Star chart
A star chart is a graphic device or diagram which shows the night sky as seen from Earth. They are one of the oldest types of written or carved communication. There is a claim for a prehistoric carving as the first known star chart, but the evidence is not clear.[3]


Star charts occur in Babylonian and Ancient Egyptian wall decorations and writing.[4][5][6] In the ancient world, knowledge was needed for practical reasons and for religious reasons. Early star charts were used for all these purposes.[7] Even today, they are used for both astronomy and astrology. In the renaissance, with its interest in ideas, hundreds of books were printed with star charts and other diagrams.[8]
The key point for scientific charts is the use of data taken from observations, and listed in tables or databases. Historically, the first tables were in Ptolemy's Almagest (~AD 150). It has the last known star table from antiquity, with 1,028 stars.
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ Carson J. et al 2012. "Direct imaging discovery of a ‘super-Jupiter’ around the late B-type star κ And". arXiv:1211.3744.
- ↑ Sasha Hinkley et al. "The Kappa Andromedae system: new constraints on the companion mass, system age & further multiplicity". arXiv:1309.3372.
- ↑ Whitehouse, David 2003. 'Oldest star chart' found. BBC News Science/Nature. [1]
- ↑ Hogben L. 1949. From cave painting to comic strip: a kaleidoscope of human communication. London: Parrish, p30.
- ↑ Frankfort H. Cylinder seals: a documented essay on the art and religion of the ancient Near East. 1939, London.
- ↑ Collon, Dominique 1987, 2005. First impressions: cylinder seals in the ancient Near East. London: British Museum,
- ↑ Hogben L. 1971. Astronomer priest and ancient mariner: the beginnings of science. London: Heinemann.
- ↑ Heninger S.K. Jr. 1977. The cosmological glass: renaissance diagrams of the universe. San Marino, CA: The Huntington Library.