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Astrolabe (detail)

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made in Cordoba, Spain

Astrolabe (detail)
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Astrolabes can be used for time-finding, navigation, surveying, astronomy and astrology. This is a detail of a brass astrolabe made in Cordoba in Spain in 1026. The instrument is the earliest earliest surviving signed and dated astrolabe made in Europe.

The detail shows part of the back of the brass astrolabe. The rectangular inscription surrounds the shadow square, a device used when the instrument is being used to calculate surveying problems.

In Islam, astrolabes could be used to calculate the time for prayer. Islamic manufacture of astrolabes continued to the 20th century, although they were obsolete in Europe by the 18th century.

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