Star Finder

“A MOVEABLE PLANISPHERE OF THE HEAVENS AT EVERY MINUTE / BY HENRY WHITALL, 93 East 15th Street, NEW YORK.”

Henry Whitall (1819-1887) was a Quaker astronomical enthusiast who lived in Philadelphia, New York City, and New Jersey. At the time of his death (in London, England), he was serving as professor of astronomy at the Belvidere Seminary in New Jersey. Whitall came to public attention in 1849 when he exhibited and explained a series of maps of the heavens “got up by him on a large scale for the purpose of teaching astronomy” at a meeting of the Franklin Institute. In 1850 he brought out A Treatise on the Principal Fixed Stars and Constellations, with Maps, Illustrative of Them as Seen in the Four Seasons.

Whitall was best known, however, for his “Moveable Planisphere of the Heavens.” The first edition, published in 1856, was recommended by the Committee on Science and the Arts of the Franklin Institute. A revised edition (of which the Museum’s copy is an example) came out in 1862, and a third edition in 1873. In 1883, Whitall received a John Scott Legacy Medal and Premium for his Celestial Planisphere.

Whitall’s planispheres were designed for identifying stars visible in a wide swath of North America centered on the latitude of Philadelphia. An advertisement from 1876 noted that “The Movable Planisphere is to Astronomy the same as a Map is to Geography, or to the clear sky what the Directory is to a City. It is the size of a 10-inch Celestial Globe, and as much better as it is cheaper. Of two kinds; one beautifully painted, the other as much like the sky as possible: Stars white on a deep blue-black ground. Both make a complete set. The two sent by mail on receipt of $6 or either for three dollars.”

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