A
star chart is a map of the
night skyNight sky is a commonly used term most often employed to refer to the sky as it is seen at night. The term is usually associated with astronomy, with reference to views of heavenly bodies such as stars, the Moon and planets that become visible on a clear night after the Sun has set.The night sky...
. Astronomers divide these into grids to easily use them. They are used to identify and locate
astronomical objectAstronomical objects are significant physical entities, associations or structures which current science has confirmed to exist in outer space. This does not necessarily mean that more current science will not disprove their existence. Some astronomical objects, such as Themis and Neith are, in...
s such as
starA star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun...
s,
constellationIn modern astronomy, a constellation is an area of the celestial sphere, defined by exact boundaries.The term "constellation" can also be used loosely to refer to just the more prominent visible stars that seem to form a pattern in that area.-Definitions:...
s and
galaxiesA galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The name is from the Greek root galaxias [γαλαξίας], meaning "milky," a reference...
. They have been used for human
navigationNavigation is the process of reading, and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks. The word navigate is derived from the Latin "navigare", meaning "to sail"...
since time immemorial. Note that a star chart differs from an
astronomical catalogAn astronomical catalog or catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects, typically grouped together because they share a common type, morphology, origin, means of detection, or method of discovery...
, which is a listing or tabulation of astronomical objects for a particular purpose. A
planisphereA planisphere is a star chart analog computing instrument in the form of two adjustable disks that rotate on a common pivot. It can be adjusted to display the visible stars for any time and date. It is an instrument to assist in learning how to recognize stars and constellations...
is a type of star chart.
The oldest star chart known may be a carved ivory
MammothA mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair. They lived from...
tusk that was discovered in Germany in 1979.
A
star chart is a map of the
night skyNight sky is a commonly used term most often employed to refer to the sky as it is seen at night. The term is usually associated with astronomy, with reference to views of heavenly bodies such as stars, the Moon and planets that become visible on a clear night after the Sun has set.The night sky...
. Astronomers divide these into grids to easily use them. They are used to identify and locate
astronomical objectAstronomical objects are significant physical entities, associations or structures which current science has confirmed to exist in outer space. This does not necessarily mean that more current science will not disprove their existence. Some astronomical objects, such as Themis and Neith are, in...
s such as
starA star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun...
s,
constellationIn modern astronomy, a constellation is an area of the celestial sphere, defined by exact boundaries.The term "constellation" can also be used loosely to refer to just the more prominent visible stars that seem to form a pattern in that area.-Definitions:...
s and
galaxiesA galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The name is from the Greek root galaxias [γαλαξίας], meaning "milky," a reference...
. They have been used for human
navigationNavigation is the process of reading, and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks. The word navigate is derived from the Latin "navigare", meaning "to sail"...
since time immemorial. Note that a star chart differs from an
astronomical catalogAn astronomical catalog or catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects, typically grouped together because they share a common type, morphology, origin, means of detection, or method of discovery...
, which is a listing or tabulation of astronomical objects for a particular purpose. A
planisphereA planisphere is a star chart analog computing instrument in the form of two adjustable disks that rotate on a common pivot. It can be adjusted to display the visible stars for any time and date. It is an instrument to assist in learning how to recognize stars and constellations...
is a type of star chart.
History
The oldest star chart known may be a carved ivory
MammothA mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair. They lived from...
tusk that was discovered in Germany in 1979. This artifact is 32,500 years old and has a carving that resembles the
constellationIn modern astronomy, a constellation is an area of the celestial sphere, defined by exact boundaries.The term "constellation" can also be used loosely to refer to just the more prominent visible stars that seem to form a pattern in that area.-Definitions:...
Orion-Places:* Orion, Alberta, Canada* Orion, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France* Orion, Bataan, the PhilippinesIn the United States* Orion, California* Orion, Illinois* Orion, Wisconsin* Orion Township, Fulton County, Illinois* Orion Township, Michigan...
. A drawing on the wall of the
LascauxLascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the Dordogne département. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be...
caves in France has a graphical representation of the
PleiadesPleiades can refer to:*Pleiades – seven sisters of Greek mythology*Pleiades – open cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus...
open clusterAn open cluster is a group of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud, and are still loosely gravitationally bound to each other. In contrast, globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity. Open clusters have been found only in spiral and irregular...
of stars. This is dated to 33,000 to 10,000 years ago. Researcher Michael A. Rappenglueck has suggested that a panel in the same caves depicting a charging bison, a man with a bird's head and the head of a bird on top of a piece of wood, together may depict the
summer triangleThe Summer Triangle is an astronomical asterism involving an imaginary triangle drawn on the northern hemisphere's celestial sphere, with its defining vertices at Altair, Deneb, and Vega, being the brightest stars in the three constellations of Aquila, Cygnus, and Lyra.The English term was...
