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 ...

What I'm holding is a portable model of the heavens, in the shape of an exquisite, circular brass instrument that looks a bit like a large brass pocket watch, and it's called an astrolabe.

The astrolabe was a mathematical instrument which ... This one was made in 1559 and belonged to Queen Elizabeth I. It may have been a gift from her favourite courtier, Sir Robert Dudley.

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 ...

What I'm holding is a portable model of the heavens, in the shape of an exquisite, circular brass instrument that looks a bit like a large brass pocket watch, and it's called an astrolabe.