Constellation: Sagitta, the Arrow

Perhaps the most influential book in celestial maps, Johann Bayer’s Uranometria set long-lasting standards in the world of astronomy. Most importantly, this was not just a book of pictures of the skies, but a map of them, an atlas. The engravings for the work were completed by Alexander Mair. This particular engraving is from the 1600s, likely published in 1609 or 1603 by Christoph Mang et al in Ulm, Germany. The first edition of this work was the only one with a dated title page and printed on vellum. This engraving is on chain-linked paper without the text to verso indicating it was a 17th century publication of the atlas.

Bayer included a carefully engraved grid so that the maps could be read and followed to a fraction of a degree. Also, Bayer was the first to us Greek letters to designate stars, commonly in order of magnitude. From that, he named the stars using the Greek letter he had given it coupled with the constellation name, i.e. alpha Tauri.

Bayer’s work opened a new age in the history of celestial cartography. It was also the first work to represent the stars around the South Pole. The work represented the stars and their positions as presented in Tycho Brahe’s catalogue. Bayer also included a plate depicting 12 new southern constellations discovered by Dutch navigators, Peter Dirckszoon de Keyser and Frederick De Houtmann.

The recently applied, professional hand coloring is of very high quality. The sky, grid lines, and gold image border are colored using gouache, which is a type of paint consisting of a high ration of pigment to water along with an inert material, such as chalk. Gouache is heavier and more opaque than traditional watercolor. The pictorial constellations themselves are painted with watercolor, allowing the paper and star symbols to show through. The stars have been painted in luminous silver or gold which reflects light.