The Project

How the idea came about

Some time ago we asked ourselves how the Solar System looks like in a frame of reference other than the Heliocentric one.

So we started developing a software to trace out the paths of the Solar System planets as they would appear from Mercury, Venus, Earth, etc..

The results were so aesthetically beautiful that we thought it would be great to print them on high quality posters. Furthermore, since the software can generate a representation of the celestial movements for any time span, we also thought that it would be great to allow anyone to create their own unique poster by setting their own meaningful starting and ending dates.

Therefore, we decided to work on an eye-catching design item capable of communicating something interesting and very unique about our local universe.

That's the moment Almagesto was born.

Science meets Design

We pursue the goal of creating a unique design product without sacrificing scientific accuracy.

Positions data are in fact derived from the ephemerides built and published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA that guarantees extreme accuracy for the time interval between 1600 AD and 2100 AD. Furthermore, our software can extrapolate data outside this range with the help of AstroPy, the state-of-the-art software library commonly used in the Astrophysics community, to give you the freedom of exploring the solar system for any time span.

Even with the best sources for astronomical data realizing a readable, understandable, communicative and beautiful print was a difficult task.

To overcome all the challenges, such as the coexistence of very different scales or the intricacy of the trajectories, we have developed algorithms and graphical themes which ensure an optimal and beautiful product for the full spectrum of cases, even in printing process.

inner solar system

modulation of colors and strokes

scaling management

some inspirational books

arabic heading

developing and coding

end planet marker

latin heading

Why Almagesto

The Almagest is a 2nd-century astronomical treatise that describes the motions of the planets, the Moon and the Sun interpreting them through the mathematical theory of epicycles.

Written by Ptolemy in the Hellenistic Alexandria, it summed up all the ancient astronomical knowledge to become the foundation for the scientific development of other civilizations in the Mediterranean area such as the Arabs and the Europeans.

Cultural Value

Coolness is not enough. There is more behind the design. We wanted to talk about the evolution of astronomy during history and the many cultures involved in this process.

Born from hellenistic roots, the Almagest was brought back to life thanks to its medieval Arabic translations (from which his actual name derives) and eventually laid out the foundations for the European scientific renaissance through the Latin translations of the XII century.

Inspired by such a vibrant history, we have designed graphical themes starting from the archetypal colors of the artistic traditions touched by the Almagest.

Greek, Arabic, Latin. Three civilization, nine themes, each designed to convey a unique feeling emphasized by the translation of the logotype.