Question

What are sky maps? How are they made?

Answer 1

Hint: The very name of sky map defines it. We know that it is some kind of map that is related to the sky. You could briefly give an explanation on the basic use and also the creation of the same. You could also specify the details that can be obtained from a sky map. And also find how common is a sky map.

Complete answer:
In the question, we are asked what the sky maps are and also about how they are made. The star map is basically the map of the night sky. Normally, they are divided into grids for easy usage. We could locate the constellations and even stars, nebulae, galaxies and other astronomical objects. It is often used for navigation purposes too. You may be wondering how they are different from an astronomical catalog. In the astronomical catalog is made for particular purpose and is a listing of astronomical objects.
Every day astronomers map the night sky and they observe narrow peripheral changes over a year. Compiling all these maps so obtained the sky map is created and thus the marginal repetitions are avoided.
Cut paste method prevails in the creation of sky maps. The viewing device, which would most probably be a telescope undergoes conical angular rotation.
Thereby, we have done a brief discussion on sky maps and its creation.

Note:
By using a sky map, any common man could identify the star and its location by cross checking. These days, technology is very developed that you could easily install applications like star tracker, etc and thus have a sky map at your fingertip. These applications become handy to a common man during various important astronomical events.