# Constellation illustrations and sky cultures

Illustrations: Johan Meuris, Stellarium team, Free Art License (https://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en/). Unmodified WebP images selected from https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium-skycultures/tree/master/western/illustrations . Spherical placement is an AstroLab adaptation of the supplied three Hipparcos anchors. Image reuse and adapted graphic compositions retain the Free Art License; no claim of exclusive ownership.

Western anchor metadata and Chinese constellation lines/names: Stellarium team, CC BY-SA, https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium-skycultures/tree/master/western and /chinese . Chinese contributors: Karrie Berglund (Digitalis Education Solutions), Sun Shuwei, references Yi Shitong and Hong Kong Space Museum. Attribution and share-alike apply to the adapted dataset in sky-cultures.js and constellation-art.json.

Mexica (Aztec) lines/names: Enrique Gómez Candelario; English translation Rafael Rojas Segoviano; Stellarium team, GNU GPL v2.0. https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium-skycultures/tree/master/aztec . Several identifications are debated: this is a documented reconstruction, not a complete or definitive historical sky.

Tupi-Guarani selection: Paulo Marcelo Pontes, Stellarium, GNU GPL v2.0. https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium-skycultures/tree/master/tupi . Seven figures; not a universal account of the many peoples speaking Tupi-Guarani languages. Star-line figures do not exhaust traditions involving dark clouds of the Milky Way.

Data retrieved 23 October 2026. Data are kept separate from the application renderer. Original descriptions and references are linked above. Native names retained where supplied; names do not alter astronomical coordinates. Missing stars are omitted rather than invented. Illustrations cover 25 international figures, five Mexica figures and five Chinese asterisms. Chinese drawings are original contemporary interpretations. The Tupi selection has lines and names only.

Six Chinese entries without coordinates/lines are excluded. Three combined-binary HIP entries (55203, 78727, 115125) have no positional record in HYG 4.1 or Hipparcos main; their unresolved segments are omitted. All other figure endpoints and all 105 illustration anchors are provided.

## Mexica artwork added in the performance/UI release

Five unmodified WebP illustrations: Mamalhuaztli, Tianquiztli, Citlaltlachtli, Xonecuilli, Colotl Ixayac. Enrique Gómez Candelario; Stellarium team. English translation of source documentation: Rafael Rojas Segoviano. GNU GPL v2.0; redistribution retains this licence. Original bitmap sources and descriptions: https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium-skycultures/tree/master/aztec . PNG sources: https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium/tree/master/skycultures/aztec/illustrations . Local source metadata, description and image hashes: aztec/source-index.json, aztec/source-description.md and aztec/provenance.json. Licence text: ../../licenses/GPL-2.txt. AstroLab adapts the supplied anchor metadata to its catalogue identifiers without changing image pixels.

Acknowledgements from the source: Javier Gómez Sandoval, Martha Patricia Rivera, Emilio Ramón Bolaños Guerra, Hector Vega, Rafael Rojas Segoviano, Juan Caballero and SAAGS.

No blanket public-domain or unrestricted-use claim applies to these assets. Free access to AstroLab does not remove attribution or share-alike requirements.

## Chinese contemporary artwork

Five original vector interpretations created for AstroLab (2026): Net, Winnowing Basket, Well, Chariot and Northern Dipper. CC BY-SA 4.0; source generator: scripts/prepare-chinese-art.mjs. These are contemporary decorative drawings, not reproductions of historical Chinese charts. Geometry follows the credited Stellarium Chinese asterisms and Hipparcos catalogue. Attribution and share-alike apply to the drawings and the adapted star geometry. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ . The four-symbol artwork by RootOfAllLight was researched but is not included or adapted.