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Celestial mix-up! Ray Harris has noticed a problem with several editions of Piccolomini’s famous
star atlas. At left is the familiar V of Hyades stars, with Aldebaran labeled a
, under the title “Del
Montone” (Aries). At right the emptier region of Aries appears on a page headed “Del Tavro”
(Taurus). These photographs, taken by Harris at Yale University’s Kline Library, are of B. Cesano’s
1553 Venice edition, in which typeset charts were used rather than woodcuts.

Taurus the Ram and mislabeled the two constellations.

and Aries the Bull? Now comes the funny part. Sometime
During a visit to Williams College I had later, this publisher must have realized
the opportunity to study the 1540 first that Taurus and Aries were reversed. In
edition of the first printed star atlas, his 1566 and 1570 editions, the two con-
Alessandro Piccolomini’s De le Stelle stellations were finally switched so that
Fisse. While examining the charts I noted Aries properly preceded Taurus. But wait!
that the constellation labeled “Del Tavro” The publisher failed to correct their titles;
(Taurus) appeared rather sparse. The the two charts were still mislabeled with
previous chart labeled “Del Montone” each other’s names! In addition, these
(Aries) then caught my eye. It promi- two editions mislabeled Lyra as “De la
nently displayed the Hyades! Libra” (Libra).
The obvious question was, How soon Using new typeset charts, one more
did astute astronomers of the 1540s make publisher issued a single Italian edition
these errors known to the publisher so in 1561. Amazingly, this edition finally
that they could be corrected in later edi- restored the Bull and the Ram to their
tions? There were more than 15 editions proper star patterns and positions in the
of De le Stelle Fisse issued in the 1500s by zodiac. But not wanting to upstage his
a variety of publishers. I was able to ex- competitors too much, this publisher mis-
amine a representative sample of these at labeled Cygnus as “Di Perseo” (Perseus).
Princeton, Yale, and Brown. The original In subsequent discussions with Harvard
woodcuts appeared in three Italian edi- astronomer Owen Gingerich we discov-
tions. The last of these (1552) repeated ered that his copy of the first edition
the errors with Taurus and Aries. does not display the errors with Taurus
In 1553 another publisher printed an and Aries, nor does a Latin edition pub-
Italian edition with typeset charts instead lished in 1568. However, his copy of the
of woodcuts. He dutifully perpetuated 1553 typeset edition has the errors. For
these errors. A third publisher used a new more about this remarkable atlas, see
set of woodcuts, but he was also faithful Gingerich’s article on Piccolomini (S&T:
to the 1540 edition. His first Italian edi- December 1981, page 532). If anyone has The
Audit
tion, published in 1559, still reversed access to other copies of De le Stelle Fisse Bureau

