Star Map by Johann Elert Bode – Plate XXVII
Plate XXVII showing Jungfrau (Virgo), the head of Centaur, the tail end of Hydra the Water Snake, the largest of all 88 constellations, and Corvus the Crow.
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.
