Stars... stars are easy...
but they have to be real... right?
I'll just type in a few by hand.
type type type type
hmmm... a bit lean...
type type type type type type type
right ascension, declination, magnitude, color
type type type type type type type type type type type type type type type
thousands...
rotate into place
a certain latitude and season
time of night... let Orion's belt rise into view
Betelgeuse on the sphere's limb... then:
Plot on acetate... with reflections
Push pins through to mark the canvas...
Paint... spot size for magnitude
A labor of love... or lunacy... or stellacy.
But that was 1980.
The Internet did not exist.
Now you Google U.S. Naval Observatory catalog
USNO-B1.0: 1,042,618,261 objects
at billions, you don't type them in