, because no camera was pointed at the Moon for you that night. The shadows along the edge come from the real terrain.

  • NASA's Scientific Visualization StudioCGI Moon Kit, LRO LROC colour map and LOLA elevation (SVS 4720)

The planets

Each one is a photograph taken by the spacecraft that went there, cut out of black space so it sits on navy, white or black paper.

  • The SunSolar Dynamics Observatory, visible light · NASA/SDO and the HMI science team
  • MercuryMESSENGER, 2009 (PIA12371) · NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
  • VenusMariner 10, 1974 (PIA23791) · NASA/JPL-Caltech
  • MarsViking Orbiter global mosaic (PIA00407) · NASA/JPL/USGS
  • JupiterCassini, 2000 (PIA04866) · NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
  • SaturnCassini, 2004 (PIA06193) · NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
  • UranusVoyager 2, 1986 (PIA18182) · NASA/JPL-Caltech
  • NeptuneVoyager 2, 1989 (PIA01492) · NASA/JPL
  • PlutoNew Horizons, 2015 (PIA19857) · NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

The stars

Every star on a constellation print is placed at its catalogued position and drawn at its catalogued brightness, down to what you could see on a dark night. The lines joining them are the International Astronomical Union's figures.

  • Star positionsXHIP, an extended Hipparcos compilation (Anderson and Francis, 2012), J2000
  • Constellation figuresAfter the IAU constellation charts, via d3-celestial by Olaf Frohn (BSD licence)

NASA imagery is used under NASA's media guidelines, which ask for credit and do not imply NASA endorses anything, including us.