Look up uranography in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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Celestial cartography,[1]uranography,[2][3]astrography or star cartography[citation needed] is the aspect of astronomy and branch of cartography concerned with mapping stars, galaxies, and other astronomical objects on the celestial sphere. Measuring the position and light of charted objects requires a variety of instruments and techniques. These techniques have developed from angle measurements with quadrants and the unaided eye, through sextants combined with lenses for light magnification, up to current methods which include computer-automated space telescopes. Uranographers have historically produced planetary position tables, star tables, and star maps for use by both amateur and professional astronomers. More recently, computerized star maps have been compiled, and automated positioning of telescopes uses databases of stars and of other astronomical objects.
Etymology
The word "uranography" derived from the Greek "ουρανογραφια" (Koine Greekουρανος "sky, heaven" + γραφειν "to write") through the Latin"uranographia". In Renaissance times, Uranographia was used as the book title of various celestial atlases.[4][5][6] During the 19th century, "uranography" was defined as the "description of the heavens". Elijah H. Burritt re-defined it as the "geography of the heavens".[7] The German word for uranography is "Uranographie", the French is "uranographie" and the Italian is "uranografia".
Astrometry
Astrometry, the science of spherical astronomy, is concerned with precise measurements of the location of celestial bodies in the celestial sphere and their kinematics relative to a reference frame on the celestial sphere.[8] In principle, astrometry can involve such measurements of planets, stars, black holes and galaxies to any celestial body. [9]
Throughout human history, astrometry played a significant role in shaping our understanding of the structure of the visible sky, which accompanies the location of bodies in it, hence making it a fundamental tool to celestial cartography. [9]
Star catalogues
A determining fact source for drawing star charts is naturally a star table. This is apparent when comparing the imaginative "star maps" of Poeticon Astronomicon – illustrations beside a narrative text from the antiquity – to the star maps of Johann Bayer, based on precise star-position measurements from the Rudolphine Tables by Tycho Brahe.
Important historical star tables
c:AD 150, Almagest – contains the last known star table from antiquity, prepared by Ptolemy, 1,028 stars.
15th century BC – The ceiling of the tomb TT71 for the Egyptian architect and minister Senenmut, who served Queen Hatshepsut, is adorned with a large and extensive star chart.
1092 – Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao (新儀 象法要), by Su Song, a horological treatise which had the earliest existent star maps in printed form. Su Song's star maps also featured the corrected position of the pole star which had been deciphered due to the efforts of astronomical observations by Su's peer, the polymath scientist Shen Kuo.
1515 – First European printed star charts[10] published in Nuremberg, Germany, engraved by Albrecht Dürer.
1693 – Firmamentum Sobiescanum sive Uranometria, by Johannes Hevelius, a star map updated with many new star positions based on Hevelius's Prodromus Astronomiae (1690) – 1564 stars.
^Warner, D. J. (1979). The Sky Explored: Celestial Cartography 1500–1800. Amsterdam and New York: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd. and Alan R. Liss, Inc.
^Lovi, G.; W. Tirion; B. Rappaport (1987). "Uranography Yesterday and Today". Uranometria 2000.0. 1: The Northern Hemisphere to – 6 degree. Willmann-Bell, Richmond.
^Lovi, G.; Tirion, W. (1989). Men, Monsters and the Modern Universe. Richmond: Willmann-Bell.
^1690: Hevelius J., Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia.
^1801: Bode. J. E., Uranographia sive Astrorum Descriptio.
^Burritt, E. H., The Geography of the Heavens, 1833.
^Endl, Michael; Cochran, William D. (2007-01-01), "CHAPTER 47 - Extrasolar Planets", in McFadden, Lucy-Ann; Weissman, Paul R.; Johnson, Torrence V. (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Solar System (Second Edition), San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 887–902, Bibcode:2007ess..book..887E, doi:10.1016/b978-012088589-3/50051-7, ISBN 978-0-12-088589-3, retrieved 2023-06-08
^ a bVallenari, Antonella (2018). "The Future of Astrometry in Space". Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences. 5: 11. Bibcode:2018FrASS...5...11V. doi:10.3389/fspas.2018.00011. ISSN 2296-987X.
^"Dürer's hemispheres of 1515 — the first European printed star charts". Ianridpath.com. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
^"Stars & Planets Guide"
^"The Great Atlas of the Sky" Archived 2012-01-23 at the Wayback Machine,
GreatSkyAtlas.com, December 1, 2009.
Felice Stoppa's ATLAS COELESTIS, an extensive collection of 51 star maps and other astronomy related books stored as a multitude of images.
Monthly star maps for every location on Earth Archived 2007-09-13 at the Wayback Machine
Easy to use monthly star maps for northern and southern hemispheres. Helpful target lists for naked eye, binocular, or telescope viewing.
Collection of rare star atlases, charts, and maps Archived 2018-03-25 at the Wayback Machine available in full digital facsimile at Linda Hall Library.
Navigable online map of the stars, Stellarmap.com.