Sky Atlas Research Articles

Penerapan Sistem Informasi Terpadu dalam Industri Tape Desa Banjarsari Menggunakan Celestial Cartography sebagai Peta Navigasi Kunjungan

The implementation of an integrated information system in the tape industry in Banjarsari Village using Celestial Cartography as a navigation map aims to enhance efficiency and visitor experience. This program integrates information technology with digital navigation to provide accurate and interactive guidance for visitors. The methods used include the development of a digital map application, technical training for industry managers, and evaluation of system effectiveness through user feedback. The results show increased visitor satisfaction and more efficient visit management. The implementation of this integrated information system is expected to support the development of a more modern and attractive tape industry in Banjarsari Village.

Is It Lonely (T)here? Intramurals, Black (W)holes, and Black Feminism

This essay employs the autotheoretical critique of the university and celestial cartography pioneered in Evelynn Hammonds’s “Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality” to understand the dynamic relationship between the silencing of black academics and black women/feminists in various sites of the neoliberal university. Narrating two experiences at Ivy League institutions, this essay meditates on the voids created and inhabited when the gravity of black study’s insistence on blackness as essential to the construction of modernity collapsed into and under the name of Afropessimism. The essay interrogates how looking for the distortion of the academic spaces that surround and engage black thought—namely, American studies, ethnic studies, and women and gender studies—renders visible (presuming we have the right instruments) the production of black (w)holes. Finally, it is interested in how the black intramural’s gender dynamics and the heteropatriarchy of its surrounds continue to silence black feminists.

Postcards from a Cosmic Traveller: Thomas Ruff’s Images of Space

Thomas Ruff’s lifelong fascination with astronomy has resulted in a series of works that examine the process of image making in both his chosen medium of photography and astronomy. Drawing on a variety of sources ranging from the European Southern Observatory’s Southern Sky Atlas to the Cassini and Mars orbiters, Ruff has generated a body of altered and/or refashioned images that ruminate on issues of authorship, image manipulation, time, and objectivity, that have been amplified in our digital age. Astronomical imagery provides a unique focus on these issues and is revealed by Ruff as being an integral part of the questions he raises about our use and interpretation of images.

A Cybercartographic Atlas of the Sky: Cybercartography, Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Work among the Pa Ipai Indigenous Families from Baja California, Mexico

In this article, I discuss how sky mapping was carried out among the Pa Ipai peoples from Baja California in Mexico. This mapping was elaborated through an interdisciplinary study that combined cybercartography, ethnography, cultural astronomy, semiotics, and collaborative work. The central argument of the article focuses on how the cybercartographic sky atlas of the Pa Ipai people responded to the situation and social problems of these communities. Some of these problems are extreme poverty, violence, and conflicts with the Mexican state and the academic world. In this context, the atlas and the collaborative work became tools that created links with indigenous families, especially with the young people. The mapping process also helped to resolve the tensions mentioned above. The article also addresses how the economic and political situation in Mexico has an effect on the preservation of the atlas. Some of the results of this work are that the Pai Ipai atlas allows, conserves, and renews songs, stories, and experiences around heaven. Another remarkable result is that the teenagers have positively received the atlas and the collaborative experience derived from it.

Star and Solar System Maps: A History of Celestial Cartography

Abstract Since antiquity, people have observed the night sky. To establish order and predictability, people made maps of the heavens. Two kinds emerged. The first were star maps, organized into constellations but focused on stellar location in the sky. Stars were placed in a coordinate system, initially based on celestial latitude and longitude oriented to the ecliptic, but later based on decl. and R.A. oriented to the celestial equator. Over time, telescopic and scientific needs called for more detailed coordinate systems, and constellation images disappeared. The second kind of heavenly map depicted the solar system and focused on planetary locations and surface characteristics. For many centuries, these were cosmological diagrams with concentric planetary and stellar circles, centered first on the Earth and then the Sun. Now such maps have no stellar boundary, and ever larger telescopes and space probes allow us to view planetary surfaces in unprecedented detail.

The Summer Triangle and the Stymphalian Birds

In western celestial cartography there is a grouping of three birds which are the constellations of Cygnus the Swan, Aquila the Eagle, and Lyra the Lyre, all found north of the ecliptic. Within each constellation, the three bright stars of Deneb Adige in Cygnus, Altair in Aquila, and Vega in Lyra constitute what is known today as the Summer Triangle, as they are visible in the summer months and form a triangle in the night sky. Rather than just a geometrical pattern, however, this essay argues that there is a myth that draws these three magical birds together. Using extant works of art, as well as the writings of Apollonius Rhodius (Argonautica 2, c.3rd century BCE) and Pseudo- Hyginus (Fabulae 30, c.2nd century CE), amongst others, this essay focuses initially on the Greek myth of the three Stymphalian Birds (Ornithes Stymphalides) which haunted Lake Stymphalis in Arkadia and suggests that, by searching within other myths, there are alternate ways that these three sky birds may have been understood through other cultures.

