I know coincidences happen; I certainly see no evidence for any sort of universal harmony aligning the stars or anything like that. Any stellar alignment is a matter of our own brains interpreting data.
Literally.
Such is the case, I assume, when two separate BABlogees independently send me links to the same site for two different reasons. The site in question is Strange Maps, which is about, well strange maps.
Case 1: Dan Fingerman sent me to a Strange Maps page about a Dutch map showing what Mars would look like if it had water on its surface. This is an interesting idea, and of course with modern technology (specifically, laser ranging topographical maps of Mars taken using orbiting satellites) we have much better such things, but I’m fond of the old style of map-making. This one has that Percival Lowell feel to it that makes it cool. Why it has south facing up I’ll never know.
Case 2: dj empirical told me about a Strange Maps page with a fairly unusual map of the sky, with star names and constellations re-imagined by an eccentric (read: whacko) Brit who thought our starry vault needed more Hitler and Mussolini. You can’t make this stuff up. Well, that guy did, but you know what I mean.
Strange Maps looks like a fun blog, and I’ve added it to my feed reader. I’ve always enjoyed looking over maps, and this appeals to my odd sense of humor.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:38 am
All astronomers know that south is up on planets. That’s how it looks in a telescope. Unless it’s an SCT.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Never say never … from my battered old copy of Norton’s Star Atlas (1978, p. 21):
And its reversed for observers in the southern hemisphere. In other words, putting south at the top is yet another example of northern-hemispheric chauvinism!
More seriously, I think it was a convention established in the era when planetary science meant telescopic observations. (The map of Mars in Norton’s also has south at the top.) These days, it’s all done by spacecraft, so it’s lost its point.
March 18th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Hmm . . . I wonder how long it will be before Analog, Asimov’s, Baen’s,et. al. are , um, inundated with terriformed Mars stories based on the Dutch map.
Anyone else notice the constellation “Science” in the second map?
March 18th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Hey, that star map has a constellation called “The Doctor”! I wasn’t aware Doctor Who was around in 1944!
March 18th, 2008 at 11:57 am
HA! That inspires me to do a “Famous Canadian Prime Ministers Sky Map.”
March 18th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
There are some quite entertaining maps on that site. Thanks for pointing it out!
March 18th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Add me to the list of those slightly shocked you don’t know about the South-at-the-top convention. (And, in the sky, is East to the left or right? Not as trivial as you think it is.)
AP Herbert is a good read, too, and all those who have benefited from no-fault divorce owe him a debt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._P._Herbert
March 18th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Well, I’ve seen telescopic view maps before, of course. I didn’t think of that when i wrote this up. But is the view reversed left-right as well?
Incidentally, in professional releases the standard is north up and east to the left.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Well,
let me reply with a map: http://cartanciennes.free.fr/liste_divers.php#monde_fou.jpg
March 18th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
A while back I played around with a Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) flat projection map in Photoshop, cooked up some greenhouse warming, filled in the lowlands with melted ice water based on estimates of how much there is trapped in ice at the poles, grew some plants, created some clouds, wrapped it around a sphere and produced this pure fantasy. Looks a lot like home.
http://wow-really.blogspot.com/2007/12/water-on-mars.html
March 18th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I’ve always been quite found of Frank Zappa’a version of a star map from `One Size Fits All’.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
The wikipedia entry on Mare Orientale gives 1961 as the year the astronautic convention for north, south, east and west was adopted by the IAU. That is why the Mare Orientale is on the western limb of the moon and old maps are printed with the south at the top.
March 18th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
One of my favorite books as a child was “An Atlas of Fantasy”, by J.B. Post.
This might be even cooler.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Martinus:
Hmm . . . Anyone else remember the details of the West Crater at Tranquility Base? Something about NASA not following the IAU convention? Or am I miss-remembering?
March 18th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Am I the only one who sees a resemblance between the map of Mars and Kang and/or Kodos from The Simpsons?
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/LifeInPrism/KangMars.jpg
Pareidolia or interplanetary conspiracy? You decide.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Yes, it seems just that tha map is turned by 180°, not flipped. This means that S is high and East is on the left. And this makes sense since it is like it appears in a telescope just with the ocular.
E-W flipping (or N-S) happens only if you use a prism, bu tha wouldn’t be useful to draw a map in that way, since it cannot be converted just by turning it!
Alf
March 19th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Speaking of Pareidolia, I see the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man singing an aria. Maybe it’s duet with that bat like creature on the other hemisphere.
It must be a sign.
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:55 am
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