Born Rayy (near Tehran, Iran), 903
Died 986
Ṣūfī spent his life as an astronomer in Iran, in close relation to the regional rulers of the Buyid dynasty. The most important of his several astronomical and other works was the Book on the Constellations (circa 964). In it he gave a description of the 48 Ptolemaic constellations, based on the Arabic translations of Ptolemy's Almagest, with detailed critique for each of the 1,025 stars in Ptolemy's star catalog, based on his own observations. Two drawings of each constellation were added, one “as seen in the sky,” and one “as seen on the (celestial) globe.”
The book became very influential both in the Orient and in Europe. Its text and nomenclature were taken up by many later authors, such as the encyclopedist Qazwīnī (died: 1283) and the Timurid Prince and astronomer Ulugh Begin the star catalog of his astronomical handbook (epoch: 1437). For centuries, Arabic–Islamic astronomers followed the forms of the constellation figures as drawn...
Selected References
Al‐Sūfī, ҁAbd al‐Rahmān ibn ҁUmar (1986). Kitāb Suwar al‐Kawākib. Frankfurt am Main.(Facsimile of Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Marsh 144.)
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Kunitzsch, Paul (1986). “The Astronomer Abū ‘l‐Husayn al‐Sūfī and His Book on the Constellations.” Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch–Islamischen Wissenschaften 3: 56–81. (Reprinted in Kunitzsch, The Arabs and the Stars, XI. Northampton: Variorum, 1989.)
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Schjellerup, H. C. F. C. (trans.) (1874). Description des étoiles fixes. St. Pétersbourg. (French translation of Sūfī's text.)
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Editors and Affiliations
Professor of Astronomy,
Department of Earth Science, University of Northern Iowa, Office: Latham 112, 50614, Cedar Falls, IA, USA
Thomas Hockey
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© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.