Alluring and mythical by design, star charts are some of the oldest acts of data visualizations crafted by humans. Isn’t it amazing that the stars we can look up and point out in the night sky, were also the same stars viewed by our prehistoric ancestors who studied the sky and plotted their locations onto cave walls? I find the history of this act to be terribly compelling. This lab is an attempt at plotting some key points of that history, by constructing a timeline based on star charts throughout prehistoric, antiquity, medieval and more modern eras.

Inspiration

My dive into this subject was inspired by modern star charts created by data artists. Particularly, Figures in the Sky and Hubble’s 30-Year Legacy by Nadieh Bremer. I nearly pursued a degree in art history – recognizing medieval star maps with hand-painted illustrations as a source of both knowledge and decorative art feels second nature. However, thinking of digital data as art is new to me. I am interested in learning more about this unique art-form, and maybe one day will be able to craft similar vibrant, engaging data chart myself.

Tools Used

This data visualization was created using Knight Lab’s open-source timeline building tool called TimelineJS. The tool allows users to create interactive timelines within Google Sheets, an online data spreadsheet application. Using the tool, I was able to include media that represented my data points such as videos or images.

Methods and Process

There are many star charts in existence, partially known, or lost to time. Not to mention data formats that are very similar to star charts including globes, and astrolabes. Anna Friedman wrote in her paper, Renaissance Star Charts, that “Globes influenced star charts, providing new information and artistic styles. Star charts likewise influenced globes. Astrolabes also played a role in the evolution of star charts, providing a model of the stereographic projection.”(Herlihy, “Renaissance Star Charts.”) So, within my research and data plotting I decided to focus on notable instances of star maps within different mediums. Regardless of the type of chart, finding sources within the past 10 to 15 years was far more difficult than I had expected, so I had to branch out to older research.

I also had to decide which examples of star charts should be included in my timeline. In 1979, scientists discovered a 32,000-year-old mammoth tusk that had a man’s figure carved into one side and small notches whittled into the back. Dr. Michael Rappenglueck believed that the figure represented the constellation Orion, but the carving could also be a pregnancy calendar based on the notches. “First, it is the number of days that must be subtracted from a year to equal the average number of days of a human gestation. ‘This is no coincidence,’ says Dr Rappenglueck. It is also the number of days that one of Orion’s two prominent stars, Betelguese, is visible. To ancient man, this might have linked human fertility with the gods in the sky.”(Dr. David Whitehouse, “‘Oldest Star Chart’ Found.”) I wrestled with including this example, the article was published in 2003 discussing the chart and I was unable to find any further updates as to what scientists have decided this carving represents. Ultimately, I decided to include it in my timeline, but I had this same issue with many other possible data points that I decided to omit.

Reflection

Viewing all the data laid out in the timeline, it was interesting to see how different cultures approached star mapping. I also felt that most of the charts are genuine attempts at mapping the stars in a scientific way, rather than what I initially assumed would be more illustrative.

Researching the history of star charts proved to be quite difficult for a visualization that relies on dates, and different sources for the same chart often contradicted one another. Being that star charts are such an old creation, the period when many charts were created could often only be assumed by a large range of dates. I also found using TimelineJS to be frustrating, I am not a fan of using spreadsheet documents to compile text and the tool’s response time was less than ideal. I feel that the interface hindered my workflow. I still enjoyed researching the topic, however if I were to recreate this lab, I would seek out alternatives instead of using TimelineJS. Overall, I don’t feel as though my project was successful in what I hoped to achieve, but I learned a lot about star charts and the process for this type of assignment.

References

“Deux-Ouvertures Grotte, Ardeche,” accessed September 11, 2021, https://www.donsmaps.com/deuxouvertures.html

Nadieh Bremer, “Figures in the Sky,” Visual Cinnamon, accessed September 10, 2021, https://www.visualcinnamon.com/portfolio/figures-in-the-stars/

“Napoleon and the Scientific Expedition to Egypt | Linda Hall Library,” accessed September 11, 2021, https://napoleon.lindahall.org/zodiac_dendera.shtml

Dr. David Whitehouse, “‘Oldest Star Chart’ Found,” January 21, 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2679675.stm

Anna Friedman Herlihy, “Renaissance Star Charts,” Cartography in the European Renaissance 3 (n.d.): 24

“Star Chart | Time and Navigation,” accessed September 10, 2021, http://timeandnavigation.si.edu/multimedia-asset/star-chart

Centre Informatique, “The Beginnings of Celestial Cartography – Les Globes de Mercator de l’UNIL,” accessed September 11, 2021, https://www2.unil.ch/mercator/en/the-beginnings-of-celestial-cartography/index.html.