Beijing Ancient Observatory

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The armillary sphere

The Beijing Ancient Observatory (Traditional Chinese: 北京古觀象台; Simplified Chinese: 北京古观象台; pinyin: běi jīng gǔ guān xiàng tái) is a pretelescopic observatory located in Beijing, China. The revolutionary tools used within this ancient observatory were built in 1442 during the Ming Dynasty, and later amended during the Qing.

[edit] History

As one of the oldest observatories in the world, the Beijing Ancient Observatory covers an area of 10,000 square meters. This space is chiefly occupied by a ten-meter tall brick platform bearing several bronze instruments atop its mass. The observatory itself is located on the rooftop of what is now, an astronomy museum.

During the latter of the Qing Dynasty, the Allied Forces invaded Beijing—an act which led to the subsequent thievery of the Chinese instruments. Although nevertheless, as World War I neared closure, the instruments were returned to China by the French and German usurpers.

[edit] Instruments

The armillary sphere is an instrument used to measure the coordinates of the celestial bodies. This instrument is constructed of two bronze disks--one being known as the ecliptic armillary (for tracking the sun), and the other deemed the equatorial armillary (tracks bodies that are not the sun).

The quadrant is an instrument built in 1673 and used in order to measures the altitudes and zenith locations of the celestial bodies.

The theodolite is an instrument built in 1715 and used for measuring both altitude and azimuth coordinates of celestial bodies. The azimuth theodolite is a relatively similar instrument lacking only the ability to record altitude.

The sextant is an instrument used for measuring the angular distance between celestial bodies, and is also used for measuring the angular diameter of the moon and sun.

The celestial globe was built in 1673 and used to determine the time in which the celestial bodies will rise and set; as well as the altitude and azimuth of the bodies at any given time.