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Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography

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Abstract

Explore the beauty and awe of the heavens through the rich celestial prints and star atlases offered in this third edition book. The author traces the development of celestial cartography from ancient to modern times, describes the relationships between different star maps and atlases, and relates these notions to our changing ideas about humanity’s place in the universe. Also covered in this book are more contemporary cosmological ideas, constellation representations, and cartographic advances. The text is enriched with 226 images (141 in color) from actual, antiquarian celestial books and atlases, each one with an explanation of unique astronomical and cartographic features. This never-before-available hardcover edition includes two new chapters on pictorial style maps and celestial images in art, as well over 50 new images. Additionally, the color plates are now incorporated directly into the text, providing readers with a vibrant, immersive look into the history of star maps.
... On top of the armillary sphere there is a highly unusual motif that is one distinguishing feature of the Jagiellonian instrument. It is called a throne, a suspension bracket seemingly inspired by thrones with two decorative holes of the 12 th century brass astrolabes from Bagdad (Kanas, 2019), with a hinge so the instru- (Pingree, 2009). In some early Islamic astrolabes, the throne verse (āyat al-kursī) from the Qur' ān (Surah 2:255) is engraved on the suspension bracket, which reads: "His throne extends over the heavens and the earth." ...
... This so-called Lansdowne Virgin of the Yarnwinder does not depict a textile Yarnwinder but a Jacob staff, also known as a cross-staff (Acidini, Bellucci, & Frosinini, 2014), which is an astronomical instrument (Kanas, 2019). This is an item that commonly appears in the representation of astrologists. ...
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The treasure room at the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian Museum in Cracow contains an armillary sphere dating from 1510. This scientific object of excellent French workmanship contains the Jagiellonian Globe, which looks surprisingly like the Lenox Globe, a sibling of the da Vinci Globe. The fact that the Jagiellonian Globe is mounted in an armillary sphere supports the hypothesis that the Lenox, cast from reddish copper, was most likely the central part of a lost armillary sphere. A horologist copied the cartography of the Lenox Globe. It is hypothesized that he also copied the decorative artistic design of the armillary sphere as a blueprint. Using primary data in his research, the author describes the compelling Jagiellonian instrument. He concentrates on aspects of epigraphy, toponymy, orthography, iconography, cosmography, ornamental history, visual arts, heraldry, kinematics, geometry, didactics and astronomy. The methodology used is based on analogy in the arts, stemmatics, cartographic, historiographical and comparative analysis based on the latest 3D photographic scanning technology of the Lazarus Project of the University of Rochester. Furthermore, more than 40 international experts and researchers contained in the list of acknowledgements assisted in making this research possible. The author attributes the Jagiellonian Globe to Jean Coudray, Early Modern horologist active for successive French Kings in Blois. This is substantiated by a monogram. It is a capital letter C next to a reversed half-Moon on the bottom of the Jagiellonian Globe. The author provides key evidence that this French horologist constructed the instrument between 1507 and 1510 based on a model armillary sphere. In making the Jagiellonian, Jean Coudray added the latest cartographic news in the form of a Latin phrase “America noviter reperta” thereby baptizing the name of America for the first time in Early Modern history on a three-dimensional object. Compelling arguments and chronological evidence are offered by the orthography, nomenclature, applied old French dimensions, iconography of the instrument and the unique cartography of the terrestrial globe contained at its center. The specific didactic scheme of this universal armillary sphere, in addition to the whirlpools adjacent to the orb, bear the visual signature of Leonardo da Vinci. However, the French horologist was not only influenced by stylistic Renaissance and didactical aspects used by Leonardo. He copied them. These include the mirroring of the Roman numerals and of the order of the hour band on the Equator reflecting the concaveness of the object based on a Vitruvian design. In addition, the unique design of the throne of the armillary sphere is influenced by Leonardo’s kinetics. The two scrolls of the throne contained in a newly developed design, in this case one of life-giving whirlpools, echoes the kinetic untamed energy and power of nature and of the oceans in particular. The iconography of the world sphere, the cosmic egg, in between the two scrolls means perfection, the primordial form which contains all the possibilities of all the forms as Plato’s animus mundi, the soul of the world. The anonymous large mountainous island mirroring the Regio Pathalis of Pliny and Bacon is used in the cartography of the da Vinci, Lenox and Jagiellonian Globe. Finally, the author offers evidence of a bibliographical reference to a specific astronomical clock instrument just like the Jagiellonian Armillary Sphere. This reference is listed in a contemporary French inventory of the famous Florimond Robertet, notorious client of Leonardo da Vinci, dating from 1532
... Turner could have used popular cartographic works published between the 17th and the early 19th century. To their number belong Johann Bayer's Uranometria, Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, a newer Uranographia by Johann Bode, and Atlas Coelestis by John Flamsteed (Kanas, 2019). Between these atlases, the work of British astronomer Flamsteed (1729) was easily available to the artist. ...
