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

Out of This World

The Golden Age of the Celestial Atlas

Lubieniecki, Stanislaw. Theatrum cometicum. Amsterdam, 1666-68.

Path of the comet of 1665, with daily positions noted for the month of January as it moved through Cetus. Image source: Lubieniecki, Stanisław. Theatrum cometicum. Vol. 1, Amsterdam: Typis Danielis Baccamude, 1666.

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Detail of Cetus and comet. Image source: Lubieniecki, Stanisław. Theatrum cometicum. Vol. 1, Amsterdam: Typis Danielis Baccamude, 1666.

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The Theater of Comets is concerned with comets rather than stars, but it is nevertheless an important contribution to celestial cartography, because each of the many maps is actually a sectional star chart with a comet moving across it. What makes the work particularly interesting is that each comet observer in this anthology provided his own map, resulting in a mix of artistic styles.

The artist of this plate has drawn his figures from the star globes of Willem Blaeu, and this is most evident in the figure of Cetus, who is shown as a large fish, rather than as Bayer's monster (below). For a detail of the gaping mouth of Cetus, showing the daily progress of the comet, see right.

Cetus by Johann. Image source: Bayer, Johannes. Uranometria. Augsburg: Excudit Christophorus Mangus, 1603.

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