The next best thing to taking a ride on the space shuttle. Starship Earth II will help you explore the universe that surrounds us-from the many constellations in our heavens, to the movements of the Earth, Sun, and stars, the secrets of navigation and much more.  A beautiful work of art, as well as a superb learning/teaching tool, the Starship Earth II is a 3 -dimensional star atlas for the unaided eye.  It is a perfect companion to increase your enjoyment of start gazing  with your binoculars or telescope as well.   The impressive transparent outer sphere displays updated and improved data from Sky Catalogue 2000.0, all 88 constellations and more than 1100 naked eye stars, plus many prominent deep-sky objects against a precision grid of Right ascension and Declination lines.  The Milky Way and Magellanic Cloud are shown in a wispy translucent blue, and deep sky objects are keyed to type.   They're all accurately hand silk-screened on the sphere's interior surface for long lasting protection.  Stars are identified by name, Greek letter designations, brightness, from 1st to 5th magnitude, and distance from the earth in light years.   The outer sphere also highlights astral equivalents used to locate stars.  An easy 3-step setting allows you to reproduce the Earth, Sun, and star movements for any time, date, and location in the world. Understand more about how the Sun rises, and sets, and how the seasons change; surrounding the inner Earth sphere is a fully adjustable horizon ring to help you visualize the horizon for any location on the planet.   Hand crafted of museum-quality acrylic, this 16 inch sphere rests on a sculptured acrylic desktop stand or an acrylic tripod floor stand.  Includes a 48 page instruction book featuring news constellations, first magnitude star, double and multiple stars, and deep-sky showpiece tables, along with an activity section, written by the internationally renowned astronomy expert George Love. Your also receive a Certificate of Authenticity signed and dated the craftsman who hand fashioned your spectacular model of the Earth in space.