Celestial cartography
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Star cartography[citation needed], celestial cartography,[1] or uranography[2][3] is the fringe of astronomy and branch of cartography concerned with mapping stars, galaxies, and other celestial bodies. Measuring the position and light of charted objects requires a variety of instruments and techniques that have developed from angle measurements with quadrants and the unaided eye, through sextants combined with lenses for light magnification, up to current methods which include computer automated space telescopes. Uranographers have historically produced planetary position tables, star tables and star maps for use by both amateur and professional astronomers. More recently computerized star maps have been compiled, and automated positioning of telescopes is accomplished using databases of stars and other astronomical objects.
Etymology
The word "uranography" derived from the Greek ουρανογραφια (Koine Greek ουρανος "sky, heaven" + γραφειν "to write") through the Latin uranographia. In renaissance times, uranographia was used of the title of celestial atlases.[4][5][6] During 19th century, uranography was meaning of the description of the heavens. Elijah H. Burritt renamed it as the geography of the heavens.[7] German in Uranographie, French in uranographie, Italian in uranografia.
Astrometry
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Star catalogues
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| Aquarius according to Hyginus |
Aquarius according to Johann Bayer's Uranometria based on the Rudolphine Tables |
Aquarius according to KStars |
A determining fact source for drawing star charts are naturally star tables. This is apparent when comparing the imaginative "star maps" of Poeticon Astronomicon – illustrations beside a narrative text from the antiquity – to the star maps of Johann Bayer based on precise star position measurements from the Rudolphine Tables by Tycho Brahe.
Important historical star tables
- c:a 150, Almagest - contains the last known star table from the antiquity, prepared by Ptolemy, 1,028 stars,
- 1627, Rudolphine Tables - contains the first West Enlightenment star table, based on measurements of Tycho Brahe, 1,005 stars,
- 1690, Prodromus Astronomiae - by Johannes Hevelius for his Firmamentum Sobiescanum, 1,564 stars,
- Britannic Catalogue - by John Flamsteed for his Atlas Coelestis, position of more than 3,000 stars by accuracy of 10".
- 1903, Bonner Durchmusterung - by Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander and collaborators, c:a 460,000 stars,
Star atlases
Naked eye atlases
- 15th century BC - The ceiling of the tomb TT71 for the Egyptian architect and minister Senenmut, who served Queen Hatshepsut, is adorned with a large and extensive star chart.
- c:a 1 CE ?? Poeticon astronomicon, allegedly by Gaius Julius Hyginus,
- 1092 - Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao (新儀 象法要), by Su Song, a horological treatise which had the earliest existent star maps in printed form. Su Song's star maps also featured the corrected position of the pole star which had been deciphered due to the efforts of astronomical observations by Su's peer, the polymath scientist Shen Kuo.
- 1603 - Uranometria, by Johann Bayer, the first western modern star map based on Tycho Brahe's and Johannes Kepler's Tabulae Rudolphinae,
- 1627, Julius Schiller published the star atlas Coelum Stellatum Christianum which replaced pagan constellations with biblical and early Christian figures.
- 1660 - Jan Janssonius' Atlas Maior's eleventh volume featured the Harmonia Macrocosmica by Andreas Cellarius
- 1693 - Firmamentum Sobiescanum sive Uranometria, by Johannes Hevelius, a star map updated with many new star positions based on Hevelius'es Prodromus astronomiae (1690) – 1564 stars,
Telescopic atlases
- 1729 Atlas Coelestis by John Flamsteed,
- 1801 Uranographia by Johann Elert Bode,
- 1843 Uranometria Nova by Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander,
Photographic atlases
- 1914 Franklin-Adams Charts, by John Franklin-Adams a very early photographic atlas,
- The Falkau Atlas (Hans Vehrenberg). Stars to magnitude 13.
- Atlas Stellarum (Hans Vehrenberg). Stars to magnitude 14.
