Memorial — the sky on a date to remember

You can choose the date that feels most meaningful to you: a birth, the day someone died, an anniversary or another moment you want to hold on to.

If you cannot decide between two dates, you can reconstruct both: the tool is free, it does not ask you to explain why that date matters and it does not keep what you feel. And if you cannot choose one, you can close the page and come back later, or not come back at all.

The tool takes an archive photograph of the sky (DSS2) and orients it according to the date, place and time you enter, with 21:00 local time as the default. What you see is the portion of sky that, geometrically, lay in that direction: the starry background is real, the orientation is calculated.

It is not a photograph taken that evening. The image does not simulate the Moon, the planets, the weather, light pollution or the shape of the land, and it assumes an ideal horizon, with no hills, buildings or trees: it cannot be used to establish what was visible to the naked eye at that moment. If you share it, the credit to give is “Immagine del cielo: DSS2 · CDS/Aladin”.

If you decide to write something, there is no right length: one line is enough, and a nickname only the two of you would understand is fine too. You can write in the present or the past tense, speak to the person or speak about them; no form is more fitting than another, and leaving the field empty is a choice like any other.

The free sky tool works with a date, a place and a time and does not ask for any details of the person you want to remember. Personalized dedications are a separate matter: the name and text are handled with their own visibility settings and consents, so you decide what stays private and what can be visible.

Reconstructing the sky on a date is free and does not require any purchase: you can generate the image, save it, share it or keep it to yourself, and that is all. It is an open tool, not a scaled-down version of a product or a time-limited trial.

Separately, and only if you wish, there is the symbolic dedication: a name and a text associated with a star in the SIMBAD catalog and kept in the A Star For You Private Registry together with the documents. It is a symbolic gesture, with no scientific recognition: astronomical catalogs remain independent and continue to use the star's designation. The sky on that date stays the same if you choose to do it, and it stays the same if you choose not to.

She was looking for a gesture: a way of remembering her grandson that was different from the usual.

The grandmother found comfort in the thought that the light that had touched her grandson's body was still traveling through the universe. It was a personal image through which she kept the memory close, not a verified scientific conclusion about that person.

The dedication is purely symbolic. In this case, the memorial was personalized through the email exchange and the team's help.

You decide what goes into the file. Name, dates and photograph are optional: gather only what the person writing wants to keep. If you use an image, note where it comes from, who should be credited and whether you have permission to publish it.

Keep an original copy and a backup on a separate device or medium: the same text in two different places. In the template, note where both are kept, without ever writing passwords or access codes in the file.

Before sharing, try opening the file or the link from another account or in a private window and see who can get in. A downloadable file and a link are not the same thing: the file is copied to the recipient's device, while the link depends on the service that hosts it. A public link is not private just because it is not indexed: all it takes is for someone to forward it. We cannot guarantee that a link will remain revocable or that it will last over time, and copies that have already gone out may stay in circulation.