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J.M.W. Turner studied nature from a scientific perspective to achieve a comprehensive perception of natural occurrences. Such approach defines the exploration of celestial phenomena in the watercolours of his Skies sketchbook. The pictorial journal records a rare event of an otherwise unreported planetary occultation and documents changes in weather conditions and atmospheric illumination during the aftermath of a volcano eruption. This sketchbook exemplifies the visualization of scientific knowledge in art of Turner's time.
... To achieve this end, our ancestors started to record celestial phenomena (motion of stars, planets, eclipses, comets, etc.) giving rise to the first handwritten documents measuring and analyzing those phenomena (Perryman 2012). Over time, these rudimentary documents have given way to more complex resources such as celestial charts and star catalogues (see Kanas 2009 for further details). More recently, with the advent of computers, the Internet, modern space and baseground telescopes, information has begun to be gathered and stored in large electronic databases, the printed format being set aside for educational and outreach purposes (Perryman 2009). 2 Storing and analyzing astronomical data generated throughout the last few centuries, has led to relevant discoveries, such as the recent finding of the accelerated expansion of the universe. ...
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We live in a highly volatile technological environment, in which the generation of new data and information access tools has increased the level of specialization of the users’ information needs. In this changeable scenario, standards and the role of librarians must also evolve along with the services provided to users. The lack of specialization in standards is leading librarians to improvise local solutions when cataloguing specialized resources, thus failing to benefit global interoperability among libraries, and with other institutions and initiatives. As different cataloguing standards, as well as many conceptual models, point out the necessity to deal with the specific users’ needs, the main goal of this paper is to advocate for meeting those needs through the development of metadata standards. In particular, our methodology consists in showing and explaining the needs of a particular type of users (astronomers and astrophysicists) and proposing the inclusion in the standards of elements important for the description of historical astronomical resources. Through an example, we show not only the feasibility of application of these elements, but also how the enhancement of the level of specialization of the standards, and therefore of the records made under their rules, can definitely contribute to a global solution for a much improved scientific information retrieval.
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This paper presents an overview of the Cosmologies exhibition that will be presented by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in late 2024 – early 2025. Created in collaboration with scientists at the Carnegie Observatories and the Griffith Observatory, and a global array of consulting scholars, Cosmologies presents a group of one hundred twenty rare artworks, stone, ceramic, and metal sculptures; paintings; works on paper; manuscripts; astronomical instruments; and computer visualizations. The exhibition’s goal is to explore the variety of human attempts to explain the universe’s origins, mechanics, and meaning. Cosmologies is an aesthetically and intellectually ambitious exhibition that explores the history of multiple cosmologies around the globe from the Neolithic period to the present day, as they have developed across a wide range of regions and cultures, including Indigenous North and South America, Mesoamerica, Neolithic Europe, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, South and Southeast Asia, East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan), the Islamic Middle East, Europe, and the United States, ending with an exploration of the current and future state of cosmology. The exhibition explores the development of cosmologies not only as scientific (i.e., astronomical and observable) systems of understanding, but also as ontological systems of belief that provided models for human beings’ place and purpose in the cosmos.
