{"id":25503,"date":"2021-09-16T17:37:41","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T21:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/?p=25503"},"modified":"2021-09-16T17:37:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T21:37:44","slug":"history-of-star-charts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/labs\/timelines\/history-of-star-charts\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Star Charts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Timeline<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A star chart used by the crew of the Apollo 11.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inspiration<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My dive into this subject was inspired by modern star charts created by data artists. Particularly, Figures in the Sky<\/a><\/em> and Hubble\u2019s 30-Year Legacy<\/a><\/em> 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<\/em> data<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figures in the Sky by Nadieh Bremer, 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tools Used<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This data visualization was created using Knight Lab\u2019s open-source timeline building tool called TimelineJS<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methods and Process<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em>, that \u201cGlobes 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.\u201d(Herlihy, \u201cRenaissance Star Charts.\u201d) 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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. \u201cFirst, it is the number of days that must be subtracted from a year to equal the average number of days of a human gestation. \u2018This is no coincidence,\u2019 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.\u201d(Dr. David Whitehouse, \u201c\u2018Oldest Star Chart\u2019 Found.\u201d) 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A 18,000 year-old cave painting depicting a bovine, possibly Taurus. The marks above it may represent the Pleiades star cluster. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Reflection<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View Timeline<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDeux-Ouvertures Grotte, Ardeche,\u201d accessed September 11, 2021, https:\/\/www.donsmaps.com\/deuxouvertures.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nadieh Bremer, \u201cFigures in the Sky,\u201d Visual Cinnamon, accessed September 10, 2021, https:\/\/www.visualcinnamon.com\/portfolio\/figures-in-the-stars\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNapoleon and the Scientific Expedition to Egypt | Linda Hall Library,\u201d accessed September 11, 2021, https:\/\/napoleon.lindahall.org\/zodiac_dendera.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. David Whitehouse, \u201c\u2018Oldest Star Chart\u2019 Found,\u201d January 21, 2003, http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/science\/nature\/2679675.stm<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna Friedman Herlihy, \u201cRenaissance Star Charts,\u201d Cartography in the European Renaissance<\/em> 3 (n.d.): 24<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStar Chart | Time and Navigation,\u201d accessed September 10, 2021, http:\/\/timeandnavigation.si.edu\/multimedia-asset\/star-chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Centre Informatique, \u201cThe Beginnings of Celestial Cartography \u2013 Les Globes de Mercator de l\u2019UNIL,\u201d accessed September 11, 2021, https:\/\/www2.unil.ch\/mercator\/en\/the-beginnings-of-celestial-cartography\/index.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3913,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[339],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1682],"class_list":["post-25503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-timelines"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paBdcV-6Dl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25503"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25508,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25503\/revisions\/25508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25503"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=25503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}