A star map in loving memory
The sky over a night that was theirs: the night they were born, the night you married, or the last good evening you spent together, drawn as it truly stood over that town. A remembrance to frame, and nothing to ship.
All five print sizes, as PDFs a few minutes after you pay.
Any day from 1900 to 2100 230,000 towns and cities
Choosing the night
Many families choose the night the person was born, from the birth certificate, or the night of their wedding. Others choose a night that holds them best: a holiday, a reunion, the evening of a last visit. Some choose the night they passed. There's no wrong night: the map draws the stars that stood over that town at that hour.
If you don't know the hour, leave the time empty and the map shows the evening of that day, an hour after sunset, when the first stars come out.
As a sympathy gift
It comes as files a few minutes after you pay, in five sizes, so you can print it at a photo counter the same day, frame it and bring it with you, or send the family the print. The 8 × 10 and 11 × 14 fit standard frames; the 18 × 24 is for a print shop.
The words under it
It starts from “In loving memory, under the same sky”, which you can keep or replace: their name, then two short lines. The date, the hour and the town are printed under the sky for you, so the lines can be the years of their life, a favourite saying, or a few words from the family.
How it works
- Make it herePick the day, the place, a design and your words. The preview is drawn by the same code that makes your files: only the word "Preview" comes off.
- Pay onceBy card or Link through Stripe, tax included, with no account. Your day, place and words are deleted once the files are made.
- Print it and frame itFive PDFs a few minutes later, on a page whose link works for 30 days. A typo or the wrong day? Remake it free, once, within 30 days.
Five sizes in every purchase
Each a print-ready PDF. Print Letter or A4 at home on heavy matte paper, take 8 × 10 or 11 × 14 to any photo counter, and the 18 × 24 in poster to a print shop.
Each fits a ready-made frame of its size. To hang it with a white mat, buy a frame a size up with a mat cut for yours: an 11 × 14 frame matted for 8 × 10, or 16 × 20 matted for 11 × 14.
- 18 × 24 in 46 × 61 cm Print shop
- 11 × 14 in 28 × 36 cm Photo counter
- Letter 21.6 × 27.9 cm Home printer
- A4 21 × 29.7 cm Home printer
- 8 × 10 in 20 × 25 cm Photo counter
Three designs, each in four colours
Shown on Letter, for February 14, 2027 over New York City
Star chart
An engraved celestial atlas: the stars above your town inside a brass ring marked in degrees, the Milky Way, the constellations by name, and the Moon in a medallion at its phase.
The Moon
The Moon alone, as a gallery photograph: NASA's Moon lit to the phase it showed and turned the way it hung in your sky, with a museum label of its facts below.
The sky as you saw it
Standing under it: the sky coloured by the Sun's height at that minute, as many stars as could be seen, the Moon and planets where they stood, and the horizon with its compass.
Drawn from the sky as it was
Nothing on it is made up. The stars come from the Yale Bright Star Catalogue and stand where they stood at your minute, seen from your town. The Milky Way and the Moon are NASA's: the Moon lit to its phase, turned as it hung in your sky, with the faint earthshine on its dark side. The planets are placed by Astronomy Engine, which agrees with the US Naval Observatory to within a minute.
Times are your place's own clock on that day, daylight saving and historical changes included, and a town south of the equator gets its own southern sky. The preview above is drawn by the same code that makes your files: only the word "Preview" comes off.
Questions
Can it hold more than one date of their life?
A star map is one sky. For several days side by side, the Moons print puts up to six Moons on one sheet, each with its date and words: a birth, a wedding, the day they became a grandparent.
What if we only know the year they were born?
Pick the day you celebrate, a birthday or an anniversary. The preview is the file, so you can try a few dates before you buy and keep the one that feels right.
How soon do I get it?
A few minutes after you pay. You land on your files' page, which ticks off each size as it's drawn and then lists them to download. Keep its link: it works for 30 days, and if you lose it, email hello@printdates.com from the address on your receipt.
Can I give it as a gift?
Yes. The files are yours to print and give, and there's no shipping, so it works the night before as well as a month ahead.
What if something's wrong?
A typo or the wrong day: remake it free, once, within 30 days, from your files' page. A file that's wrong or won't open is fixed or refunded within 60 days. A change of mind isn't refunded once the files are made (terms).
Does it work for anywhere?
Any of 230,000 towns and cities, north or south of the equator, on any day from 1900 to 2100. If yours isn't on the list, pick the nearest one: across 50 km the sky shifts by a few minutes.