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The aim of the article is to prepare a model for making available metadata and digital objects of the new Globe Virtual Collection for the Map Collection of the Faculty of Science of Charles University. The globes are special cartographic documents; therefore, they are also described in a special way. The article deals with the digitization, visualization and accessibility of an old globe by Josef Jüttner from 1839, which comes from the depository of one of the most important central European collections. A simple model for a new virtual processing of the globe collection at Charles University is presented. SfM-MVS photogrammetry was chosen for digitization of the globe. The basic elements of the copperplate were set as basic parameters for image acquisition. Contrast, density, black line, line, dash and dot patterns and their complex use were observed for a good graphic design of the globe. Other parameters included a closer determination of the users for whom the resulting product is intended, as well as the profile of the users’ behavior on the site so far. New metadata were extracted from the bibliographic description. The virtual 3D globe was integrated into the database using the Cesium JavaScript library. Metadata and a 3D model of the globe were linked together and made available to the general public on the Globe page of the Map Collection of the Faculty of Science of Charles University. A comparison of web browsers was performed focusing on the loading time of the 3D model on the website. New graphic elements were identified with the new processing. It was possible to read the factual information written on the globe. Different possibilities and limitations of metadata description, photogrammetric methods and web presentation are described. This good practice can be applied by other virtual map collections.
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This article aims to enhance understanding of the changing nature of the pre-colonial , (neo)colonial and postcolonial imagination of space and time in Africa and of its organising principle in African cinema. It will focus on the cartographic and time reckoning techniques and traditions of Africans in precolonial times in contrast to the space-time imagination expressed in colonial film in Africa, such as in the instruction documentary Daybreak in Udi (1949). This documentary , which promotes British colonial self-help development projects in Africa, tells the story of the building of a maternity home in an Igbo village in Nigeria. Reference: Müller, Louise F, and M Venkatachalam. "The Notion and Imagination of Space and Time in British Colonial and African Intercultural Philosophical Cinema." Filosofie & Praktijk [Philosophy and Practice] 43, no. 3-4, Special Issue African Philosophy and Interculturality (2022): 148-65. Keyword: African Cinema, Intercultural Philosophy, African Philosophy, African Arts
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Resumen Las descripciones del territorio americano plasmadas por el joven ingeniero François Froger en su Relation d’un voyage fait en 1695, 1696 et 1697 aux côtes d’Afrique, détroit de Magellan, Brésil, Cayenne et isles Antilles, par une escadre des vaisseaux du roy, commandée par M. De Gennes (1698), constituyen un valioso testimonio de sus observaciones sobre el terreno pero también de la influencia ejercida por relatos de viaje anteriores a la región. En principio, revelan cómo a fines del siglo XVII la navegación por las costas de América meridional y el Caribe se tradujo en una política de expansión concreta por parte de Francia. A su vez, evidencian la multiplicidad de representaciones establecidas en torno a un espacio históricamente constituido y, a la vez, en constante transformación. Con énfasis en el estatus epistemológico del texto y su contexto de producción, el artículo examina los procesos de adaptación, traducción y apropiación a partir de los cuales Froger articula un conjunto de saberes (geográficos, etnográficos, etc.) sobre las zonas visitadas. En este sentido, el artículo indaga los recursos retóricos y visuales utilizados por el ingeniero francés así como por su editor para validar el relato ante sus lectores y legitimarse como viajero erudito.
Article
Anthony Ascham's Sphere is historically significant since it appeared a generation earlier than William Thomas's 1553 work, which historians had considered the earliest English-language rendering of De Sphaera. Ascham completed his folio-sized manuscript in 1527 at St. John's College, Cambridge. Suffused with color, diagrams, maps, and volvelles, The Sphere prompts the modern scholar to wonder which printed Latin edition of Sacrobosco's De Sphaera Ascham utilized for translation, and about the intended audience and the work's purpose. This paper demonstrates that Ascham's principal source was Jacques Lefèvre's remarkable Latin commentary on De Sphaera, which he chose to simplify, yet enhance. Ascham abridged Lefèvre's cosmography by removing most of the commentary and simplified it by deleting the advanced mathematics. But he enhanced it by adding more diagrams and tables, an atlas of constellations and their myths, a worldwide geography of maps, and stunning planetary motion volvelles. As the major attraction, he wrote it in English, perhaps as an aristocratic presentation copy, perhaps for the majority of English readers (those without a strong grasp of Latin and mathematics), or perhaps for other reasons outlined in this article. By its ease of comprehension, I suggest that one purpose of The Sphere was to serve as an enticing introduction—a visual primer—to Lefèvre's edition and the entire De Sphaera genre. Yet the single extant manuscript, with no evidence for a print edition, implies that Ascham never achieved this goal. After providing context, this paper discusses how Ascham utilized Lefèvre's volume, and other print sources such as Peter Apian's 1524 Cosmographicus Liber and Hyginus's De Astronomia, to produce The Sphere. The paper concludes by situating Ascham's Sphere within England's 16th-century engagement with the genre of De Sphaera.
