Johann Bayer and His Contributions to Astronomy
Johann
Bayer was a German lawyer and uranographer- also known as a celestial
cartographer. Bayer was born on an unknown date in the year 1572, in Rain,
Lower Bavaria. As a young adult, he studied philosophy and law at the
University of Ingolstadt. Upon completion of his studies, he moved to Augsburg
to practice law. Here he became legal advisor to the city council in 1612.
Bayer was also interested in other subjects, such as archaeology and
mathematics. However, he is mainly known for his work in astronomy and for
determining the position of many objects in the celestial sphere.
Bayer
is undoubtedly most recognized for a book he published, a star atlas by the
name of Uranometria Omnium Asterismorum,
or Uraniometry of all the Asterisms. This work was first published in Augsburg
in 1603, and was the first atlas that covered the entirety of the celestial
sphere. This book was based upon the works of Tycho Brahe, a fellow astronomer,
and also incorporated some of the ideas of Alessandro Piccolomini’s star atlas
of 1540. However, Bayer included an additional 1,000 stars. Bayer’s atlas added
12 new constellations, previously unknown to the Greeks and the Romans, which
occupied the Southern night sky. The Uranometria
also introduced a new system of star designation, appropriately named Bayer
Designation.
The
Bayer Designation System is a stellar designation in which a certain star is identified
by a Greek letter, followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation’s
Latin name. The original list of Bayer Designations contained 1,564 stars. Most
of the stars which are brighter were given their first names by Bayer in Uranometria. Bayer designated a lower
case Greek letter, such as alpha (α), followed by the Latin name of the parent
constellation. For example, α Tauri,
pronounced alpha Tauri. As the Greek
alphabet only has 24 letters, Bayer began to use uppercase letters, allowing
for an additional 24 letters. Bayer designations, while they have been
improvised, are still being used to this day. This designation system remains
as one of the greatest contributions of Bayer to modern astronomy, along with
his Uranometria. The crater Bayer,
located in the Southwest section of the moon is named after the great German
astronomer.
On
the 7th of March, 1625, at the age of 53, Johann Bayer died in the
city of Augsburg. Although his death seemed to be at a relatively early age by
today’s standards, it was an average life expectancy for the 16th-17th
centuries. Bayer left behind a legacy after his death, his extremely innovative
Uranometria depicted numerous stars
and constellations that were previously unnamed, and his Bayer Designation
System, used for designating stars in constellations, is still used today.
Bayer was a very successful man, a prolific lawyer, and of course, an extremely
talented astronomer. The works of Bayer and his astronomical findings proved to
be extremely influential to modern day astronomy, are still being used in
modern-day astronomy, and will be used for generations to come.
