[Kstars-devel] Suggestions for a newbie

[Daniel Baboiu]

I think the artwork should NOT be original, but from traditional images.
These days, these images are considered just art, but in old times they
were used as a reference to locate interesting objects. See, for
example, the description (from 1844, but republished more recently) of a
double star n Cassiopeia's left elbow here:
https://bestdoubles.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/sigma-%CF%
83-cassiopeiae-a-smalt-blue-jewel-on-the-ladys-shoulder/


Now compare that with the image from
https://artislimited.wordpress.com/tag/home-design-fixture/
which is basically the same, but upside down in relation to the
stars... 

Even in an era when star positions were accurately measured, astronomers
like Flamsteed stayed close to the traditional images rather than more
realistic images.

It is difficult to find such artwork, but copies are kept in libraries.
For example, US Naval Observatory has a collection of rare books,
including star atlases dating back to 1603; 
http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/library/historical/images-of-historical-objects-artwork-in-library/rare-books

Note that some of the old  books such as Poeticon Astronomicon by
Hyginus (1482) represent the star positions adjusted to fit the image,
rather than the other way around...

Finding the right images will be difficult, but I think you can start
with Jamieson's "Celestial Atlas" (30 plates published on UNSO web site)
and "Urania's Mirror" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania%27s_Mirror)




On Wed, 2015-02-11 at 08:58 +0300, Jasem Mutlaq wrote:
> Hi Adityan,
> 
> 
> The 88 constellations is a modern arrangement, only agreed upon in the
> 1920s; I think there were about 48 ancient constellations since
> ancient Greeks. You don't need to create any artwork yourself if you
> can obtain something that may be published under a permissible
> (Creative Commons or similar) license. I am not entirely certain, but
> I think books over 70 years old are in public domain and are not
> subject to copyright? Maybe someone can correct me on this. And btw,
> neither Photoshop nor Gimp are used to create artwork; maybe something
> like Krita is more appropriate. Just an FYI. 
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Jasem
>