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Conteúdo: - Conceituando a religião nórdica antiga - O simbolismo da águia - Constelações e mitos celestes - Bebidas e sagrado -A religião dos vikings no cinema - Sacrifício a Freyr
Article
In the history of books, fold-out pages or page sequences in bound books have at first glance particularly been used for the purpose of reducing large-format illustrations to the format of a book—thus for practical rather than aesthetic or even playful reasons. This applies, for example, to maps, all kinds of complex schematic drawings, chronologies or panoramic-geographical representations. This article is dedicated to the use of folds in children's books from the nineteenth century to the present day, ranging from unfoldable illustrations in books, to pages unfolding out of books, to book objects dissolving through unfolding. The artistic approach to processes of unfolding not only allows for unconventional forms of narration; it can also be an occasion to question the conventionalised material form of the codex.
Thesis
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Astronomy and religion have long been intertwined with their interactions resembling a symbiotic relationship since prehistoric times. Building on existing archaeological research, this study asks: do the interactions between astronomy and religion, beginning from prehistory, form a distinct religious tradition? Prior research exploring the prehistoric origins of religion has unearthed evidence suggesting the influence of star worship and night sky observation in the development of religious sects, beliefs and practices. However, there does not yet exist a historiography dedicated to outlining why astronomy and religion mutually developed, nor has there been a proposal set forth asserting that these interactions constitute a religious tradition; proposed herein as the Astronic tradition, or Astronicism. This paper pursues the objective of arguing for the Astronic tradition to be treated, firstly, as a distinct religious tradition and secondly, as the oldest archaeologically-verifiable religious tradition. To achieve this, the study will adopt a multidisciplinary approach involving archaeology, anthropology, geography, psychology, mythology, archaeoastronomy and comparative religion. After proposing six characteristics inherent to a religious tradition, the paper will assemble a historiography for astronomical religion. As a consequence of the main objective, this study also asserts that astronomical religion, most likely astrolatry, has its origins in the Upper Palaeolithic period of the Stone Age based on specimens from the archaeological record. The assertion is made that astrolatry is the original religion and fulfils the Urreligion theory. To end, the proposed characteristics of a religious tradition will be applied to Astronicism to ultimately determine whether it is a valid tradition that can stand alongside the established Abrahamic, Dharmic and Taoic traditions.
Chapter
The Royal Observatory at Greenwich is best known for its association with the Greenwich Prime Meridian. Visitors on a daily basis venture to climb the hill of Greenwich Park upon which the Observatory rests, just to snap a photo of themselves ‘standing on both sides of the world’ at the same time. The line crossing the courtyard and marking the meridian serves not only as a material manifestation of a geographical coordinate system, but also embodies Britain’s historical relations to the world by being ‘the Line’ that aided the Empire’s maritime power throughout centuries.
Article
The position that visualization is an intimate part of human existence and associated with the human species is advanced in this work: visualization abounds delimited by the space of individuality across human history. Visualization involves two complementary aspects of the uniqueness deemed of individuals: individualization reflects individuals’ capabilities and personalization reflects designs that seek compatibility with individuals’ capabilities. This has a number of implications upon the design and evaluation of visualizations. For one, a suitable visualization model that expresses individualization and personalization is needed: a brief survey of models is presented. For another, addressing intellectual uniqueness requires deep analysis and selective objective balance due to the potentially humongous number of unique ideas that support visualization design and viewer experiences. The Engineering Insightful Serviceable Visualizations model is selected as a guide for a comprehensive visualization evaluation of Albrecht Dürer’s 1515 celestial charts. Motivating this choice of visualization is its significance as the first notable and influential European star chart intended for scientific use and mass viewership, and as a blending of science and art. In addition, there is a lack of discussion concerning this particular visualization in the visualization literature. Concluding remarks suggest the significance of approaching visualization from this point-of-view.
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