Uranographia Celestial Maps
Johann Elert Bode, 1801

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Cauda Hydrae, Centaurus, Crater, Argo Navis and Hydra #19

Cauda Hydrae, Centaurus, Crater, Argo Navis and Hydra

Aries, Musca, Pisces Borealis, Pisces Australis

Aries, Musca, Pisces Borealis and Pisces Australis

detail detail
detail detail
Johann Elert Bode (1747-1826)
Cauda Hydrae, Centaurus, Crater, Argo Navis and Hydra #19
Aries, Musca, Pisces Borealis, and Pisces Australis
from Uranographia
Berlin: 1801
Two hand-colored engravings highlighted with gold paint
26 x 38 1/2 inches
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Two celestial maps from a famous and influential work by Johann Bode entitled Uranographia, which some consider the last great celestial atlas ever produced, unique both for the large size of the plates--the largest ever produced at the time--and for the inclusion of 2,500 nebulae catalogued by the astronomer William Herschel in the late 1700s. The first celestial chart shows of a portion of the southern sky with traditional Ancient Greek constellations such as Centaurus and Crater, but also including one in the form of a scientific instrument and another named for the King Charles Oak (lower right, upside down), a tree associated with King Charles during the Restoration of the British monarchy in the 17th century. The other chart shows two constellations in the Zodiac – Aries and Pisces.

Uranographia was published in Berlin in 1801 by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, who was the astronomer of the Academy of Science in Berlin and director of the Berlin Observatory. Uranographia was his most noted contribution to astronomy, contained 18 celestial maps of constellations, stars, and nebulae. Over17,000 stars (12,000 more than had appeared in earlier charts), 2,500 nebulae (which had been catalogued in the late 1700s by William Herschel), and the constellations delineated over the past three centuries were depicted with attention to accuracy. He also included original constellation designs based on scientific instruments, including a tribute to Herschel called Herschel's Telescope, as well as reinterpretations of the traditional constellations that diverged from conventional depictions. After Bode, major celestial atlases became less artistic and more utilitarian, dispensing with pictorial representations of constellation figures and replacing them with lines that defined their boundaries. Bode is also known for devising a formula to express the relative distances of the planets in our solar system from the sun, which is known as Bode's Law.

Reference:

"Johann Elert Bode." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed. New York: Columbia University Press: 2001 http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0808059.html (27 June 2002).