Star Spangled Globes p. 2

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Wilson Celestial Globe

Q: So, I gather the astrological signs of the zodiac would be shown?

A: Yes, you can see on this celestial globe by James Wilson, Americas first globe maker, and on these Uranias Mirror star cards (below) here is Cancer the Crab, the zodiac sign for people born on the Fourth of July. And Gemini, the twins, right nearby. Also Leo the Lion, your zodiac sign.

The zodiac signs are based on when the sun in its apparent path around the earth appears in 12 different periods of the year, shown by this angled band, called the ecliptic, on the globe. Of course the sun does not really revolve around the earth -- the earth revolves around the sun. We are simply referring to the apparent path of the sun. We do not necessarily see Cancer in the sky in July -- that is merely when the sun appears to pass through that constellation.

Urania's Mirror

Other constellations, based in classical mythology are also shown on the globe and in these cards. For example in Uranias Mirror, we can see Perseus, hold-
ing the head of the Gorgon Medusa, with her hair of snakes.

Even though a celestial globe is intended to show how we perceive the sky as if the earth were inside, we look at the celestial globe from the outside of it, as if from some imaginary point beyond the cosmos.

Thus, the constellations are seen differently from that side of the imaginary sphere. For this reason, on celestial globes, the constellation figures are reversed and they are rendered artistically as if we are viewing the from their back (far side).

So we can see that Leo the Lion, a sign of the zodiac, is shown as we perceive him from earth, on the Urania's Mirror cards. But on the Wilson celestial globe, he is shown reversed from the back side.