Validation and Precision of Mixed Reality Technology in Baha Attract Implant Surgery

To test the feasibility of image-guided Baha Attract implant surgery with mixed reality (MR) in the form of the HoloLens to visualize critical structures and facilitate precise Baha implant placement. A cadaveric case study of bilateral Baha Attract implant approaches was conducted using Star Atlas MR three-dimensional (3D) medical interaction system guidance at the Otolaryngology Department of PUMCH, Beijing, China. The accuracy of visual surface registration was determined by the target registration error (TRE) between the predefined points on the preoperative 3D holographic Baha Attract implant model and the postoperatively reconstructed 3D model. Bilateral Baha Attract implantation was completed successfully for all four cadaveric heads using the Star Atlas MR 3D medical interaction system with the HoloLens. The preoperative 3D digital model characteristics (including bone quality and thickness and avoidance of cranial vessels, air cells, and cranial sutures) corresponded well with the 3D model of the actual implantation reconstructed postoperatively. The median TRE of our system was 2.97 mm (ranging from 1.98 to 4.58 mm) in terms of distance and 2.76 degrees (ranging from 0.59 to 6.4 degrees) in terms of angle. Applying MR technology in the form of the HoloLens in Baha Attract implant surgery is feasible and could improve the accuracy of the surgery. The described MR system for Baha Attract implantation has the potential to improve the surgeon's confidence, as well as the surgical safety, efficiency, and precision.

Archives of CrAO spectral observations. Catalogues of objects and images

The work described in this article is a continuation of the previously initiated research on archival spectral observations carried out in Crimea. It covers a time interval of about 90 years and contains information about spectroscopy using various facilities: from the wide-angle astrographs with an objective prism to the main CrAO telescope - ZTSh. A brief history of telescopes and their equipment is presented. The article is illustrated with possibilities of a network access to the catalogues of observations taken with various instruments in the interactive Aladin Sky Atlas with the redirection to original spectrograms. To this aim, the linear coordinates of scanned negatives were converted into a scale that corresponds to the wavelengths. The possibilities of taking into account the spectral sensitivity of the recorded images by the absolute energy distribution are shown. A feature of this work is the connection of digitized original observations and results of their independent processing with data published for objects in the Izvestiya Krymskoi Astrofizicheskoi Observatorii

Measurement of the distance to the central stars of Nebulae by using Expansion methods with Alladin Sky Atlas

The usual methods of distance determination in Astronomy parallax and Spectroscopic with Expansion Methods are seldom applicable to Nebulae. In this work determination of the distances to individual Nebulae are calculated and discussed. The distances of Nebulae to the Earth are calculated. The accuracy of the distance is tested by using Aladin sky Atlas, and comparing Nebulae properties were derived from these distance made with statistical distance determination. The results showed that angular Expansions may occur in a part of the nebulae that is moving at a velocity different than the observed velocity. Also the results of the comparison of our spectroscopic distances with the trigonometric distances is that the spectroscopic distances are 55% larger. Since using trigonometric parallaxes with large relative measurement errors can introduce systematic errors, we carried out a Monte Carlo simulation of the biases introduced by selection effects and measurement errors. It turns out that a difference between both distance scales of the observed size is expected for the present day data if the underlying distance scales are identical.

Архивы спектральных наблюдений КрАО. Каталоги объектов и изображений

Работа, описанная в данной статье, является продолжением ранее начатых исследований по архивным спектральным наблюдениям, выполненным в Крыму. Она охватывает интервал времени около 90 лет и содержит информацию о спектроскопии с использованием различных телескопов: от широкоугольных астрографов с объективной призмой до главного телескопа КрАО - ЗТШ. Рассмотрена краткая история инструментов, их оборудование. Статья проиллюстрирована возможностями сетевого доступа к каталогам наблюдений на различных инструментах в интерактивном атласе неба Aladin с переадресацией к оригинальным спектрограммам. Для них выполнено преобразование линейных координат отсканированных негативов в шкалу, соответствующую длинам волн. Показаны возможности учета спектральной чувствительности регистрируемых изображений для получения распределения энергии. Особенностью представляемой работы является связь оцифрованных оригинальных наблюдений и результатов их независимой обработки с данными, опубликованными для объектов в журнале "Известия Крымской астрофизической обсерватории".

From Daba Script to Dongba Script

The comparison of the 28 lunar mansions of Daba and Dongba scripts revealed that Daba glyphs are single graphemes that are generally pictograms depicting the star atlases or related to the syllables of the stars names. Their counterparts in Dongba writing, conversely, are mostly ligatures consisting of several graphemes. They could be pictograms depicting the star atlases or the syllabic representations of the lunar mansions designations, or the combinations of both. Basing the analysis on the functions of the glyphs in writing down languages, the plausible path of development that can be highlighted from these two scripts have been reconstructed. Further on, the hypothesis is proposed according to which Daba script could be the initial stage of the Dongba writing system.

