al-Sufi’s Book of Fixed Stars

 

 

The front page from Al-Sufi’s Kitab suwar al-kawakib, this one is a copy from year 1417

al-Sufi was a Persian astronomer who worked in Isfahan and Baghdad during the golden age of Islam. His most famous work is the Kitab suwar al-kawakib, “Book of the Constellations of the Fixed Stars” (986) which described the 48 constellations from Ptolemy’s Almagest.

The book was illustrated with observations and descriptions of the stars, their positions, their magnitudes and their color. For each constellation, he provided two drawings, one from the outside of a celestial globe, and the other from the inside. For each of the constellations, he provides the indigenous Arab names for their stars, drawings of the constellations, and a table of stars showing their locations and magnitude. The Kitab suwar al-kawakib initiated further work on astronomy in the Islamic worlds, and exercised a huge influence on the development of science in Europe. The work was frequently copied and translated. This copy, from the collections of the Library of Congress, was produced somewhere in south or central Asia, circa 1730, and is an exact copy of a manuscript, now lost, prepared for Ulug Beg of Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan) in 1417.

Here are the 48 constellations from the copy of his book, sorted by page, which is basically from the north to south.

Ursa Minor The small bear with long tail.

Ursa Major The large bear with long tail.

Draco The dragon.

 

Auriga The charioteer.

Boötes The herdsman.

Hercules The club is replaced with a sickle.

 

Corona Borealis The tiara.	Lyra The lyre.

 

 

 

Cygnus The hen.

Cassiopeia  The seated woman, seating on a cushioned chair

Perseus  The hero, holding the severed head of a demon instead of Medusa

 

Cepheus The king.

Ophiuchus and Serpens The snake holder holding the large snake.

Sagitta The arrow. It looks similar with Coma Berenices.

 

 

 

Aquila The Falcon.

Delphinus The dolphin. Looks more like a cat or a fox.

Equuleus The little horse.

 

Pegasus The winged horse.

Andromeda Andromeda

Triangulum The Triangle

 

Aries The ram.

Taurus The bull.

Gemini The twins.

 

Cancer The crab.

Leo The lion. Here it is a female lion.

Virgo The virgin. Here the ear of corns has been replaced with wings.

 

Libra The scales.

Scorpio The scorpion. I thought since the Arabs live close to the desert, they supposed to have a good knowledge about scorpion anatomy, but no …

Sagittarius The archer. He wears a turban!

 

Capricorn The sea-goat. Weirdly, the fish tail is missing.

Aquarius The water pourer. depicted holding the water as if it is a robe

Pisces The fishes.

 

Cetus The sea monster.

Orion Instead of a shield, his west hand is shown with a long sleeve, characteristic of Muslim dresses at that time

Eridanus The river Eridanus.

 

Lepus The hare.

Canis Major The great dog. Those stars below are probably Columba.

Canis Minor The lesser dog.

 

Argo Navis  The ship.	Hydra The sea serpent.

 

Crater The cup.

Corvus The raven.

Centaurus and Lupus  The Centaurs and the Wolf. Instead of being impaled, Lupus is shown held by Centaurus

 

Ara The altar

Corona Australis The shell of a tortoise?

Piscis Austrinus The southern fish, with the prominent star Fam al-Hut (Fomalhaut) on its mouth.

 

Source:

http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?TaxonomyTypeID=18&TaxonomySubTypeID=107&TaxonomyThirdLevelID=-1&ArticleID=833

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/heavens.html

http://www.wdl.org/

The Navagraha

The Navagraha is the nine planets of the Jyotish, or Vedic Astrology. They consists of Ravi or Surya (the Sun), Chandra (the Moon), Budha (Mercury), Shukra (Venus), Mangala (Mars), Brihaspati (Jupiter), Shani (Saturn), the North Node (Rahu), and the South Node (Ketu). Like its Western counterpart, each planet has its own attribute and influence the Earth (Bhumidevi).

Below is a nice-looking Navagraha art series by Rabi Behera

Surya	Chandra	Budha
Shukra	Mangala	Brihaspati
Shani	Rahu	Ketu

 

The Navagraha from left to right: Surya, Chandra, Budha, Shukra, Mangala, Brihaspati, Shani, Rahu, and Ketu (British Museum)

The Navagraha on their (unusual) mount. In the center is Surya on a chariot pulled by horses, clockwise from top: Budha (on a lotus), Chandra (on a chariot with the moon crescent), Mangala (on a ram), Rahu (on a lion), Shani (on a raven), Ketu (on a raven), Brihaspati (on a lotus), and Shukra (on a lion) 

 

Source:

http://www.exoticindia.com/

http://sanskritdocuments.org

Shivita’s Animal Planet Series

I always follow the development of this series by Shivita, and finally in April she finished her “Animal Planet” series, and I wish to comment it in my blog.

