![]() The stars listed in Uranometria total over 1,200, indicating that Brahe's catalog was not the only source of information used. ![]() The use of Brahe's catalog allowed for considerably better accuracy than Ptolemy's somewhat limited star listing. Uranometria introduced the convention of labelling stars by Greek and Latin letters, known as Bayer designations, a system still in use today. ![]() It was first published in tabular form in Johannes Kepler's Rudolphine Tables of 1627. Brahe's expanded list had circulated in manuscript since 1598 and was available in graphic form on the celestial globes of Petrus Plancius, Hondius, and Willem Blaeu. The positions used by Bayer to create the Uranometria were taken from the expanded 1,005-star catalog of Tycho Brahe. The final two charts are planispheres labeled " Synopsis coeli superioris borea" and " Synopsis coeli inferioris austrina", or (roughly), "Overview of the northern hemisphere" and "Overview of the southern hemisphere".Įach plate includes a grid for accurately determining the position of each star to fractions of a degree. The 49th chart introduces 12 new constellations in the deep southern sky, which was unknown to Ptolemy. The first 48 charts illustrate each of the 48 Ptolemaic constellations. Uranometria contained 51 star charts, engraved on copper plates by Alexander Mair ( c.
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