Look up uranography in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Look up astrography in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Title page of theCoelum Stellatum Christianum byJulius Schiller.This print, published in Richard Blome's "The Gentleman's Recreation" (1686) shows the diverse ways in which cosmography can be applied
Celestial cartography,[1]uranography,[2][3]astrography orstar cartography[4] is the aspect ofastronomy and branch ofcartography concerned with mappingstars,galaxies, and otherastronomical objects on thecelestial sphere. Measuring the position and light of charted objects requires a variety of instruments and techniques. These techniques have developed from angle measurements withquadrants and theunaided eye, throughsextants combined with lenses for light magnification, up to current methods which include computer-automatedspace telescopes. Uranographers have historically producedplanetary position tables, star tables, andstar maps for use by bothamateur and professional astronomers. More recently, computerized star maps have been compiled, andautomated positioning oftelescopes uses databases of stars and of other astronomical objects.
The word "uranography" derived from theGreek "ουρανογραφια" (Koine Greekουρανος "sky, heaven" +γραφειν "to write") through theLatin"uranographia". In Renaissance times,Uranographia was used as the book title of variouscelestial atlases.[5][6][7] 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".[8] The German word for uranography is "Uranographie", the French is "uranographie" and the Italian is "uranografia".
Astrometry, the science ofspherical 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.[9] In principle, astrometry can involve such measurements of planets, stars, black holes and galaxies to any celestial body.[10]
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.[10]
A determining fact source for drawing star charts is naturally a star table. This is apparent when comparing the imaginative "star maps" ofPoeticon Astronomicon – illustrations beside a narrative text from the antiquity – to the star maps ofJohann Bayer, based on precise star-position measurements from theRudolphine Tables byTycho Brahe.
15th century BC – The ceiling of the tombTT71 for the Egyptian architect and ministerSenenmut, who served QueenHatshepsut, is adorned with a large and extensive star chart.
1092 –Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao (新儀 象法要), bySu Song, ahorological treatise which had the earliest existentstar maps inprinted form. Su Song's star maps also featured the corrected position of thepole star which had been deciphered due to the efforts of astronomical observations by Su's peer, thepolymath scientistShen Kuo.
1693 –Firmamentum Sobiescanum sive Uranometria, byJohannes Hevelius, a star map updated with many new star positions based on Hevelius'sProdromus 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.Bibcode:1989mmmu.book.....L.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg)
