Representation of the constellations
Occasionally the representations of the constellations on Mercator’s celestial globe differ from the standard figures that prevailed at the time […]
Category Archives: Innovations of the celestial globe
Precession of the equinoxes
Calculating to correct for precession was the biggest astronomical problem faced by users of Ptolemaic star positions. Here again Copernicus had a clear influence on Mercator […]
Star positions
Differences showed up between the star catalogues of the 16th century as they were copied and republished, resulting in changes in the stars’ given positions […]
Astronomical coordinates
For centuries, the positions of stars were inspired by Ptolemy. It was only in the late 16th century that Tycho Brahe (1540-1601) would show them more accurately […]
Influences and sources
From the 4th century BC the ancient Greeks represented the celestial vault as a sphere […]