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Astrolabe rete, owned by Robert Gordon of Straloch, Aberdeenshire

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made in France

Astrolabe rete, owned by Robert Gordon of Straloch, Aberdeenshire
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A rete is the skeletal plate that fits into an astrolabe on top of the selected latitude plate, and is freely rotatable over it. This example is from an early-15th-century brass astrolabe owned by Robert Gordon (1580-1661) of Straloch in Aberdeenshire.

Both plate and rete have the north celestial pole in the centre and the edge is bounded by the Tropic of Capricorn. The pointers mark the brightest 'fixed' stars.

Robert Gordon made a major contribution to Scottish cartography by extensively revising the manuscript surveys of Timothy Pont (c.1565-c.1614) for publication by the Blaeus in Amsterdam.

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