does this deck exist

contradiction

does anyone know if there is a deck with actual pictures of constellations. tarot garden, has two decks with drawings, but they are based on the rws, i want a deck with just actual pictures of the constellations, and the name. nothing more nothing less. i may have to try to design and make my own.

contradiction
 

raeanne

Hi Contradiction,
The only thing that I have found that has actual pictures of the constellations is the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Night Sky". This is a book but it does have some really good pictures of the constellations as you would see them with your own eyes. Universe Cards are Hubble pictures but they are of nebulae, galaxies, star clusters, etc., not the constellations. If you find something, let me know!
 

Lillie

You could get a book with constellations in and cut them out and stick them to cards.

Or, if the pictures were different sizes you could photocopy, or scan them the right size.

Out of curiosity, would you be trying to make the full 78 card deck? With all the normal major/minor/court cards?

Are there enough costellations for that?
And how would you assign them to the right cards?

This is a very interesting idea.
 

raeanne

Lillie said:
Out of curiosity, would you be trying to make the full 78 card deck? With all the normal major/minor/court cards?

Are there enough costellations for that?
And how would you assign them to the right cards?

This is a very interesting idea.
There are 88 constellation so there would be enough for a deck of tarot cards and then some. I would also like to hear more about this idea. Please. Contradiction, tell us more!
 

contradiction

i have decided that i am going to have to make my own cards. i would love to publish them. but who knows. my idea is the back of the cards would be a picture of either, the milky way, or a photo of the sky containing the constellation. on the face would be the photo of the constellation, with a drawing of the picture superimposed on the photo. i guess they would probably be more of oracle cards, than tarot, because i want to use the mythology, of the constellation in interpertating the card. a lot of the myth's would follow the major arcana but the deck would actually not have any minor arcana. some of the constellations might not have a myth suitable for use so i don't know if i can use all of them i'll just have to start some research.
if anybody is interested in helping on this let me know either by pm or e-mail. thanks for your interest.
this early in the game i have no idea just where this will go. stay tuned you'll know when i do.

contradiction
 

HudsonGray

Remember that there's constellations below the horizon also, the southern hemisphere gets all sorts of things we don't see here above the equator.

Have you checked astronomy sites? There's also a NASA page that shows all sorts of things -- http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
 

contradiction

i have looked at the universe cards, they are beautiful. but not what i am looking for. i have checked out the nasa sites, all of them i could find. again good pictures, but not right. i saw some photo's a few years back, it was actually two pictures in one, this is what i am looking for. i am headed to the library today, (hopefully), since i've had no luck on the web. i don't know why but i feel compelled to find this deck. or make one. i guess at this point only time will tell. thanks for the input, right now i can use all i can get.

contadiction
 

raeanne

Hi Contradiction,
I have a program on my home computer (I'm at work now) called Starry Night Pro. This is an astronomy program but I can set it to show the the constellations with Greek drawings as overlays. I think this might be close to what you are looking for. I don't know if the program will let me do screen shots but if I can, I will try to send you one and see what you think. I am taking some time off work starting tonight (yeah!) so I will be on my home computer more than I usually am. If this program has the pictures you want, I'm sure you will have to contact them about getting permission to use their photos. I found several web sites that talk about Starry Night Pro but I had some trouble finding a good picture of the drawing overlays. Another program by the same company (NightSky) has the same thing. Here's a web site with a small picture of the constellations and the overlay:
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/ecliptic_030228.html

This web site has photos of the constellation:
http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/const.html
These photos have LOTS of stars but if you read the information below the picture you will see that some of the words are clickable. Click some of these links and you will get the constellation with fewer stars and the lines of the constellation marked.
 

contradiction

raeanne, thank you so much. this is EXACTLY what i was looking for.
now let's see if i can get everything else to fall into place.

contradiction