Personalised watercolour star map poster — the night sky of your date

The sky of the night it all began, painted as a watercolour: you give the place, date and time, and the poster shows the exact stars of that evening in gold within the watercolour, with your two names, a sentence of your choice and the coordinates of the place. It is just as good for a birth, a proposal or an engagement.

For a romantic gift, the brush handwriting with indigo or burgundy is the warmest; for a birth, the fine calligraphy with powder pink or violet; for a modern interior, the upright capitals with ink or ocean. You can change either at any time, and the preview follows.

The sky above the place, on the date and at the time you choose, inside a disc of watercolour with uneven edges — dark at the heart, pale at the rim — on white paper: the stars visible to the naked eye (down to magnitude 6) and the constellations traced in gold, with the Milky Way lightening the watercolour where it really was. Above it, your names and a sentence; below it, the city, the date and the coordinates.

The stars and constellations are calculated for your place, date and time, from the Hipparcos catalogue. The watercolour itself is a computer-drawn backdrop, not hand-painted: its shape is drawn from the date and time, so the same sky always gives the same blot, and no two skies share one.

Three letterings for the names and the city — a brush handwriting, a fine calligraphy and an upright one in spaced capitals — and six moods: indigo, violet, ocean, burgundy, powder pink and ink. You can change either at any time and the preview follows.

Whatever you like, up to 140 characters, on one or two lines: the evening you met, a wish, a few words for a birth. It is optional: you can clear it, and the poster then keeps its names, its watercolour and the lines below.

Those of the moment you want to keep: a first meeting, a proposal, a wedding, a birth. The time is the local time of the place; if you do not know it, pick nightfall, around 10 pm.

Positions are computed from the Hipparcos catalogue, precession included, at the local time of the place (daylight saving accounted for). Accuracy is around a tenth of a degree.

A4, 30 × 40, 40 × 60, 50 × 70 and 70 × 100 cm: standard frame sizes, easy to find in supermarkets and homeware shops. Optional wooden frame on the A4 and 30 × 40, in black, white or natural, with acrylic glass; the larger sizes ship rolled, to frame at home.

250 g/m² matte paper, lightfast pigment inks. Printed to order in our workshop in Aveyron, whatever the size. Shipped rolled, in a sturdy long cardboard box; the A4 travels flat, in a stiff card envelope.

Yes. The print-ready file contains all five sizes, each as a PDF and as a 300 dpi PNG — ten files in all, by a download link sent after payment, to print wherever you like.

Printed within 48 hours, then delivered to your home or a pickup point — home delivery only for the 50 × 70 and 70 × 100. The download link for the print-ready file is sent the same day.