What is an Astrolabe? Think of the astrolabe as the “smartphone of the medieval world.” Long before GPS or Google Maps, scholars, sailors, and astronomers used this intricate instrument to read the stars, measure time, find direction, and even calculate prayer timings. It’s a flat, disk-shaped device, often made of brass, with moving parts that mimic the sky. A Brief History The astrolabe has roots going back to ancient Greece, but it truly flourished in the Islamic Golden Age. Muslim scholars r

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The ancient astrolabe isn’t just a beautiful instrument, it’s a working model of our world. It maps the heavens on a flat plane, with you at the center, and everything in the sky moving in perfect circles above. No spinning globe, no hurtling through space, just a stationary Earth under a predictable, rotating firmament. For centuries, sailors, astronomers, and astrologers used it to tell time, navigate, and track the stars with flawless accuracy, all without the heliocentric model. The astrolab