Understanding the rising and setting of the twelve zodiac signs and other constellations was important for the establishment of a well-ordered calendar and gave farmers the right time for planting and harvesting. Ursa Minor and Ursa Major, known as the Little Dipper and the Big Dipper or Little Bear and Big Bear. Al-Qazwini states that the Little Dipper (Dubhe-Asgar) is close to the North Pole and is one of the f48 constellations listed by Ptolemy. The brightest star of the Little Dipper is known as Polaris (Al-Jaday), which was used by ships for navigation and by Muslims in order to find the Qiblah in Mecca, toward which prayers are directed. The Kitab Aja'ib al-makhluqat wa Gharaib al-Mawjudat, usually known as "The Cosmography" or "The Wonders of Creation," was compiled in the 13th century in what is now Iran or Iraq and is considered one of the most important natural history texts of the medieval Islamic world. The author Abu Yahya Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud-al-Qazwini (1203-1283), known simply as al-Qazwini, was one of the most noted natural historians, geographers and encyclopedists of the period. At the very end, the scribe has written a colophon praising Allah again and stating that he finished copying this manuscript in 1537.