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Citation

Alternate Title(s): Uranographia
Author: Johann Bode
Publication Location: Berlin
Year: 1801

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Summary

This beautiful atlas fused artistic beauty and scientific precision. Bode, director of the Observatory of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, produced the last of the four major celestial atlases in which artful depictions of constellation figures appear alongside the most up-to-date scientific data. 20 large copperplate engravings plot more than 17,000 stars, far more than any previous atlas. Bode included new stars for the southern hemisphere, along with constellations recently invented by Hevelius and Lacaille. Bode depicted more than 100 constellations, compared with 88 officially recognized today. Some which appeared in this atlas for the first time, but are not officially recognized today, include the Cat, the Printing Press, the Montgolfier Balloon, and the Electric Generator. Bode also included 2,500 cloudy patches, or “nebula,” cataloged by William Herschel.

Related Items

Theme(s): Astronomy, Art, History of the Book
Chronological Period: 18th century
Geographical Region(s): Germany
Resource Type: Book