frenchhistory:

Astrolabe planisphère

Asne Michel (2e moitié 16e siècle-début 17e siècle) orfèvre à Caen

(C) RMN / René-Gabriel Ojéda

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An astrolabe (Greek: ἀστρολάβον astrolabon, “star-taker”) is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and vice-versa, surveying, triangulation, and to cast horoscopes. It was used in classical antiquity, through the Islamic Golden Age, the European Middle Ages and Renaissance for all these purposes