The series is basically the planets of the solar system (and their moons) as anime-style animals. Symbolism appears a lot in her art, and the reason behind the choice of the animals is pretty deep. Her knowledge about the solar system and astrology are not bad either! :D

So let’s see how she did all the planets.

Mercurio – the Hopping Mouse
A small desert animal, very appropriate since it lives in a hot place and it has a small size. Also depicted is the animal wearing a bell accessories supposedly made of quicksilver, the metal for planet Mercury. Well everybody knows quicksilver evaporates in temperature extreme Mercury, but people do try to make a bell from Mercury, I think Shivita is actually inspired by this YouTube video: watch?v=8mJEsj3N50o

 

Venus – the Swan
She depicts the swan in a sinister look, relating it to the extreme condition in Venus. The swan does look a bit like a phoenix here, a fiery animal … so I think it’s cool how she can represent the femininity of Venus and the raging hot surface of Venus with a swan. I also try to find a metal of Venus here, the copper, or at least a mirror (since copper is made into a mirror in the past, and Venus really likes mirrors). Oh well the swan will becomes too weird if it holds a mirror.

 

Earth – the Hippocampus
Since Earth is a water planet, she makes the horse with a fish tail, the Hippocampus! It holds flowers, and I think there’s seaweed on her foot. Earth often represents fertility, so the plants as a symbol of life really is appropriate.!!!!!!! Anyway, why earth? why not Tierra ?? :)
Moon – the Rabbit
Rabbit has always been associated with the moon, especially in Japan. The Japanese folklore tells of a rabbit that makes rice cakes on the moon. I’m trying to find the element silver on the rabbit. I guess its the earring, and her silver eyes. Cool.

 

Marte – The Ram
Extremely appropriate, Mars the planet of Aries is well represented by a ram. I think he’s supposedly wearing an armor made of iron, which is the metal of Mars. His eyes is red, the color of Mars.
Phobos and Deimos – The Rat and the Mouse
Very cute Panic and Fear. The reason behind the eye’ color is from Disney Movies Hercules Pain and Panic (their color is purple and green). Since the symbolism of Phobos and Deimos in Greek myth is very limited, I say what the heck XD

 

Jupiter – The Lion
Jupiter is the most important god, so she chooses the most “important” animal, the lion. Lion is actually no where being a symbol of Jupiter. If there is a sun, I would choose an eagle for Jupiter, replaces Ganymede with a falcon probably, and make a golden lion for the sun. But for some reason, this brownish lion is very fit for Jupiter. Jupiter’ metal is the tin, and this lion holds something on his tail that looks like a thunderbolt, but grey in color. Probably that’s the tin :P
Io – The Calf
Zeus changed Io into a calf to protect her from Hera’s wrath. Io is the most active body in the Solar System, but Io the calf seems a bit timid. She should have made the calf looks tormented or angry, because Io was extremely compressed by the gravity of Jupiter and the neighbor moons. I really like the color tho.
Europa – The Serval
I really thought Europa is a weasel or ermine, which is a snowy creature, and the fact that Europa is an icy world with some part of the surface is as bright as a fallen snow, so yea probably it’s a weasel. But no, this Europa is the serval, a spotted wild cat in Africa. I never thought that there are actually white servals in the wild, a rare kind of serval, not albino, just different coloration, which is very much Europa’s coloration.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/WhiteServalPharaoh.jpg 
Ganymede – The Eagle
Ganymede is the eagle, because Ganymede is abducted by Zeus in an eagle form. I feel like she should choose something else and not an eagle, although the regal eagles does suits Ganymede’s large size.
Callisto – The She Bear
Callisto, naturally a she bear, because she was transformed into a she bear by Zeus.

 

Saturno – The Stag
Capricorn, the zodiac sign of Saturn, represents structure and order. But since a goat-like animal is already represented here(Martian ram), she chooses a stag to represent Saturn. I never thought of a stag, but it perfectly matches the original symbolism of Saturn to represent order. I’m glad she didn’t choose elephant to represent Saturn. BUT, I think the stag needs a bit more accessory around, like the planets before him. I think a chain lead is very nice, since Saturn is the planet of restriction.
Enceladus – The Arctic Fox 
Enceladus is probably the whitest object in the solar system, having the same albedo as a newly fallen snow. It produces “snows” from its ice volcano and affects the color of the moons around it (that’s why most of Saturnian moon is white-colored). Arctic fox is a great animal for Enceladus. 
Tethys – The Sea Otter
Tethys is the goddess of the sea, so she chooses sea otter for this. Otter does associated with feminine cult and water in Native American myth, so I guess it’s ok.
Dione – The Heron
She chooses heron because she see Dione as the mother of Aphrodite, so it has to be something water-bird-ish (because Aphrodite is a swan), so she chooses Heron. Phoenix is sometimes depicted as a heron, and since Shivita’s swan of Venus looks very much like the phoenix, I think it’s great.
Rhea – The Lioness
Lion is one of the attribute for Rhea. So it will be lion for Rhea, nice.
Titan – The Dinosaur
I like how she chooses a primordial animal for Titan since Titan condition is said to be similar with the primordial condition of the Earth, so it’s very fitting.
Iapetus – The Coati
Wow, I never thought coatis have same colorations with Iapetus. 

