This page provides a result prefilled with the place and coordinates. The calculations and phone gyroscope work without an order; the HD poster remains optional. See the Maastricht constellation table
A latitude-based guide with transit altitude, season and circumpolar status
Not every constellation rises from every latitude. This guide compares the representative declination of well-known constellations with the latitude of Maastricht. It shows which patterns can clear a practical horizon, how high they culminate and which northern or southern groups stay circumpolar.
From Maastricht, latitude decides how high each familiar pattern can climb above an ideal horizon. Its verifiable starting point is GeoNames 2751283, 50.8483° N, 5.6889° E, in timezone Europe/Amsterdam.
Each entry below gives an approximate maximum altitude at meridian transit and a practical season; an asterisk means circumpolar in this simplified centroid model: Ursa Major: 84.8°, all year *; Perseus: 84.2°, all year *; Auriga: 81.2°, all year *; Cassiopeia: 80.8°, all year *; Cygnus: 79.2°, all year *; Draco: 75.8°, all year *; Cepheus: 70.8°, all year *; Ursa Minor: 63.8°, all year *; Andromeda: 77.2°, autumn; Lyra: 75.2°, summer; Boötes: 69.2°, spring; Gemini: 61.2°, winter; Taurus: 57.2°, winter; Leo: 54.2°, spring. This is a planning guide, not a promise that every star will be visible from a bright street. Date, hour, local obstructions and light pollution still matter. The live sky tool performs the date-specific projection that a static latitude table cannot.
Calculation identity: GeoNames 2751283 · city Maastricht · region Limburg · country Netherlands · national selection rank 21 · reference population 122,378 · source elevation —. Spatial fingerprint: latitude 50.84833 · longitude 5.68889 · north hemisphere · timezone Europe/Amsterdam · celestial-pole altitude 50.8°. Seasonal signature: longest night in December, 16 h 16 · shortest night in June, 7 h 44 · range 8.52 hours. Meridian star markers: Ursa Major 84.8° * · Perseus 84.2° * · Auriga 81.2° * · Cassiopeia 80.8° * · Cygnus 79.2° * · Draco 75.8° *. Nearby catalogue cities: Eindhoven 68 km · Tilburg 89 km · 's-Hertogenbosch 98 km. First regional eclipse shortlist: 2027-02-20 Penumbral lunar eclipse 23:14 UTC · 2027-08-02 Total solar eclipse 10:07 UTC · 2028-01-12 Partial lunar eclipse 04:14 UTC. Together these values form the local evidence record for the “constellations” page; they change with place and remain separate from real weather.
1. Maastricht → Eindhoven: 67.5 km · Δlat +0.593° · Δlon -0.211° · Δpole +0.6° · timezone Europe/Amsterdam = Europe/Amsterdam · longest night December 16 h 22 | 2. Maastricht → Tilburg: 89.0 km · Δlat +0.707° · Δlon -0.598° · Δpole +0.8° · timezone Europe/Amsterdam = Europe/Amsterdam · longest night December 16 h 23 | 3. Maastricht → 's-Hertogenbosch: 98.3 km · Δlat +0.851° · Δlon -0.385° · Δpole +0.9° · timezone Europe/Amsterdam = Europe/Amsterdam · longest night December 16 h 25. Monthly night comparison with the nearest catalogue reference — January: Maastricht 15 h 49 / Eindhoven 15 h 54 / Δ -0.09 h · February: Maastricht 14 h 15 / Eindhoven 14 h 18 / Δ -0.05 h · March: Maastricht 12 h 28 / Eindhoven 12 h 28 / Δ -0.01 h · April: Maastricht 10 h 26 / Eindhoven 10 h 24 / Δ +0.03 h · May: Maastricht 8 h 43 / Eindhoven 8 h 38 / Δ +0.08 h · June: Maastricht 7 h 44 / Eindhoven 7 h 38 / Δ +0.10 h · July: Maastricht 8 h 08 / Eindhoven 8 h 03 / Δ +0.09 h · August: Maastricht 9 h 40 / Eindhoven 9 h 37 / Δ +0.05 h · September: Maastricht 11 h 38 / Eindhoven 11 h 38 / Δ +0.01 h · October: Maastricht 13 h 36 / Eindhoven 13 h 38 / Δ -0.03 h · November: Maastricht 15 h 22 / Eindhoven 15 h 26 / Δ -0.08 h · December: Maastricht 16 h 16 / Eindhoven 16 h 22 / Δ -0.11 h. For constellation screening, latitude difference becomes a meridian-altitude difference; a small change is reported as small rather than exaggerated for local copy.
Maastricht is represented by 50.8483° N, 5.6889° E, in Limburg, using the IANA zone Europe/Amsterdam. This is a high-latitude viewpoint: the relevant celestial pole stands about 50.8° above its horizon. GeoNames record 2751283 supplies the geographic reference; its population field is 122,378 and is used for catalogue selection, not presented as a live census. No source elevation is used, so a flat horizon remains the transparent default.
The following pairs are approximate daylight / night duration around the 15th of each month: January: 8 h 11 / 15 h 49; February: 9 h 45 / 14 h 15; March: 11 h 32 / 12 h 28; April: 13 h 34 / 10 h 26; May: 15 h 17 / 8 h 43; June: 16 h 16 / 7 h 44; July: 15 h 52 / 8 h 08; August: 14 h 20 / 9 h 40; September: 12 h 22 / 11 h 38; October: 10 h 24 / 13 h 36; November: 8 h 38 / 15 h 22; December: 7 h 44 / 16 h 16. The longest estimated night in this model is December at 16 h 16; the shortest is June at 7 h 44. “Night” here is the complement of daylight on a flat horizon. Civil, nautical and astronomical twilight are not interchangeable, and weather is not predicted by this table.
Coordinates, date and local time feed the same astronomical workflow used by the poster. The HYG catalogue provides star entries, while Astronomy Engine calculates moving bodies. The page does not claim that city-centre coordinates equal a hospital, venue or home: selecting an autocomplete suggestion replaces the shortcut with that location. It also separates astronomical geometry from weather and light pollution, so a correct map never becomes a claim that the ground-level sky was cloudless.
On a compatible phone, the gyroscope turns the calculated sky into a movable window: tilt and rotate to explore, with star names shown beside key points. That experience is free. If a date deserves a keepsake, the same place can continue into the editor. The protected preview remains watermarked before payment; the €3.99 purchase unlocks the 4960 × 7016 px, 300 DPI file. Physical formats appear only when availability, delivery supplement and timing can be checked for the destination. The HD file is charged once at €3.99.
It removes patterns that only graze an ideal horizon. 20 catalogue groups pass that screen here, but local hills and buildings can require a higher threshold.
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See the Maastricht constellation table
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