The Uranometria, published in 1603 by the German lawyer Johann Bayer, opened a new age in the history of celestial cartography.
In this atlas the maps stand out both for their careful indication of the star positions and brightness and for the very attractive plates. The star positions were taken from the Brahe's catalog.
Bayer's atlas contains forty-nine constellation maps and two hemispheres. The forty-ninth map shows the twelve new southern constellations defined by the Dutch navigators Keyser and De Houtmann. Bayer's Uranometria is the first among the celestial atlases which represent the stars around the south pole.

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The Southern Pole in Bayer's atlas (Bibl. del Dip. di Astronomia di Bologna)

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A cd-rom for a deeper view

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Author of these pages: Davide Neri - E-mail: ban2280@iperbole.bologna.it