The Zodiac
Scorpius and Sagittarius
The scorpion and the archer, over the heart of the galaxy.
- Chart
- Uranographia
- Astronomer
- Johann Elert Bode
- Date
- 1801
- Held by
- e-rara.ch, Swiss rare-book libraries · via Wikimedia Commons
Format
The full-resolution scan, color-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and explore.
Size
$29.00
The story
A plate from Johann Elert Bode's Uranographia, published in Berlin in 1801: Scorpius and Sagittarius, the scorpion and the archer, two signs of the zodiac in the southern sky. Scorpius is a constellation whose recognition predates Greek culture, sitting near the centre of the Milky Way; Sagittarius, the centaur drawing a bow, holds the galaxy's centre itself in its westernmost part, a fact no one of Bode's day could have known. His aim was the exact place of every star, drawn inside the full figure, and the Uranographia is counted the climax of that art. Under these two figures lies the heart of our galaxy.
See it on your wall
A window onto the heavens, in your home
Scorpius and Sagittarius printed large and framed, hung in rooms like yours. Every edition ships ready to become the piece the room is built around.
About this reproduction
- A faithful reproduction of a public-domain chart held by e-rara.ch, Swiss rare-book libraries · via Wikimedia Commons — the work is centuries out of copyright.
- Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm. Framed pieces sit in a box frame under acrylic, with no mount (gold-ink editions on specialist press).
- Color-managed to the source scan; we correct nothing and invent nothing.
- Ships in 5–10 business days, rolled in a heavy-wall tube (framed pieces ship flat-packed).
- If it arrives less than perfect, we reprint or refund — your choice.
Why our charts cost more than a poster: we print from the highest-resolution scans in existence, at sizes where the engraving itself becomes visible — the gold figures, the tiny stars, the cartouches — on a matte sheet that shows every line without glare.
