Celestial charts

The first celestial charts or maps of the heavens appeared in print in 1515 published by Albrecht Durer, a well known German artist and printmaker; and the first popular star atlas came out in 1603 titled “Uranometria” by Johann Bayer. While terrestrial maps reflected man's explorations and discoveries of the earthly world, star maps were based on man's ability to interpret the stars and their positions in the sky with the naked eye, and later with the telescope, to form patterns that were later to be used for navigation and to aid in plotting positions on the charts and surveys of early seafarers.

The first celestial charts depicted the stars & constellations named for mythological & religious figures & incorporated the 12 Zodiacal constellations from Aries to Pisces; and the painted drawings of these mythological images were often richly colored and in some cases highlighted in gold, as they flew and weaved their way across the heavens. By the latter part of the 18th century, with the development of the telescope star charts became more astronomical than mythological, but map & atlas publishers still included maps of the heavens, both for northern and southern hemipheres, in their published books of maps; and the major publishers of globes continued to make both terrestrial and celestial globes well into the 19th century.

This timeline is intended to provide a visual overview of progress in mapping the heavens. There were, of course, many other maps and mapmakers that contributed to the history of cartography, but this sampling represents key turning points.

1482
Erhard Ratdolt publishes the first printed images of the constellations in an edition of the celestial myths of Hyginus. Like earlier manuscript models, they are not, in fact, maps of the stars but merely decorative illustrations.

1540
Alessandro Piccolomini creates the first celestial atlas, dedicating one map for each of the 48 Ptolemaic constellations. Interestingly, his maps do not include constellation figures.

1603
Johann Bayer devises a cohesive system for labeling the stars, published in his Uranometria. Also included in this atlas is the first map of new Southern Hemisphere constellations, previously recorded only on a few globes.

1690
Johannes Hevelius’s great celestial atlas is finally printed, several years after his death. Not only does it introduce twelve new constellations, but it is the last major celestial atlas to be assembled primarily using star positions sighted with the naked eye.

1729
John Flamsteed’s life’s work is also published posthumously. This atlas is the first to be produced exclusively with telescopic observations.

1799
Christian Friedrich Goldbach modifies Flamsteed’s work, creating a smaller, paperback atlas designed more for a popular audience. It employs a novel white-on-black-background format that mimics the actual appearance of the night sky.

1801
Johann Elert Bode publishes the last great pictorial celestial atlas, his Uranographia. It depicts over 17,000 stars.
[image from Popular/Professional panel, but entire image]

1846
Atlases designed for the general public gain in popularity, such as this by Ezra Otis Kendall. Gone are elaborate constellation figures, replaced by simple outlines that are easy for people to decipher.
[Image from Popular/Professional panel]

1943
Constellation figures disappear entirely, replaced by geometric, “connect-the-dots” type formations that further aid the general public in locating patterns of stars in the sky. This atlas by Henry Neely is a typical example. This way of depicting constellations has lasted through to the present day.