Virgo. Image source: Bode, Johann Elert. Uranographia. Berlin, 1801, pl. 14.

Out of This World

The Golden Age of the Celestial Atlas

Dien, Charles. Uranographia. Paris, 1831.

Dien's Uranographia was unusual in that it was intended for mounting, as our copy has been. There are two polar maps at the top, and then a rather wide equatorial map at the bottom. The traditional constellation figures are not given at all; instead, major stars are joined to produce simple geometrical shapes, so that Gemini, for example, is a simple rectangle, while Taurus is a collection of triangles. 

Taurus (Le Taureau), Gemini (Gémeaux), and Orion. Image source: Dien, Charles. Uranographie. Paris: Chez J. Andriveau-Goujon, 1831.

Taurus (Le Taureau), Gemini (Gémeaux), and Orion. Image source: Dien, Charles. Uranographie. Paris: Chez J. Andriveau-Goujon, 1831.

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Midway between Taurus and Gemini, just to the left of the seam, there is a note of historic interest, and in the detail you can almost read it: 

"Pres de cette etoile fut decouverte la planete d'Uranus" ("The planet Uranus was discovered near this star")

Exactly fifty years after William Herschel discovered Uranus, the spot where the planet was first seen is still being commemorated.

Detail of region between Taurus and Gemini, showing where Uranus was first seen by William Herschel in 1781. Image source: Dien, Charles. Uranographie. Paris: Chez J. Andriveau-Goujon, 1831.

Detail of region between Taurus and Gemini, showing where Uranus was first seen by William Herschel in 1781. Image source: Dien, Charles. Uranographie. Paris: Chez J. Andriveau-Goujon, 1831.

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