Where Cellarius's other plates flatten the heavens onto a disc, this one throws them into deep perspective — the Copernican universe built as a stage, orbits receding toward a golden Sun-face at the centre, planets riding rings of cloud into the distance. Cherubs and allegories crowd the foreground; the zodiac belts the whole scene. It is widely held to be the single most beautiful plate in the Harmonia Macrocosmica, and one of the loveliest images the Sun-centred cosmos ever inspired: not a diagram to be studied, but a theatre of the heavens to be gazed into.

Maker: Andreas Cellarius
Date: 1660
Medium of the original: Plate
Original held by: Published Amsterdam · Linda Hall Library
Credit: Published Amsterdam · Linda Hall Library
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00985

As chosen: 14 x 11 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	14 x 11 in
Outside size	15.6 x 12.6 in
Depth	0.9 in (22 mm)
Weight	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]]
Hanging	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]]
Material	Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing
Made in	Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes offered
Size	dpi	Grade	How it fits
10 x 8 in	292	Excellent	Trimmed 5.1%
14 x 11 in	209	Excellent	Trimmed 6.8%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
12 x 8 in	Wrong shape: a 21% crop
16 x 12 in	Wrong shape: a 11% crop
18 x 12 in	Wrong shape: a 21% crop
20 x 16 in	146 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 16 in	Wrong shape: a 21% crop
24 x 18 in	Wrong shape: a 11% crop
30 x 20 in	Wrong shape: a 21% crop
30 x 24 in	97 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
36 x 24 in	Wrong shape: a 21% crop
40 x 30 in	Wrong shape: a 11% crop
48 x 36 in	Wrong shape: a 11% crop
60 x 40 in	Wrong shape: a 21% crop