Talk:Astrolabe

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[edit] Astrolabe

I wanted to confirm that astrolabes were once used to locate Makkah (Mecca) and I had to do a separate search to accomplish this. I think it might be helpful to add a link from the Astrolabe page to the Makkah page. Perhaps more precisely, it would link to the Qibla article, which does have a link to the Astrolabe article. I also noticed that there seems to be a discrepency in the spelling of qibah. ~~Donna, 15 June 2005

You are very welcome to include this information in the article itself. Sounds very interesting, sort of remiding of the way that the Chinese used compass for religious purpose as well. Thank you ! Rama 08:21, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Invention of metal astrolabe

I'm not convinced metal astrolabes were unknown before the 15th century. I was struck in the museum of history of science in Oxford by a beautiful example from around 950, somewhere in the Islamic world. However, I don't have the details to hand... if I can find them, I'll make the change. UncleKensson 21:53, 9 October 2005 (UTC) UncleKensson

Yes, the SOAS website has the oldest known dated brass astrolabe, some 500 years before Zacuto's. I'll change the text accordingly. UncleKensson 22:29, 9 October 2005 (UTC)UncleKensson

I found this page very interesting but hard to understand, you should make it clearer I still don't understand how an astrolabe works! ~ Summer Eldemire Jamaica