 

Urano – The Amphithere
Since Uranus is the god of the sky, she wanted all the animals in the system to have feathery wings. Since Uranus is a “freak” planet of Aquarius, I see all the member of this system to be a bit weird and unique, so I think it’s very fitting!
Miranda – Winged Wounded She-Wolf
Miranda from the Tempest by Shakespeare is strong but naive, and an emotional girl. I think a wounded she-wolf is a great idea lol.
Ariel – The Dove; and Umbriel – The Raven
I think I see Ariel and Umbriel similarly as Shivita see these moons: Ariel is a light spirit, while Umbriel is an underground spirit. Umbriel is the darkest major moon of Uranus while Ariel is the brightest Uranus’ satellite (even though still relatively dark compared to Saturn’s moon). She makes it a dove and a crow, nice!
Titania – Female Dinosaur
She relates the animal of Titania with the animal of Titan, so Titania is a feathered dinosaur (well in fact, it is probably true that most Dinosaurs are feathered, like Velociraptor. But I don’t know what kind of Dinosaur is this.
Oberon – Pegasus
Oberon sounds great, so she chooses Pegasus to represent Oberon. I found less association with the true Oberon on this one, but Oberon does reminds me of Bellerophon, the guy who rides on Pegasus’ back. So it’s cool.

 

Neptuno – The Humpback Whale
The ocean logically. But why not the blue whale? But I always see it as a blue whale, so no problem.
Triton – The Swordfish 
For some reason it reminds me a bit of my character for Triton, which is a bit “edgy” despite of his relation with watery Neptune. So I think swordfish is a good idea too. 
Proteus – The Seal
Proteus stays on the Island of Pharos, where he herds the seals of Poseidon. Very nice!
Larissa – The Dolphin
I’m becoming a complainer with this one. Why Larissa? Why not Nereid? I mean Nereid is much larger than Larissa (340 km, compared to 190 km), and it was even discovered much more earlier than Larissa is, like 40 years earlier. Nereid also has a character: it has one of the most eccentric orbit of any object in the solar system, much like the orbit of a comet. I think I know the reason, it probably because currently there is no decent image of Nereid.  

 

Pluto – The Bat
She knows pretty well about Pluto not being a planet anymore, but I think she’s pretty reasonable to put Pluto in the series. She knows that Pluto is included in astrology (so why don’t you draw the sun as well!!!!!!). Anyway, Pluto is a bat because she wanted something dark but not necessarily bad. So a bat will be Pluto.
I think at this point Shivita have forgotten that the planets are supposed to wear “accessories”. it looks very different when you go back to Mercury. But it’s cool, because her art is great.
Charon – The Firefly
Charon is the firefly and Pluto’s companion in the dark space, so they are both friends. Lol you know Pluto have more friends now, Hydra and Nyx. But I think none of them beats the connection between Pluto and Charon. ;)

 

Overall I’m really excited with her art. That’s why I put it in my blog. I think she should have a look at Denis Moskowitz’s site for the glyph of the other moons (since she used all the glyph of our Luna for all of the moons), that way each moon will have their own symbol.

I am still anticipating for the very last art she’s going to make for this series. I guess it’s going to be a everything combined in a picture, but for now I’m still waiting XD

 

Link:

Shivita’s deviant art http://shivita.deviantart.com/

Denis Moskowitz Site: http://www.suberic.net/~dmm/graphics/astro/moons.html

Copyright all belongs to Shivita (Silvia Elizabeth)

Terraforming Solar System Objects

 

A nice terraforming art by Wyrmshadow. The idea is that everything up to 200 miles are being terraformed. The smallest object here is Mimas, one of the moon of Saturn. Mimas is so small that everything on the moon weight about 0,006 times that on Earth (correct me if I’m wrong), imagine what kind of ocean would it be in Mimas with that kind of gravity… :)

The only thing that bothers me is the way the city light looks shiny in the day hemisphere. It looks like a dirt or an error on the texture, but overall it is awesome.

Link

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/3d-wips/45062-planetary-systems-bryce.html