Appointed in 1675 to the newly created post of Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed (1646-1719) compiled the first telescopic catalog of the positions and magnitudes of stars visible from Greenwich. He also prepared a set of celestial charts that, in his words, were to be “the glory of the work, and, next the catalogue, the usefullest part of it.” In 1729 these charts were published in the Atlas Coelestis by the late Reverend Mr. John Flamsteed Regius Professor of Astronomy at Greenwich.
This chart is from that work. It extends from 45° to 95° North Polar Distance and from 6h to 10h Right Ascension. It is drawn on a Sanson-Flamsteed sinusoidal projection. It shows the stars of magnitudes 1 to 7, with the brighter ones identified by Bayer letters.
Working from Flamsteed’s catalog and manuscript maps, Abraham Sharp drew the coordinates and positioned the stars. James Thornhill (and other artists whose names are not known) drew the constellation figures. And various engravers in London and Amsterdam prepared the copper plates from which the prints could be made.
Ref: Deborah Warner, The Sky Explored. Celestial Cartography 1500-1800 (New York, 1979), pp. 80-82.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.