The Book of Fixed Stars

(Kitāb suwar al-kawākib al-ṯābita), by ‛Abd al-Rahman ibn ‛Umar al-Ṣūfī, dated 1125 ''CE, Baghdad (controlled by the Seljuks from 1055 to 1135). Doha Museum of Islamic Art MS 2.1998. Now thought to be the oldest surviving copy. The treatise was written in the Persian city of Shiraz, for the patron and Buyid emir 'Adud al-Dawla. Although al-Sufi made his longitudinal calculations correct for the year 964 only, In the context of this shift to observational and theoretical astronomy set in motion by the translation movement, and with al-Sufi himself being an observational astronomer, the Book of Fixed Stars comprises an important organisation and revision of classical knowledge from antiquity (the first of its kind), and some of the earliest surviving examples of visual documentation of celestial bodies observable by the naked eye. The increase in illustrated manuscripts is also related to the advent of paper in the Islamic world in the tenth century. The increased availability of paper, which was much cheaper than parchment, drove the production of books in the Islamic world. == Contents ==

The book was thoroughly illustrated along with observations and descriptions of the stars, their positions (copied from Ptolemy's Almagest with the longitudes increased by 12° 42' to account for the precession), their magnitudes (brightness) and their color. Notably, al-Sufi improved upon Ptolemy's system for measuring star brightness. Instead of two brightness categories ('more bright' and 'less bright'), al-Sufi employed three: AṢghareh ('less'), Akbareh ('greater'), and A'ẓameh ('much-greater'). Ihsan Hafez has recorded 132 stars in al-Sufi's work not mentioned by Ptolemy. Persis Berkelamp argues that each paired constellation was drawn slightly differently to encourage students to study the manuscript closely. == Composition ==

Introduction in The Book of Fixed Stars, Artuqid Mardin, 1131 CE (TSMK, A. 3493) In his introduction, al-Sufi dedicates the work to his patron 'Adud al-Dawla and outlines the sources he has used to write the book. == Influence ==

The work was highly influential and survives in numerous manuscripts and translations. The oldest manuscript was thought to be MS. Marsh 144 in the Bodleian Library, with a date of 1009 CE, and allegedly the work of the author's son, but this is now disputed, and has been re-dated to the end of the 12th century. This was the first galaxy to be observed, as distinct from a star cluster. It has been claimed that the first recorded mention of the Large Magellanic Cloud was given in the Book of Fixed Stars but this seems to be a misunderstanding of a reference to some stars south of Canopus which he admits he has not seen. and partially into English by Ihsan Hafez. ==Editions==

• Text and French translation of Ṣūfī's introduction by J. J. A. Caussin de Perceval in Notices et extraits des manuscrits XII, Paris, 1831, pp. 236f. • H.C.F.C. Schjellerup, Description des étoiles fixes par Abd-al-Rahman al-Sûfi, St. Petersburg, 1874. Complete French translation from two late mss., with selected portions in Arabic. • Ketāb ṣowar al-kawākeb al-ṯābeta, edited from five mss., and accompanied by the Orǰūza of Ebn al-Ṣūfī, Hyderabad, India, 1954 (introduction by H. J. J. Winter). • Facsimile edition of the Persian translation by Naṣīr-al-dīn Ṭūsī (Ayasofya 2595, autograph, from Uluḡ Beg's library), Tehran, 1348 Š./1969. • Critical edition of Ṭūsī's translation by Sayyed Moʿezz-al-dīn Mahdavī, Tehran, 1351 Š./1972. • The star nomenclature of the Castilian version, and of an Italian translation made from Castilian, was critically edited by O. J. Tallgren, "Los nombres árabes de las estrelas y la transcripción alfonsina", in Homenaje a R. Menéndez Pidal II, Madrid, 1925, with 'Correcciones y adiciones' in Revista de filología española 12, 1925, pp. 52f. • The Italian translation was edited by P. Knecht, I libri astronomici di Alfonso X in una versione fiorentina del trecento, Saragossa, 1965. • Partial English translation; Hafez, Ihsan (2010) Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi and his book of the fixed stars: a journey of re-discovery. PhD thesis, James Cook University. ==Gallery==

File:Constellation Taureau - al-Sufi.jpg|Constellation Taurus File:Constellation Crabe - al-Sufi.jpg|Constellation Cancer File:Constellation lièvre - al-Sufi.jpg|Constellation Lepus File:Constellation Gemeaux - al-Sufi.jpg|Constellation Gemini File:Folio 165 from manuscript of as-Sufi treatese on the fixed stars. 1009-10. Bodleian Library, Oxford..jpg|Constellation Andromeda File:Azophi Ophiuchus.jpg|Constellation Ophiuchus == References ==