Star Lore Art Uranographia Johann Elert Bode 1801

For 39 years (from 1786 to 1825), German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, was the director of the Berlin Observatory. Here, in 1801, he published Uranographia sive astrorum, a large star atlas illustrated with twenty copper plates. The plates were accompanied by a star catalogue called Description and Calculation of Celestial Bodies. In terms of astronomy, Bode's catalogue set a new standard, listing 17,240 stars. Bode covered all the stars visible to the naked eye (Magnitude 6 or brighter) and a rather large selection of stars of Mmagnitude 7 or 8. From an artist's point of view, his 20 plates, showing more than 100 constellations marked the climax of an epoch of artistic representation of the constellations.

Uranographia Sive Astrorum Linda Hall Library

Bode's artistic plates were the first major star atlas with boundary lines drawn between the constellations, laying the groundwork for a standardization of cosmic topography, which eventually led to the definition of today's 88 constellations.

Allgemeine Beschreibung und Nachweisung der Gestirne Bavarian State Library

In 1801, however, there was no governing body and many astronomers tried to get their names (or their ideas) written in the sky and so, Bode's catalogue contained over 100 constellations, among them innovative ideas like Bode's creation Officina Typographica, commemorate Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press, but also an entire zoo with slugs, leeches, sea horses and even a flying squirrel. Originally, Bode's plates were monochromatic, focussing on the correct position of each of the 17,240 stars. Later, colored versions, emphazising the indeed outstanding art work were added. As this section concentrats on art, I picked colored versions of the plates, published by Atlas Coelestis. The site has protected the images with a watermark. The plates are sorted by the constellation's location in the night sky and most of them contain more than one constellation. We present them here in numerical order - a table in alphabetical order with the corresponding plate for each constellation can be found below the images. Some of the illustrated constellations are now obsolete. Some other constellations are now known by other, simplified names. In the alphabetical listing, we have linked every constellation to its equivalent in the 88 IAU constellations.

Click on the pictures for larger images.

Plate III Draco, Ursa Minor, Cepheus, Rangus, Custos Messium, Camelopardalis		Plate IV Perseus, Caput Medusae, Andromeda, Triangulum Majus, Cassiopeia, Honores Friderici		Plate V Lynx, Auriga, Telescopium Herschelii

Plate VI Ursa Major, Leo Minor		Plate VII Boötes, Corona Borealis, Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices, Quadrans Muralis		Plate VIII Cygnus, Vulpecula & Anser, Sagitta, Vultur & Lyra, Hercules, Ramus Pomifer

Plate IX Aquila, Antinous, Taurus Poniatovii, Scutum Sobiesky, Ophiuchus		Plate X Pegasus, Equuleus, Delphinus		Plate XI Musca, Aries, Pisces

Plate XII Gemini, Canis Minor, Orion Taurus, Harpa Georgii		Plate XIII Leo, Cancer Sextants Uraniae		Plate XIV Libra, Virgo, Turdus Solitarius

Plate XV Sagittarius, Corona Australis, Ara, Scorpius, Tubus Astronomicus, Norma Regula		Plate XVI Aquarius, Capricornus, Piscis Notius, Globus Aerostaticus, Microscopium		Plate XVII Cetus, Eridanus, Apparatus Chemicus, Machina Electrica, Apparatus Sculptoris

Plate XVIII Officina Typographica, Pyxis Nautica, Lochium Funis, Canis Major, Lepus, Columba, Caela Sculptoris, Sceptrum Brandenburgicum		Plate XIX Corvus, Crater, Hyda, Felis Antlia Pneumatica, Centaurus		Plate XX Grus, Indus, Pavo, Triangulum Australe, Circinus, Apus, Octans, Chamaeleon, Apus, Crux, Phoenix, Tucana, Hydrus, Nubecula Minor, Nubecula Major, Mons Mensae, Horologium, Reticulum, Xiphias, Piscis Volans, Equuleus Pictoris, Piscis Volans, Robur Carolinum, Argo Navis

Constellations in alphabetical order

Constellation Andromeda Antinous Antlia Pneumatica Apparatus Chemicus Apparatus Sculptoris Apus Aquarius Aquila Ara Aries Argo Navis Auriga Boötes Caela Sculptoris Camelopardalis Cancer Canes Venatici Canis Major Canis Minor Capricornus Caput Medusae Cassiopeia Centaurus Cepheus Cetus Chamaeleon Circinus Columba Coma Berenices Corona Australis Corona Borealis Corvus Crater Crux

Plate 4 9 19 17 17 20 16 9 15 11 20 5 7 18 3 13 7 18 12 16 4 4 19 3 17 20 20 18 7 15 7 19 19 20

Constellation Custos Messium Cygnus Delphinus Draco Equuleus Pictoris Equuleus Eridanus Felis Gemini Globus Aerostaticus Grus Harpa Georgii Hercules Honores Friderici Horologium Hyda Hydrus Indus Leo Minor Leo Lepus Libra Lochium Funis Lynx Machina Electrica Microscopium Mons Mensae Musca Norma Regula Nubecula Major Nubecula Minor Octans Officina Typographica Ophiuchus

Plate 3 8 10 3 20 10 17 19 12 16 20 12 8 4 20 19 20 20 6 13 18 14 18 5 17 16 20 11 15 20 20 20 18 9

Constellation Orion Pavo Pegasus Perseus Phoenix Pisces Piscis Notius Piscis Volans Pyxis Nautica Quadrans Muralis Ramus Pomifer Rangifer Reticulum Robur Carolinum Sagitta Sagittarius Sceptrum Brandenburgicum Scorpius Scutum Sobiesky Sextants Uraniae Taurus Poniatovii Taurus Telescopium Herschelii Triangulum Australe Triangulum Majus Tubus Astronomicus Tucana Turdus Solitarius Ursa Major Ursa Minor Virgo Vulpecula & Anser Vultur & Lyra Xiphias

Plate 12 20 10 4 20 11 16 20 18 7 8 3 20 20 8 15 18 15 9 13 9 12 5 20 4 15 20 14 6 3 14 8 8 20

Vorstellung der Gestirne

In 1782, before working on his Uranographia, Bode published a smaller catalogue, called Vorstellung der Gestirne (Introduction of celestial bodies). In my opinion, the illustrations in this catalogue are the most elaborate artwork in the history of illustrated star catalogues. I could not find any large reproductions of this work. Below are a small cutout and two small images of the northern and southern hemisphere, published by Atlas Coelestis.

Sample Cutout		Northern Hemisphere		Southern Hemisphere

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