- True Visual Magnitude Photographic Star Atlas (Christos Papadopoulos). Stars to magnitude 13.5
Modern star atlases
- Bright Star Atlas - Wil Tirion (stars to magnitude 6.5)
- Cambridge Star Atlas - Wil Tirion (Stars to magnitude 6.5)
- Norton's Star Atlas and Reference Handbook - Ed. Ian Ridpath (stars to magnitude 6.5)
- Stars & Planets Guide - Ian Ridpath and Wil Tirion (stars to magnitude 6.0)
- Pocket Sky Atlas - Roger Sinnott (stars to magnitude 7.5)
- Deep Sky Reiseatlas - Michael Feiler, Philip Noack (Telrad Finder Charts - stars to magnitude 7.5)
- Atlas Coeli Skalnate Pleso (Atlas of the Heavens) 1950.0 - Antonín Bečvář (stars to magnitude 7.75 and about 12000 clusters, galaxies and nebulae)
- SkyAtlas 2000.0, second edition - Wil Tirion & Roger Sinnott (stars to magnitude 8.5)
- 1987, Uranometria 2000.0 Deep Sky Atlas - Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport, Will Remaklus (stars to magnitude 9.7; 11.5 in selected close-ups)
- Herald-Bobroff AstroAtlas - David Herald & Peter Bobroff (stars to magnitude 9 in main charts, 14 in selected sections)
- Millennium Star Atlas - Roger Sinnott, Michael Perryman (stars to magnitude 11)
- Field Guide to the Stars and Planets - Jay M. Pasachoff, Wil Tirion charts (stars to magnitude 7.5)
- SkyGX (still in preparation) - Christopher Watson (stars to magnitude 12)
- The Great Atlas of the Sky - Piotr Brych (stars to magnitude 12, galaxies to magnitude 18)
Computerized star atlases
In fiction
The term Stellar cartography was used in Star Trek: The Next Generation as the name of a department aboard the Starship Enterprise-D. It was also used in Star Trek: Voyager as the name of the department aboard the Starship Voyager. In both cases, the department was a subsection of the ship's science department, and, as the name would suggest, its responsibilities include charting previously-uncharted regions of space as the ship passes through them, as well as operating the ship's astrometrics lab(s); in practice, at least on Voyager, this meant that Stellar Cartography was responsible for all sensor data collection and analysis other than for ship operations (navigation, cursory ship/planet scans, transporter operation, etc.) or combat.
Notes
- ^ Warner, D. J., The Sky Explored: Celestial Cartography 1500-1800, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd., Amsterdam / Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York, 1979.
- ^ Lovi, G., "Uranography Yesterday and Today," Tirion, W., Rappaport, B., Lovi, G, Uranometria 2000.0, vol.1 - The Northern Hemisphere to - 6 degree, Willmann-Bell, Richmond, 1987.
- ^ Lovi, G., Tirion, W., Men, Monsters and the Modern Universe, Willmann-Bell, Richmond, 1989.
- ^ 1690: Hevelius J., Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia.
- ^ c. 1750: Bevis J., Uranographia Britannica.
- ^ 1801: Bode. J. E., Uranographia sive Astrorum Descriptio.
- ^ Burritt, E. H., The Geography of the Heavens, 1833.
See also
- Star chart
- astrometry
- cosmography
- Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido
- History of cartography
- Planetarium
- PP3
External links
- Star Maps from Ian Ridpath's Star Tales website.
- The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project
- Historical Celestial Atlases on the Web
- Felice Stoppa's ATLAS COELESTIS an extensive collection of 51 star maps and other astronomy related books stored as a multitude of images.
- Monthly star maps for every location on Earth
- Easy to use monthly star maps for northern and southern hemispheres. Helpful target lists for naked eye, binocular, or telescope viewing.
- Collection of rare star atlases, charts, and maps available in full digital facsimile at Linda Hall Library.
- The Great Atlas of the Sky - world's largest printed atlas of the sky