12 October 1998 Sky & Telescope ©1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
 OCTOBER 1948 “The chief departure of Dr. I would look forward to learning if er- servatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh
[Guy] Omer’s theory from earlier work on the rors appear in them. EH9 3HJ, Scotland. Those interested can
structure, motion, and age of the universe is Ray Harris also take a look at http://www2.satellite.
that he makes the assumption of a nonho- 2111 Wisteria Rd. eu.org/sat/vsohp/eurosom3.html or con-
mogeneous distribution of matter. . . .‘The Macungie, PA 18062 tact eurosom3@satellite.eu.org.
number of ways in which the universe may rmharris@papl.com Bart De Pontieu
be constructed is infinite,’ Dr. Omer said. . . .
550 #1 Oxford Ave.
“Dr. Omer . . . adjusts his constants to ob-
Palo Alto, CA 94306
tain an ‘age’ or time-scale of the universe of
about 3,640,000,000 years.” Mars Pathfinder vs. Viking bart@satellite.eu.org
Although this age was low by a factor of five Jim Bell’s article “Mars Pathfinder: Bet-
or so, it did envelop ter Science?” (July issue, page 36) failed
the oldest known to answer the question “better science Astronomy Down Under
Earth rocks. The flexi- than what?” I read with interest your notes on astron-
bility of his model, In the case of Martian surface explo- omy in New Zealand (July, page 80), but
based on the general ration, there are only two possibilities: you missed one. In Hamilton, a two-hour
theory of relativity, al- better than nothing, or better than the drive from Auckland, the Hamilton Astro-
lowed the incorpora- Viking missions of 1976. Pathfinder cer- nomical Society recently dedicated its new
tion of all data avail-
tainly met the first criterion. However, it 61-centimeter (24-inch) Cassegrain reflec-
able at that time.
“About 4:00 p.m.
is difficult to accept that a single space- tor. Including a series of nightly lectures
Mountain standard craft conducting six major experiments and public viewing sessions, this event co-
time, February 18, 1948, the Denver Post began on the Martian surface for 83 days was incided with a visit by well-known British
receiving telephone calls from local citizens “better” than two spacecraft each return- astronomer Patrick Moore, who gave a
regarding a ‘brilliant meteor,’‘burning plane,’ ing data from nine major experiments, public talk attended by hundreds at the
‘V-2 rocket,’‘flying saucer.’ . . . Great explosions, for 2,314 days in the case of Viking 1 nearby University of Waikato.
brilliantly lighting the daytime sky, were re- and 1,280 days in the case of Viking 2. Located next to the city zoo, the tele-
ported from various towns in the vicinity of The fact is that Pathfinder was not scope is housed in a domed observatory
Norton and Decatur counties, Kansas.” “better” than Viking; it was different. Vi- and is linked to the group’s radio telescope.
So wrote H. H. Nininger, one of the first mod-
king was primarily a scientific mission; The facility, nearly 10 years in the making,
ern meteoriticists and big-time collectors. The
Pathfinder was primarily an engineering required 6,000 hours of work by society
rest of his story details how witnesses were in-
terviewed to determine the approximate loca- mission. Both substantially exceeded members and $300,000 in contributions.
tion of a possible meteorite fall. It worked; many their goals. Both provided extremely Chester S. Spell
fragments were recovered. valuable scientific results. Each had its 22 Hunter Rd., RD 4
Using the same methodology, scientists unique characteristics and advantages. Hamilton, New Zealand
found 143 pounds of the Portales Valley, Ari- There is no need to belittle one at the spellc@waikato.ac.nz
zona, chondrite, which fell June 13, 1998. No expense of the other; each should be re-
meteorites have been recovered from the Casa garded with equal pride.
Grande, Arizona, fireball of June 7th. William G. Pohnan Jr. For the Record
113 Borris Cir. On page 97 of September, through a produc-

50&25
Y E A R S A G O Satellite Observers
Streamwood, IL 60107

The third meeting of European Satellite

tion error, incorrect Web and street addresses
were given in the Questar advertisement.
They should read www.questar-corp.com
and 6204 Ingham Road.

Observers (Eurosom 3) will be held during In the New Product Showcase department
OCTOBER 1973 “Fifty years ago this the weekend of October 24–25 at the City of the August issue (page 62), the an-
month, the most remarkable astronomical
Observatory, Calton Hill, in Edinburgh, nouncement of the Starlight Xpress HX5
teaching aid ever created — the projection
planetarium — was publicly demonstrated Scotland. Everyone (including non-Euro- CCD camera was accompanied by a pho-
at the Deutsches Museum in peans) interested in visual tograph of a different piece
Munich, Germany. The new observations of artificial of equipment. The HX5
instrument had been built satellites is welcome. camera is shown at left.
by the firm of Carl Zeiss, Eurosom 3 will be an in- The U.S. dealer, Adiron-
then in Jena. . . . formal meeting with English dack Video Astronomy, can
“In 1919 Walther Bauers- as the working language. The be reached by e-mail at
feld proposed that the arti- program includes talks by avaastro@compuserve.com.
ficial sky be created by op- experienced satellite ob-
tical projection on a fixed
servers and analysts such as Mike Mc- The new postal code 02478-9111, given in
hemispherical screen. . . .
“Dr. Bauersfeld designed
Cants, Tony Beresford, Russell Eberst, the address at the top of page 12 for editorial
the instrument that was demonstrated . . . on and Phillip Clark. The registration dead- correspondence with Sky & Telescope, is
October 21, 1923.” line is October 1st. More information not a typographical error. The U.S. Postal
Writer George Lovi was an expert in the can be obtained from Alan Pickup Service has reassigned certain codes in the
design and use of planetariums. (alan@wingar.demon.co.uk), Royal Ob- Boston area to expedite mail delivery.

14 October 1998 Sky & Telescope ©1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.