And watching someone recreate the feat, such as by building an astrolabe by hand, can be very appealing too. The astrolabe is an ancient astronomical tool of incredible versatility, allowing the ...

Besides ability to provide precise measurements of altitude, local time, and position of starts, al-Khujandi’s astrolabe is of astounding beauty. Credit: The Museum of Islamic Art, Doha: Marc ...

The identification of an eleventh-century Islamic astrolabe bearing both Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions makes it one of the oldest examples ever discovered and one of only a handful known in the ...