Bayer, Johann. Ursa Minor, 1603

Johann Bayer

Ursa Minor

From "Uranometria, omnium asterismorum continens schemata..."

Augsburg, 1603

approx.: 13 1/2" x 17"

Bayer was the first accurate star atlas.  A lawyer and amateur astronomer, he was the first to signify the location of the stars within a given constellation by the use of Greek letters (with the addition of the Latin alphabet for constellations with more than 24 stars). This strikingly simple innovation greatly improved the identification of stars with the naked eye, just five or six years before the invention of the telescope. Bayer's stellar nomenclature is still in use today.