Mapping the Northern Sky

Long before satellite navigation and GPS, explorers were already setting their sights toward space. Since we first saw the night sky, humanity has been fascinated by the stars. Over thousands of years, astronomers have tracked the positions of stars and other objects (such as planets, which were described as planetes, or wanderers, by the ancient Greeks). They used the stars to tell stories, make predictions, and even find their way. All of which depended on having an accurate map, mental or otherwise, of the heavens above. This stunning map by Florian Winkler catalogs the stars of the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s built using information from Stellarium, the HYG Database, and W. H. Finlay’s Concise Catalog of Deep-sky Objects.