Abstract
The Golden Age of pictorial celestial cartography took place in Europe, roughly from 1600 to 1800. During this period, grand sky atlases were produced that attempted to accurately place the stars and planets in the heavens in coordinate systems that paralleled those on Earth. These were influenced from increasingly more accurate placement that resulted from new star catalogs that built on that of Ptolemy. Using bigger and better instruments, Tycho Brahe and Johannes Hevelius determined the locations of the stars using naked eye observations. Beginning with John Flamsteed, telescopes and micrometers were added to these instruments, which made their positioning even more accurate. In addition, the rapid advances in printing techniques since the development of movable type procedures in the 1450s led to the ability to depict images with more detail and accuracy. Paralleling developments in terrestrial mapmaking, the use of coarse woodblocks gave way to intaglio processes in celestial maps that allowed fine images on copper and steel plates to be reproduced as fine images on paper. Now, maps of the heavens could be both aesthetically pleasing and technically accurate, and mapmakers increasingly competed with each other to produce bigger and better star atlases. Some of these are truly works of art and will be described in Chapter 7. In this chapter, I will deal with four individuals who are considered to be the most influential during this period for the standards they set and their influence on others. But, first, a word about the conventions that will be used.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Ashbrook, J. (1984) The Astronomical Scrapbook. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Ashworth, W.B. Jr. (1997) Out of this World — The Golden Age of the Celestial Atlas. Kansas City, MO: Linda Hall Library.
Brown, B. (1932) Astronomical Atlases, Maps and Charts London: Search Publishing.
Hingley, P.D. (1994) Urania’s Mirror — a 170-year old mystery solved? Journal of the British Astronomical Association, 104, 238–240.
Johnston, P.A. (1985) Celestial Images — Astronomical Charts from 1500 to 1900. Boston, MA: Boston University Art Gallery.
Kanas, N. (2002) Mapping the solar system: Depictions from antiquarian star atlases. Mercator’s World, 7, 40–46.
Kanas, N. (2005) Are celestial maps really maps? Journal of the International Map Collectors’ Society, 101, 19–29.
Kanas, N. (2006) The cartographic legacy of John Flamsteed. Sky & Telescope, July, 30–36.
McCarroll, S. (2005) Celestial Images: Antiquarian Astronomical Charts and Maps from the Mendillo Collection. Boston, MA: Boston University Art Gallery.
Ritter, M. (2001) Seutter, Probst and Lotter: An eighteenth-century map publishing house in Germany. Imago Mundi, 53, 130–135.
Volkoff, I.; Franzgrote, E.; and Larsen, A.D. (1971) Johannes Hevelius and His Catalog of Stars. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press.
Warner, D.J. (1979) The Sky Explored: Celestial Cartography 1500–1800. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Praxis Publishing Ltd, Chichester, UK
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kanas, N. (2007). The “Big Four” of the Golden Age of pictorial star maps. In: Star Maps. Springer Praxis Books. Praxis. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71669-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71669-5_6
Publisher Name: Praxis
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-71668-8
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-71669-5
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)