Celestial Atlas vs Weather Map

星図の様式 / 天気図

Both sit in Diagrammatic Expression, so the question is not what they belong to but how they behave. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Celestial Atlas

Celestial Atlas — セラリウス『大宇宙の調和』1660 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainCelestial Atlas — プトレマイオス体系の図 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainCelestial Atlas — ヨハン・バイエル『ウラノメトリア』オリオン座 1603 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

The Baroque celestial atlas layering constellation mythology over observation. Cellarius's Harmonia Macrocosmica marks the summit of an age when scientific diagram could also be decorative art.

Weather Map

Weather Map — 地上天気図 1947 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainWeather Map — 『パーフェクト・ストーム』の解析図 1991 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainWeather Map — フランシス・ゴルトン《イングランド同時刻天気図》 1861 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

The atmosphere drawn on one sheet with isobars, front symbols and weather signs. Making invisible pressure fields visible through the density of curves became the public's scientific graphic, from newspapers to television.

Celestial AtlasWeather Map
Era17th–19th century1851–
FamilyDiagrammatic ExpressionDiagrammatic Expression
KindStyleStyle
CuesMyth figures over stars / Concentric celestial structure / Gold and blue coloring / Ornamented cartouchesThe density of isobars / Cold and warm front symbols / The weather-symbol system / Highs and lows labeled
Best used forDouble-page plates for books and exhibitions on astronomy or navigation · Showing a whole body of knowledge on one sheet with its ornament intactPutting an invisible field on one sheet as a continuous quantity · Designing a daily forecast graphic read the same way every time
TypeTitle inside an ornamented frame, star names tiny and italicValues break into the isobar, set turned along the line
CompositionConcentric spheres at the center, four corners filled with cartouchesIsobars at one fixed interval, centers of high and low named
MaterialGold and hand color on deep blue, stars struck as engraved pointsThe base map held pale, only lines and symbols brought forward
CautionDrawing the myth figures so large that the star positions vanish leaves a plate working neither as diagram nor as ornament.Changing the isobar interval from day to day destroys the cue that lets a reader judge wind strength from how crowded the lines are.

Put these two together

Diagrammatic Expression

IndexStyle