Alexander Jamieson Celestial Atlas cover

''A Celestial Atlas'', full title: ''A Celestial Atlas: Comprising A Systematic Display of the Heavens in a Series of Thirty Maps Illustrated by Scientific Description of their Contents, And accompanied by Catalogues of the Stars and Astronomical Exercises'' is a

star atlas Celestial cartography, uranography, astrography or star cartography is the aspect of astronomy and branch of cartography concerned with mapping stars, galaxies, and other astronomical objects on the celestial sphere. Measuring the position ...

by British author

Alexander Jamieson Alexander Jamieson (1782–1850) was a Scottish writer and schoolmaster, now best known as a rhetorician. He has been described as effectively a professional textbook writer. After the failure of his school, he worked as an actuary. Life Some o ...

, published in 1822. The atlas includes 30 plates, 26 of which are

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

maps with a

sinusoidal projection The sinusoidal projection is a pseudocylindrical equal-area map projection, sometimes called the Sanson–Flamsteed or the Mercator equal-area projection. Jean Cossin of Dieppe was one of the first mapmakers to use the sinusoidal, appearing in ...

. In some editions the plates are hand-colored. The atlas includes three new (but now- obsolete) constellations invented by Jamieson: '' Noctua'', ''Norma Nilotica'', and ''

Solarium Solarium may refer to: * A sunroom, a room built largely of glass to afford exposure to the sun * A terrace (building) or flat housetop * The '' Solarium Augusti'', a monumental meridian line (or perhaps a sundial) erected in Rome by Emperor Augu ...

''. Two celestial hemispheres of the atlas are centered on the equatorial poles via

polar projection The azimuthal equidistant projection is an Azimuthal projection#Azimuthal .28projections onto a plane.29, azimuthal map projection. It has the useful properties that all points on the map are at proportionally correct distances from the center p ...

and geocentric alignment. The atlas comprises stars visible only to the

naked eye Naked eye, also called bare eye or unaided eye, is the practice of engaging in visual perception unaided by a magnifying, light-collecting optical instrument, such as a telescope or microscope, or eye protection. Vision corrected to normal ...

, making it less cluttered. Unlike

Johann Elert Bode Johann Elert Bode (; 19 January 1747 – 23 November 1826) was a German astronomer known for his reformulation and popularisation of the Titius–Bode law. Bode determined the orbit of Uranus and suggested the planet's name. Life and career Bo ...

and

Jean Nicolas Fortin Jean Nicolas Fortin (1750–1831) was a French maker of scientific instruments, born on 9 August 1750 in Mouchy-la-Ville in Picardy. Among his customers were such noted scientists as Lavoisier, for whom he made a precision balance, Gay-Lussac, Fr ...

, who followed

John Flamsteed John Flamsteed (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. His main achievements were the preparation of a 3,000-star catalogue, ''Catalogus Britannicus'', and a star atlas called ''Atlas Coe ...

's depictions of the constellations, Jamieson allowed himself greater artistic expression. The constellation figures in Jamieson's atlas are more realistically drawn, particularly compared to Flamsteed's depictions of

Lacerta Lacerta is one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Its name is Latin for lizard. A small, faint constellation, it was defined in 1687 by the astronomer Johannes Hevelius. Its brightest stars form a "W" ...

Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

Scorpius Scorpius is a zodiac constellation located in the Southern celestial hemisphere, where it sits near the center of the Milky Way, between Libra to the west and Sagittarius to the east. Scorpius is an ancient constellation that pre-dates the Gre ...

and

Canis Major Canis Major is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin fo ...

. At the same time the atlas' plates were made at the size of those by Bode and Fortin, at approximately 9 in × 7 in (22.5 × 17.5 cm), with the same number of them (26 plus hemispheres) and each covering the same area of sky. Jamieson also followed Bode’s approach of drawing boundary lines between constellations. The atlas was popular and was allowed to be dedicated to King

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

. The drawings in ''A Celestial Atlas'' were plagiarised in ''

Urania's Mirror ''Urania's Mirror; or, a view of the Heavens'' is a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards, first published in November 1824. They are illustrations based on Alexander Jamieson's ''A Celestial Atlas'', but the addition of holes punched in them ...

'', published a few years later.

References

External links

''Celestial Atlas'' by Alexander Jamieson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Celestial Atlas, A 1822 non-fiction books Classical star atlases