The Constellations
Ophiuchus and Serpens
The serpent-bearer, from the first Astronomer Royal's atlas.
- Chart
- Atlas Coelestis
- Astronomer
- John Flamsteed
- Date
- 1729
- 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
Ophiuchus and Serpens from John Flamsteed's Atlas Coelestis, published in 1729 by his widow, ten years after his death. The atlas holds 26 constellation maps and two planispheres by Abraham Sharp, its figures drawn by James Thornhill. Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, made the first recorded observations of Uranus without knowing it, cataloguing the planet as a star. Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer, straddles the celestial equator, a man grasping the snake Serpens; an old name for the figure was Serpentarius. Of the house's four serpent-bearers, Flamsteed's comes third, between Hevelius in 1690 and Bode in 1801.
See it on your wall
A window onto the heavens, in your home
Ophiuchus and Serpens 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.
