Antique Maps by Johann Bayer (*1572 - †1625)

Johann Bayer (also Johannes Bayer) was a German lawyer and astronomer. He studied philosophy and law in Ingolstadt and settled as a lawyer in Augsburg. He had other interests as well, including mathematics and archeology. For example, he took part in excavations in Rome and made drawings of the finds. But his passion and later claim to fame was astronomy. Today, Bayer is known for his important celestial atlas, the Uranometria, published in Augsburg for the first time in 1603. His star atlas was the first to depict the entire celestial sphere. He added new constellations to those of classical antiquity, which are still in use today. His systematic designation of the stars, introduced in the Uranometria, with a Greek letter followed by the Latin name of the constellation, is still used in astronomy today and is named after him as the Bayer designation. Also an impact crater on the moon was named after him.