JOHANN ELERT BODE

'Johann Elert Bode' (January 19, 1747 – November 23, 1826) was a German astronomer known for his reformulation and popularization of the Titius-Bode law as well as his works to determine the orbit of Uranus, for which he also suggested the name. He is also credited with the discovery of Bode's Galaxy (M81).

Contents

Biography

Works

See also

Notes

References and further reading

Biography

Bode was born in Hamburg. As a youth, he suffered from an eye disease which particularly damaged his right eye; he continued to have trouble with his eyes throughout his life.
Bode was the director of the Berlin Observatory, where he published the ''Uranographia'' in 1801, a celestial atlas that aimed both at scientific accuracy in showing the positions of stars and other astronomical objects, as well as the artistic interpretation of the stellar constellation figures. The ''Uranographia'' marks the climax of an epoch of artistic representation of the constellations. Later atlases showed fewer and fewer elaborated figures until they were no longer printed on such tables.
He also published an astronomical yearbook, another, small star atlas, intended for astronomical amateurs (''Vorstellung der Gestirne''), and an introductory book to the constellations and their tales, which had more than ten reprints.
Bode died in Berlin on November 23, 1826, aged 79.

Works

See also

★ Bode's law

Notes

References and further reading

★ AtlasCoelestis.com: ''Vorstellung der Gestirne'' by J.E. Bode, 1782 - last retrieved in Sep 7, 2007,

★ AtlasCoelestis.com: ''Uranographia'', Berlino 1801 - last retrieved in Sep 7, 2007,

★ Johann Elert Bode Biography (SEDS)

★ Bode's 'Complete Catalog of hitherto observed Nebulous Stars and Star Clusters,' 1779, with links to his deepsky observations and discoveries (SEDS)