, which at the time was a circumpolar formation. Another star chart panel, created more than 21,000 years ago, was found in the La Tête du Lion grotto. The bovine in this panel may represent the
constellationIn modern astronomy, a constellation is an area of the celestial sphere, defined by exact boundaries.The term "constellation" can also be used loosely to refer to just the more prominent visible stars that seem to form a pattern in that area.-Definitions:...
TaurusTaurus is Latin for "Bull" and may refer to:* Taurus , one of the constellations of the zodiac* Bull , the mythological references around Taurus* Taurus , the astrological sign* Bos taurus, a species of cattle...
, with a pattern representing the Pleiades located just above it.
The
Farnese AtlasThe Farnese Atlas is a 2nd-century Roman marble copy of a Hellenistic sculpture of Atlas kneeling with a globe weighing heavily on his shoulders. It is the oldest extant statue of the Titan of Greek mythology, who is represented in earlier vase-painting, and more importantly the oldest known...
is a Roman statue depicting the
TitanTitan most often refers to:*Titan , a class of deities who preceded the Olympians in Greek mythology*Titan , the largest moon of the planet Saturn* Titan -Music:*Symphony No...
AtlasAn atlas is a collection of maps, typically of Earth or a region of Earth, but there are atlases of the other planets in the solar system. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats...
holding the
celestial sphereIn astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an imaginary sphere of arbitrarily large radius, concentric with the Earth and rotating upon the same axis. All objects in the sky can be thought of as projected upon the celestial sphere. Projected upward from Earth's equator and poles are the...
on his shoulder. It is the oldest surviving depiction of the
ancient GreekAncient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
constellations, and includes grid circles that provide coordinate positions. Because of
precessionPrecession refers to a change in the orientation of the rotation axis of a rotating body. It can be defined as a change in direction of the rotation axis in which the second Euler angle is constant...
, the positions of the constellations slowly change over time. By comparing the positions of the 41 constellations against the grid circles, an accurate determination can be made of the
epoch-An epoch :* Epoch , a moment in time chosen as the origin of a particular era*Epoch or geologic epoch, a span of time smaller than a "period" and larger than an "age", on the geologic time scale...
when the original observations were performed. Based upon this information, the constellations were catalogued at . This evidence indicates that the star catalogue of the Greek astronomer
HipparchusHipparchus, the common Latinization of the Greek Hipparkhos, can mean:* Hipparchus, the ancient Greek astronomer** Hipparchic cycle, an astronomical cycle he created** Hipparchus , a lunar crater named in his honour...
was used.
An early example of a graphical representation of the night sky is the Egyptian
Dendera zodiacThe sculptured Dendera zodiac is a widely known Egyptian bas-relief from the ceiling of the pronaos of a chapel dedicated to Osiris in the Hathor temple at Dendera, containing images of Taurus and the Libra . This chapel was begun in the late Ptolemaic period; its pronaos was added by the...
, dated from 50 BC. This is a bas relief sculpting on a ceiling at the
Dendera Temple complexDendera Temple complex, . located about 2.5 km south-east of Dendera, Egypt. It is one of the best preserved complexes in Egypt...
. It is a
planisphereA planisphere is a star chart analog computing instrument in the form of two adjustable disks that rotate on a common pivot. It can be adjusted to display the visible stars for any time and date. It is an instrument to assist in learning how to recognize stars and constellations...
depicting the
zodiacIn astronomy, the zodiac is the ring of constellations that lines the ecliptic, which is the apparent path of the Sun across the sky over the course of the year. The Moon and planets also lie within the ecliptic, and so are also within the constellations of the zodiac. In astrology, the zodiac...
in graphical representations. However, individual stars are not plotted.
The oldest Chinese astronomy records date to before the
Warring States PeriodThe Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, covers the period from 476 BCE to the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE...
(476-221 BC). The oldest Chinese graphical representation of the sky is a lacquer box dated to 430 BC, although this depiction does not show individual stars. The oldest surviving manuscript star chart was discovered in the
Mogao CavesThe Mogao Caves, or Mogao Grottoes form a system of 492 temples 25 km southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis strategically located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China...
along the
Silk RoadThe Silk Road is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, as well as North and Northeast Africa and Europe...
. This is a scroll 210 cm in length and 24.4 cm wide showing the sky between
declinationIn astronomy, declination is one of the two coordinates of the equatorial coordinate system, the other being either right ascension or hour angle. Dec is comparable to latitude, projected onto the celestial sphere, and is measured in degrees north and south of the celestial equator...
s 40° south to 40° north in twelve panels, plus a thirteenth panel showing the northern circumpolar sky. A total of 1,345 stars are drawn, grouped into 257
asterismAsterism may refer to:* Asterism , a pattern of stars* Asterism , an optical phenomenon in gemstones* Asterism , a moderately rare typographical symbol denoting a break in passages...
s. The date of this chart is uncertain, but is estimated as 705–10 AD.
