<p>By inspection of a star charting app, I'd say the circles lie in the celestial equator, ie declination equal 0 degrees.  Stars above the circles are to the north and vice versa.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-24T19:47:25.060Z
2020-06-24T19:47:25.060Z
Dr Chuck
<p>This image depicts our solar neighborhood <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/EmFWk.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/EmFWk.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a>
Source <a href="https://uh.edu/%7Ejclarage/astr3131/lectures/9/9.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://uh.edu/~jclarage/astr3131/lectures/9/9.html</a> &quot;Star distances in our solar neighborhood (e.g., Proxima Centauri 4.3 LY)&quot;</p>
<p>The plane defined by the concentric circles, does it have a relationship to any galactic reference points or the ecliptic?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-24T16:16:48.660Z
Agree with the answer that the plane is the celestial equator.  I'll add that the origin of RA points bottom center ( pointing out of the screen), and increases clockwise.
Greg Miller
<milky-way><ecliptic><star-maps>
Orientation of local star map
Bob516
# Orientation of local star map

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-06-24)

This image depicts our solar neighborhood [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/EmFWk.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/EmFWk.jpg)
Source [https://uh.edu/~jclarage/astr3131/lectures/9/9.html](https://uh.edu/%7Ejclarage/astr3131/lectures/9/9.html) "Star distances in our solar neighborhood (e.g., Proxima Centauri 4.3 LY)"

The plane defined by the concentric circles, does it have a relationship to any galactic reference points or the ecliptic?

**Tags:** milky-way, ecliptic, star-maps

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Agree with the answer that the plane is the celestial equator.  I'll add that the origin of RA points bottom center ( pointing out of the screen), and increases clockwise.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-06-24. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

By inspection of a star charting app, I'd say the circles lie in the celestial equator, ie declination equal 0 degrees. Stars above the circles are to the north and vice versa.


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