La sfera del mondo di M. Alessandro Piccolomini, title page

Abstract

Piccolomini produced the first star atlas for the general reader. This early edition marks an important develop in the form in which celestial knowledge was conveyed. The work introduced the system of stellar nomenclature, which with the modification subsequently made by Bayer, remains in use today. Stars are identified by lower case letters for a given constellation, with tables conveniently listing magnitudes from first to fourth. The work proved wildly popular, with twelve editions in Italian and Latin within the 16th century.