A look at astronomy works given to USC, museum

The Robert B. Ariail Collection of Historical Astronomy includes more than 200 astronomy instruments and 5,000 documents. A sampling:

—Alessandro Piccolomini’s “Sfera del mondo eDelle stele fisse” (1540), the first printed star atlas

—Johann Bayer’s “Uranometria” (1603), the first atlas to cover the entire celestial sphere

—Christian Huygens’ book, “The Celestial Worlds Discovered” (1698), in which the Dutch mathematician and astronomer discussed his belief in the existence of extraterrestrials

—Sir Isaac Newton’s book “Opticks” (1718), in which Newton first showed a prism as a beam expander and multiple prism arrays, important concepts in developing the modern telescope

—A manuscript by William Stukeley, in which he recalls his 1718 conversation with Newton about the Milky Way

—A rare copy of “A Compendious System of Astronomy” (1797) by textbook author Margaret Bryan

—John Flamsteed’s “Atlas Coelestis” (1753), the largest atlas published up to that time that included corrections to Bayer’s “Uranometria”

—More than 20 titles by Richard Proctor, who produced one of the earliest maps of Mars in 1867

—20 works by William Herschel, the late 18th century astronomer whose observations included work on double stars and the discovery of Uranus

—A 130-mm Carl Zeiss double telescope, circa 1930, that is one of half a dozen existing worldwide

—11 Alvan Clark telescopes that represent the largest public collection by America’s premier 19th century telescope maker. 9 of them are complete instruments, with their tripods.

—2 telescopes by Henry Fitz, America’s first commercially successful telescope maker

—3-inch Jesse Ramsden refracting telescope, circa 1760

—2 ½-inch John and Peter Dolland refracting telescope, circa 1780

Source: The University of South Carolina and the South Carolina State Museum