A material study / 066
Ophiuchus: The Astronomer’s Study
A historical star atlas · Night blue, brass & veined stone.
A constellation study after the material world of historical star atlases: parchment, brass, dark wood and deep blue cloth. Follow the Sun across Ophiuchus, then print a card drawn from modern star positions.
01 / The palette
Six colors, one atmosphere.
Screen colors are authored interpretations. Material photographs show surface character; they are not calibrated color samples.
02 / Play with the composition
Give the paper space, or bring in the night blue.
Adjust six colour areas as a contemporary editorial composition. The separate star card retains its numerical catalogue positions.
Palette proportions / Total 100%
Starting points
An editable screen composition; the room remains a fixed imagined reference.
Atlas Paper: 30%; Walnut: 15%; Meridian Brass: 10%; Silver Grey: 10%; Serpentinite: 20%; Night Blue: 15%
The source / Art history
An atlas, a figure, a sky.
Hevelius’s 1690 star atlas belongs to a tradition of picturing the constellations as figures. Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer, appears in historical atlases as Serpentarius. Our room borrows the materials of an astronomical study. The printable card uses modern catalogue coordinates, not traced engraving positions or a reproduction of a historical plate.
University of Tartu Library · Hevelius, Firmamentum Sobiescianum (1690) ↗Read the holding institution’s record. No museum photograph or manuscript scan is reproduced here.
The calendar / Computed
When the Sun crosses Ophiuchus.
About – .
Exact computed UTC boundaries
Enters: 2026-11-30 05:39 UTC
Leaves: 2026-12-18 13:06 UTC
Ophiuchus has no tropical or sidereal sign interval. Both systems keep twelve equal signs; IAU constellations are unequal regions of the sky.
Intervals include the entry and exclude the next boundary. The apparent geocentric Sun is tested against the IAU constellation boundaries using J2000 equatorial coordinates; crossings are refined to one second. Refinement is computational resolution, not a claim of observational accuracy. Local calendar dates may differ from UTC.
Calculation source and version
Lunologium source revision 4d4d8ecc · astronomy-engine 2.1.19. Generated reference for 2026–2028; year labels identify the year of entry, so a Capricorn interval continues into the next January.
Take away / A constellation card
Ophiuchus, point by point.
This chart uses numerical star data supplied by HEASARC, a service of the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA/GSFC. Hoffleit & Warren, Bright Star Catalogue (1991) · Data-use terms.
North up, east left. Relative visual magnitude controls dot size. Positions use J2000.0 and a local projection with a cosine correction. The connecting lines were authored for this card; constellation boundaries and the Sun’s current position are not drawn. Print on A4 or Letter in portrait orientation.
Read the star coordinates
| Star | HR | Right ascension | Declination |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 Oph | 6492 | 261.8387 | -29.8669 |
| 42The Oph | 6453 | 260.5025 | -24.9994 |
| 44 Oph | 6486 | 261.5925 | -24.1753 |
| 9Ome Oph | 6153 | 248.0342 | -21.4664 |
| 40Xi Oph | 6445 | 260.2508 | -21.1128 |
| 7Chi Oph | 6118 | 246.7558 | -18.4564 |
| 8Phi Oph | 6147 | 247.7846 | -16.6128 |
| 35Eta Oph | 6378 | 257.5946 | -15.7247 |
| 13Zet Oph | 6175 | 249.2896 | -10.5672 |
| 64Nu Oph | 6698 | 269.7567 | -9.7736 |
| 2Eps Oph | 6075 | 244.5804 | -4.6925 |
| 1Del Oph | 6056 | 243.5862 | -3.6944 |
| 68 Oph | 6723 | 270.4383 | 1.3053 |
| 10Lam Oph | 6149 | 247.7283 | 1.9839 |
| 70 Oph | 6752 | 271.3637 | 2.4994 |
| 62Gam Oph | 6629 | 266.9733 | 2.7072 |
| 67 Oph | 6714 | 270.1613 | 2.9317 |
| 49Sig Oph | 6498 | 261.6288 | 4.1403 |
| 60Bet Oph | 6603 | 265.8683 | 4.5672 |
| 27Kap Oph | 6299 | 254.4171 | 9.375 |
| 72 Oph | 6771 | 271.8375 | 9.5639 |
| 25Iot Oph | 6281 | 253.5021 | 10.1653 |
| 55Alp Oph | 6556 | 263.7338 | 12.56 |
Astronomy / A constellation
A figure beyond the signs.
Ophiuchus is a constellation, not an added equal 30° sign. Its inclusion here follows the Sun’s path across the sky, and does not supply a personality, compatibility or prediction system.
03 / Translate
From a room to an interface.
The interface
Objects, rooms & materials
The Astronomer’s Study
A constellation study after the material world of historical star atlases: parchment, brass, dark wood and deep blue cloth. Follow the Sun across Ophiuchus, then print a card drawn from modern star positions.
The same palette. Different roles.
Use this palette.
A suggested interface use of the study’s paper and accent. Supporting ink is added for legibility; original palette values stay intact.
#E0BC94Supporting ink #171615Accent #1E2739Inspect application CSS
/* Sourced from Chromologium (https://chromologium.com/studies/ophiuchus) */
/* Suggested application roles; original palette preserved separately. */
:root {
--study-surface: #E0BC94;
--study-ink: #171615;
--study-accent: #1E2739;
--study-accent-ink: #ffffff;
--study-original-1: #E0BC94; /* Atlas Paper */
--study-original-2: #573727; /* Walnut */
--study-original-3: #B9884E; /* Meridian Brass */
--study-original-4: #867B74; /* Silver Grey */
--study-original-5: #30382A; /* Serpentinite */
--study-original-6: #1E2739; /* Night Blue */
}
Follow the material further.
Materials
The ingredients.
An imagined setting.
A contemporary interpretation,
with references kept beside the study.
Take away
Take the study with you.
Download swatches
Sources & interpretation
A contemporary material tray and imagined astronomer’s room, informed by a linked historical source. The six screen colours were sampled from this study’s specimen drawer; they are not measured historical pigments.
- University of Tartu Library — Hevelius, Firmamentum Sobiescianum, 1690
- Lunologium — Tropical and sidereal zodiac
The palette follows the authored material references in this collection. Room, object and material imagery were created for this study. These are imagined settings, with no affiliation to the fictional interface brands.
The controls explore screen composition, not physical pigment recipes or material measurements. Image rights · Image permissions