XI. Star Atlas Creation

1. Historically, stars have been charted in atlases with elaborate displays of art around them, as well as with stories to coincide with the apparent formations of these stars. For example, Orion the Hunter seems to stand in the sky with a bow in hand, fending off Taurus the bull. However, this might not be the most modern interpretation of these asterisms. This project will enable you to re-draw (paint, sculpt, mold) the story behind a section of the sky.
2. You should discuss the details of your project and its extent with your instructor. However, the main points of the project are to go outside on several nights when star viewing is good, recording the time, date, location and direction that you are observing; then, use the stars that you see to guide a painting, drawing or other art form.  (You should also be careful to note the scale of the artwork – how much of the sky does your piece represent?) The text shows several examples that originate from antiquity. Perhaps you can find a more modern description of the patterns that the stars make in the night sky.
3. In addition to pieces of artwork, you should have a story that explains the characters or objects that you have created. Again, consult the instructor to determine the appropriate depth of such a story.
4. One final note: This is an observation project. You should not look at other star atlases while you are doing this project. Rather, you should be using the sky itself as the source of all inspiration for your artwork. Be sure to record the time, date, location and area of sky being observed.  It is especially important that the instructor/grader can interpret what part of the sky you are looking at so that s/he can look at it as well.  This means you might have to do some measurements of angle and represent these on your sketch/artwork. In other words, you should be able to hand this star chart to any random but somewhat knowledgeable person and they should be able to go out at night and find the stars shown on your map, on their own, in a reasonable period of time.