Star Map by Johann Elert Bode – Plate XII – Bootes, Coma Berenices, Arcturus
Plate VII Star Map from Johann Elert Bode – Constellations shown:
Coma Berenices, or Berenice’s Hair, is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the Queen Berenice II of Egypt.
Boötes, the herdsman, a constellation in the northern hemisphere containing one of the brightest stars in the night sky, Arcturus (shown near the herdsman’s knee)
Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs, Corona Borealis, the northern crown, also partially shown: the knee of Hercules, the rear leg of the Great Bar, Ursa Major.
Dimensions: 27.5 x 23 cm
Handcolored copperplate engravings representing the Constellations from the star atlas “Vorstellung der Gestirne” by the German astronomer and mapmaker Johann Elert Bode (1747-1826).
Born in Hamburg, Bode became the director of the Berlin Observatory and published the Uranographia in 1801, a celestial atlas showing the positions of stars,and including an artistic interpretation of the figures in the constellations. This smaller star atlas – Vorgestellung der Gestirne (Presentation of the Stars) – was intended for astronomical amateurs.
Bode is known for his reformulation and popularisation of the Titius–Bode law. He also charted the orbit of Uranus and suggested the planet’s name.