During the
Song dynastyThe Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
, the Chinese astronomer
Su SongSu Song was a renowned Chinese statesman, astronomer, cartographer, horologist, pharmacologist, mineralogist, zoologist, botanist, mechanical and architectural engineer, poet, antiquarian, and ambassador of the Song Dynasty .Su Song was the engineer of a water-driven astronomical clock tower in...
wrote a book titled
Xin Yixiang Fa Yao (New Design for the Armillary Clock) containing five maps of 1,464 stars. This has been dated to 1092. In 1193, the astronomer Huang Shang prepared a planisphere along with explanatory text. It was engraved in stone in 1247, and this chart still exists in the Wen Miao temple in
SuzhouSuzhou is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens which have contributed to its status as a great tourist attraction...
.
In the western civilizations, the first star chart to be drawn accurately was most likely the illustrations produced by the Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi in his 964 work titled
Book of Fixed StarsThe Book of Fixed Stars is an astronomical text composed by Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi around 964. The book was written in Arabic, although the author himself was probably Persian...
. This book was an update of parts VII.5 and VIII.1 of the second century
AlmagestAlmagest is the Latin form of the Arabic name of a mathematical and astronomical treatise proposing the complex motions of the stars and planetary paths, originally written in Greek as by Ptolemy of Alexandria, Egypt, written in the 2nd century...
star catalogue by
PtolemyClaudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Greek ancestry. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under the Roman Empire, and is believed to have been born in the town of...
. The work of al-Sufi contained illustrations of the constellations and portrayed the brighter stars as dots. The original book did not survive, but a copy from about 1009 is preserved at the Oxford University.
Perhaps the oldest European star map was a parchment manuscript titled
De Composicione Spere Solide. It was most likely produced in
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
in 1440 and consisted of a two part map depicting the constellations of the northern celestial hemisphere and the
eclipticThe ecliptic is the apparent path that the Sun traces out in the sky during the year, appearing to move eastwards on an imaginary spherical surface, the celestial sphere, relative to the fixed stars. More accurately, it is the intersection of the celestial sphere with the ecliptic plane, which is...
. This may have served as a prototype for the oldest European printed star chart, a 1515 set of woodcut portraits produced by
Albrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
in
NurembergNuremberg is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city. It is located about 170 kilometres north of Munich, at 49.27° N 11.5° E. The population is...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
.
During the European
Age of DiscoveryThe Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration, was a period in history starting in the 15th century and continuing into the 17th century, during which Europeans and its descendants intensively explored and mapped the world...
, expeditions to the southern hemisphere began to result in the addition of new constellations. These most likely came from the records of two Dutch sailors,
Pieter Dirkszoon KeyserPieter Dirkszoon Keyser , a.k.a. Petrus Theodori, was a Dutch navigator who mapped the southern sky....
and
Frederick de HoutmanFrederick de Houtman , or Frederik de Houtman, was a Dutch explorer who sailed along the Western coast of Australia en route to Batavia.-Biography:Frederick de Houtman was born in 1571 in Gouda, Holland, Seventeen Provinces....
, who in 1595 traveled together to the
Dutch East IndiesThe Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands East Indies, was the Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II.It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the former Dutch East India Company that came under the administration of the Netherlands in 1800...
. Their compilations resulted in the 1601 globe of
Jodocus HondiusJodocus Hondius , sometimes called Jodocus Hondius the Elder to distinguish him from his son, was a Flemish artist, engraver, and cartographer...
, who added 12 new southern constellations. Several other such maps were produced, including
Johann BayerJohann Bayer was a German lawyer and uranographer . He was born in Rain, Bavaria in 1572. He began his study of philosophy in Ingolstadt in 1592, and moved later to Augsburg to begin work as a lawyer. He grew interested in astronomy during his time in Augsburg...
's
UranometriaUranometria is the short title of a star atlas produced by Johann Bayer.It was published in Augsburg, Germany, in 1603 by Christophorus Mangus under the full title Uranometria : omnium asterismorum continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, aereis laminis expressa. This translates to...
in 1603. The latter was the first atlas to chart both celestial hemispheres and it introduced the
Bayer designationA Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek letter, followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name...
s for identifying the brightest stars using the Greek alphabet. The
Uranometria contained 48 maps of Ptolemaic constellations, a plate of the southern constellations and two plates showing the entire northern and southern hemispheres in stereographic polar projection.
Hevelius - Firmamentum Sobiescianum
See also
- Astrology
Astrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details can provide information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters. A practitioner of astrology is called an astrologer...
- List of constellations by area
- List of stars by constellation
- Magnitude (astronomy)
In astronomy, magnitude refers to the logarithmic measure of the brightness of an object, measured in a specific wavelength or passband, usually in optical or near-infrared wavelengths....
- Star cartography
Star cartography, celestial cartography, or uranography is the fringe of astronomy and branch of cartography concerned with mapping stars, galaxies, and other celestial bodies....
- Timeline of astronomical maps, catalogs, and surveys
Timeline of astronomical maps, catalogs and surveys* ca. 1800 BC - Babylonian star catalog* ca. 350 BC - Shi Shen's star catalog has almost 800 entries* ca. 300 BC - star catalog of Timocharis of Alexandria...
External links
Star charts