28-я Международная картографическая конференция «ICC 2017»

The 28th International Cartographic Conference ICC 2017 was held in Washington, DC in July 2017. The conference is a significant event in the world of cartography setting the path of development for the next 2 years. 40 topics were offered to participants of the conference in accordance with which they had to make oral presentations or posters and to submit articles. It should be noted the trend of ICC 2017 to expand the topics. For example, geospatial technologies were added to the section “Education and training”; coordinate systems, transformations and conversions were added to the section “Map projections”; extrasolar and celestial cartography were added to the section “Planetary cartography”. Cartographic and technical exhibitions, Barbara Petchenik International children’s map competition and exhibition, competitions in orienteering were held on the conference. Meeting of commissions and working groups of the International Cartographic Association, business meetings before and after the conference were organized. Also technical tours to relevant companies and organizations were proposed to participants. The article highlights the key events and ideas expressed during the conference.

Advocating for a change of mentality in the development of metadata standards: historical celestial cartography as a specialization example

We live in a highly volatile technological environment, in which the generation of new data and information access tools has increased the level of specialization of the users’ information needs. In this changeable scenario, standards and the role of librarians must also evolve along with the services provided to users. The lack of specialization in standards is leading librarians to improvise local solutions when cataloguing specialized resources, thus failing to benefit global interoperability among libraries, and with other institutions and initiatives. As different cataloguing standards, as well as many conceptual models, point out the necessity to deal with the specific users’ needs, the main goal of this paper is to advocate for meeting those needs through the development of metadata standards. In particular, our methodology consists in showing and explaining the needs of a particular type of users (astronomers and astrophysicists) and proposing the inclusion in the standards of elements important for the description of historical astronomical resources. Through an example, we show not only the feasibility of application of these elements, but also how the enhancement of the level of specialization of the standards, and therefore of the records made under their rules, can definitely contribute to a global solution for a much improved scientific information retrieval.

Quasar lenses and galactic streams: outlier selection and Gaia multiplet detection

I describe two novel techniques originally devised to select strongly lensed quasar candidates in wide-field surveys. The first relies on outlier selection in optical and mid-infrared magnitude space; the second combines mid-infrared colour selection with Gaia spatial resolution, to identify multiplets of objects with quasar-like colours. Both methods have already been applied successfully to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, ATLAS and Dark Energy Survey footprints: besides recovering known lenses from previous searches, they have led to new discoveries, including quadruply lensed quasars, which are rare within the rare-object class of quasar lenses. As a serendipitous by-product, at least four candidate Galactic streams in the South have been identified among foreground contaminants. There is considerable scope for tailoring the WISE−Gaia multiplet search to stellar-like objects, instead of quasar-like, and to automatically detect Galactic streams.

The Cambridge Double Star Atlas (2nd edition)

The Cambridge Double Star Atlas (2nd edition)

Rivers of Risk and Redemption in Gregory of Tours’ Writings

Rivers of Risk and Redemption in Gregory of Tours’ Writings

Stabilization of Verdigris

The results of a research project on verdigris on paper have been applied in the conservation of a celestial atlas and a series of printed books with images of cities in Renaissance time. Paper degraded by verdigris was chemically stabilized by applying a solution of benzotriazole, a copper complexing agent, in ethanol by brush from the verso. Tears and brittle areas were mechanically stabilized with pre-coated Japanese tissue papers. The copper ion content and the effect of complexation were monitored with self-prepared copper ion indicator papers. Paper samples with different concentrations of benzotriazole were light-aged to evaluate the effect of yellowing.

Historical Celestial Cartography: a Proposal to Improve the Documental Description of the Contents of Star Charts and Atlases

A sample of 18th, 19th and 20th-Century historical star atlases from the Royal Institute and Observatory of the Spanish Navy and the Linda Hall Library have been selected in order to identify the most frequently supplied scientific information. This work shows how the quality of bibliographic records could be improved, not only by adding more specialized description fields, but also by ensuring that the existing ones are being properly used by cataloguers. A series of new technical parameters is proposed, along with guidelines on how to find them, thus making the task of identifying such parameters easier for cataloguers.

Illustrating the Phaenomena: Celestial Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Illustrating the Phaenomena: Celestial Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Enhancing OPAC Records: Evaluating and Fitting Within Cataloguing Standards a New Proposal of Description Parameters for Historical Astronomical Resources

Enhancing content description of specialized resources, particularly astronomical resources, is a matter that is still unresolved in library and information science. In this paper, the authors outline deficiencies in some fields and elements of cataloging standards for description of historical astronomical resources, mainly star atlases and catalogs. Furthermore, they review their recent proposal of astronomical parameters for a better description and propose an approach for accommodating these parameters in the current criteria of MARC 21, the International Standard Bibliographic Description, and Resource Description and Access. Fourteen new parameters are considered, and recommendations are provided to standards developers for the addition of elements to accommodate attributes of celestial cartographic resources. This would improve bibliographic records for such resources in astronomical libraries’ OPACs, which will have a beneficial effect on information retrieval.