CLASSICAL STAR ATLASES

BAYER'S CASSIOPEIA

Cassiopeia, the Queen, from Bayer's Uranometria of 1603. She is seen going under the pole, her "W" figure prominent, her stellar "Chair" seeming to lie on its back. (The Chair of the drawing does not match the chair made of stars.) The brilliant star just to the upper right of center represents Tycho's Star, the supernova of 1572, which was long gone by the time Bayer created his Atlas. The Milky Way runs from upper right to lower left.

Courtesy of the Rare Book Room and Special Collections Library of the University of Illinois