On offer

Oriental Astrolabe

REF: H36 Oriental Astrolabe

Offer price

Usual price €120,00
( / )
Tax included.

🔭The Astrolabe is the most sophisticated and beautiful of the Astronomical Instruments. It is used to measure time, azimuths and star declinations...
In short: an elegant analogue computer.

What is the astrolabe and who invented it?

The first planispheric astrolabe is attributed to Hipparchus (150 BC), of the Alexandria School, based on the stereographic projection. The knowledge and use of the Astrolabe spread throughout the Islamic world centuries before it reached Europe. The Astrolabe was known in Latin Europe from the end of the 10th century.

The Astrolabe we present here is an updated replica of the one created by the famous astrolabe maker "Diya'al l Din Muhammad" in the year 1647 (1057 [AH]) and made in the city of Lahore. This piece belongs to the collection of the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in Chicago.

--- How the astrolabe works ---

We provide a booklet with history and uses, with 21 practical examples of possible operations.
The Astrolabe is a representation of the celestial sphere (basically) in which the most important stars are represented.

Parts of the astrolabe ---

It is made up of 6 parts:
- The Mother (holds 360º graduated scale and on the back the scale of heights, scale of sines, and scale of tangents and cotangents).
- The Tympanum or Plate on which the coordinates of the celestial sphere (almucantarates) are inscribed.
- The Spider or Web. It is an astral map where the central axis marks the position of the Pole Star.
- The Ruler of declinations
- The Alidade, a ruler provided with pinulas to align the stars.

The stars of its spider and other calculations were updated to ensure its operation. Calculated for 22º latitude (the Mecca).

Measurements:

Maximum Height (with base): 166mm / Diameter: 122mm / Thickness: 7mm

 

 H36